Book #50: Something Happened by Joseph Heller
Number of pages: 569
Having read one chapter of this book, I decided I would read it in its entirety.
It was a bit different than I expected, as I'd expected it to be entirely about the working life of its anti-hero, Bob Slocum, who is told he will be replacing Andy Kagle, his less popular colleague, in a more senior position.
Instead, a lot of this book is about Bob's family life, and you can tell quite quickly that his family is very dysfunctional. Their youngest son is autistic, and it is fairly obvious that there is no love remaining in their marriage, particularly as Bob and his wife argue a lot.
I assumed Bob was meant to be a dislikable character; the book sets out that he has had more than one affair, flashing back repeatedly to the one he had when he was young, with a colleague who has since died.
The one thing I did notice about this book was that not a lot really did happen, apart from Bob being offered a promotion, and a significant event near the end of the book that I will not spoil here. The book is narrated entirely by Bob, and a lot of the time he gives voice to his thoughts, which at times are disturbing, as he is often contemplating leaving his wife, and doing other malicious things to the people around him. Because most of the book is about his thoughts, it feels like a journey into his head.
I found this book difficult at times, but also compelling, just because of Joseph Heller's writing style. I was able to easily recognise the mixture of dark humour and tragedy that he also used in Catch-22 throughout the book; the moments where Bob imagines awful things happening to his family were particularly reminiscent.
The way that the book satirises office life is good too; this book suggests that the people who make it to the top in business are the ones who look most capable; it is hinted that Andy Kagle is discriminated about because he has a limp and spits when he talks.
Overall, this was a very unconventional book, but I'd recommend it highly just because I wanted to keep on reading.
Next book: The Understudy (David Nicholls)