Something Happened

Description

A cult classic, Something Happened is considered by some to be an even finer achievement than Catch-22. This is Heller's funny, honest and tragic tale of a failed American dream, relaunched in Vintage Classics for a generation brought up on Black Mirror FROM THE AUTHOR OF CATCH-22, SOON TO BE A TV SERIES ON CHANNEL 4 Joseph Heller's other masterpiece - a darkly comic, sometimes tragic satire that does for the American Dream what Catch-22 did for the madness of war 'Joseph Heller's finest achievement' Jonathan Coe Bob Slocum was a promising executive. He had an attractive wife, three children, a nice house, and as many mistresses as he desired. His life was settled and ordered; he had conformed and society demanded he be happy - or at least pretend to be. But the pretence was becoming more and more difficult, as Slocum's discontent grew into an overwhelming sense of desolation, frustration and fear. And then something happened. . . 'One of the most pleasurable, engrossing, and in retrospect moving American novels ever written. The most criminally overlooked great novel of the past half century is a book called Something Happened' LA Review of Books

Joseph Heller was born in 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. He served as a bombardier in the Second World War and then attended New York University and Columbia University and then Oxford, the last on a Fullbright scholarship. He then taught for two years at Pennsylvania State University, before returning to New York, where he began a successful career in the advertising departments of Time, Look and McCall's magazines. It was during this time that he had the idea for Catch-22. Working on the novel in spare moments and evenings at home, it took him eight years to complete and was first published in 1961. His second novel, Something Happened was published in 1974, Good As Gold in 1979 and Closing Time in 1994. He is also the author of the play We Bombed in New Haven.

One of the most pleasurable, engrossing, and in retrospect moving American novels ever written... The most criminally overlooked great novel of the past half century is a book called Something Happened * LA Review of Books * It is splendidly put together and hypnotic to read. It is as clear and hard-edged as a cut diamond. Mr. Heller's concentration and patience are so evident on every page that one can only say that "Something Happened" is at all points precisely what he hoped it would be -- Kurt Vonnegut I used to think Catch-22 was my best novel until I read Kurt Vonnegut's review of Something Happened. Now I think Something Happened is -- Joseph Heller A supremely controlled and meticulous masterpiece, grounded in the horror of daily living -- John Self * Guardian *