Reading Catch-22 ahead of the miniseries

May 7, 2019 4:56 PM

I've been thinking about rereading Catch-22 and hopefully have it done by the end of the month. Anyone care to join me?

Also, there is A new miniseries adaptation is set to premiere on Hulu and other places on May 17. The series stars Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie, and George Clooney, who is also set to executive produce alongside Grant Heslov, Luke Davies, David Michôd, Richard Brown, and Steve Golin. Those interested in watching that may want to read the source material first.

posted by Fukiyama (4 comments total)

I've been planning to reread this, but probably won't finish in time for the miniseries, but I'll drop by the thread when I'm done with the book if you do it. Hadn't heard about the miniseries, hope it's good.
posted by skewed at 8:46 AM on May 14, 2019

I don't have Hulu, so I am in no rush to finish the book to catch the miniseries right when it premieres. I'll probably start something for the book when I get done with it.
posted by Fukiyama at 9:24 AM on May 15, 2019

We just finished the series tonight. Very pretty, but it really pulled a lot of punches. The recharacterisation of Milo as a sort of WWII era silicon valley disruptor was played largely for laughs, disappointingly defanged compared to the original text. Jon Voight's gloriously malevolent performance in '70 also deviated from the book, but it feels far more relevant to the state of capitalism today. And can we talk about that ending? Heller would've been horrified. The screenplay must've ended with "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. Yossarian had won the victory over himself. He loved Colonel Cathcart."
posted by MarchHare at 7:01 AM on May 31, 2019

MarchHare, I'm still in the book. :D

But do start a thread on the mini series on the main FanFare page if you're up for it! Your comment here is intriguing.
posted by Fukiyama at 6:48 PM on June 2, 2019