So this used to be my favourite book (as a teenager) and I ended up doing my uni dissertation on it, and would lend it and recommend it to people all the time.

I have never had a book with a higher rejection rate. People just didn't get it.

When I dug into why, it was always the repetition and structure that they didn't get, which often resulted in non completion.

The challenge with catch-22 though is that the repetition is intentional and the circular nature of the story is part of its genius, and it all makes total sense why by the end.

So I would argue that it's one worth persevering with, at least because if you make it to the end it will all become clear why the book is the way it is, and then you can make a value judgment on it. It's one where non-completion is really kind of unfair in terms of being able to say whether you like it or not, in a way that's really unusual for a classic book.