norvalito

norvalito t1_j1zwfnv wrote

NTA, but equally I don't think you should pick a Holocaust book as your intro choice to the group. Choose something less heavy as your first selection and get the lay of the lan more.

Once you know the group a bit better, you'll know what they can cope with and what they can't. I'd feel a bit wary about someone bringing in something so heavy first up, I'd assume it's all they care about and that they'd be a total buzzkill to the group as a whole.

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norvalito t1_iucoxtk wrote

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.

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