I can't believe that I have finally finished this book! It took me five whole months to do it, which, taking into consideration that I'm a very fast reader and generally enjoy most of the fiction I happen to come across, is unbelievable. During these five months, I've actually returned "Catch-22" to the library two or three times when I got particularly frustrated; then cooled off a bit and tried my best to gave it another shot. Not surprisingly, having finally turned the last page of "Catch-22", I can officially declare that this Joseph Heller's "masterpiece" is the worst book I have ever read. So far, it is the second book on the list that I hated, but comparing to it, "Clockwork Orange" actually was a very easy and enjoyable read.

To be honest, I can't even tell what "Catch-22" was about. Moreover, I have a very strong suspicion that Heller was on crack when writing it. The whole story is based on life of a young man, Yossarian, who servers in the US forces in Italy during the Second World War. This story, however, is no more than a collection of chapters devoid of both chronological order and meaning that constantly jump from one topic, character, or event to another. All of the events happening in the book are an absolute nonsense, which, I guess, is supposed to be satirical or at least funny. I did understand that, in choosing this style of narration, one of the author's intention was perhaps to criticize how absurd can bureaucracy in the military or elsewhere be, but, unfortunately, this understanding did not make reading the book any more pleasant.

To summarize my experience, I can just say that "Catch-22" is a pretty long book, and I was confused for the most part of it. I could hardly keep track of the characters and events, which only added to my frustration. Only a few of hundreds of absurd situations described by the author have made me laugh, but it definitely was more of a hysterical giggle caused by my brain boiling from all the confusing information. If the author, indeed, had some point he wanted to bring across, he has lost me after just a few chapters. Finally, "Catch-22", in my opinion, is similar of some of those very abstract paintings, like "Black Square" by Malevich: People claim to admire them because some bunch of drunken critics once said that it was a good thing, but quietly think that it was a total waste of both paper and their time.

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Because of my mom's visit and related to it worries and emotions, I totally stopped reading. I've honestly tried to correct this negligence but last two books that I took from the library (Catch-22, David Copperfield) turned out to be very bad. I made it half way through Catch-22 constantly wondering what drug the author was on while writing it, and why, for Pete's sake, it got so much acclaim. David Copperfield, which I've already tried to read a few years ago, was just plain boring and is, actually, the second book by Dickens that I have a hard time reading. Yesterday, "Siddhartha" was finally back in the library, so, for the lack of better alternatives, I decided to give it a shot.

To be honest, knowing that "Siddhartha" was a story about some sort of soul searching, I wasn't very excited to be reading it. The only reason I've chosen it as the next book on my "must read" list was its more than decent size (126 pages). To my great surprise, however, after reading just a few pages, I was totally hooked. I still don't understand what it is about this book that I liked so much, especially taking into consideration that I'm not a big fan of this type of stories. I tend to think that a very beautiful style of the author and the fact that I could relate to the inner quest of the main hero are to thank for this.

In a few words, the book tells a story of a man, named Siddhartha, who is in search of spiritual perfection. The author explores the topic through the realms Indian culture and religion. The protagonist of the story is Siddhartha, who, from a very young age, is determined to reach Nirvana. Very early, he realizes that teachings of his fathers won't help him to achieve his goals and escape from Samsara (cycle caused by birth, death, and rebirth, according to Hinduism). So he leaves his father's house to join ascetics; then, not having found what he was looking for in their doctrine, decides to leave all the religions behind and experience sensual pleasures of the world until he finally finds Nirvana with the help of an old ferryman and the river.

The message of the book, as I understand it, is that no teaching or religion can help a person to achieve spiritual perfection, enlightenment, or whatever else one might call it. Even if one believes that doctrine is right, it doesn't help to follow it to a tee because the only right way to achieve all these things is through self searching. Even thought I liked it a lot, I don't know if I would recommend it. It seems to me that "Siddhartha" is the kind of book that one absolutely loves or hates, and there's no in-between. As for me, it's the first but definitely not the last Hesse's book that I've read.

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