Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Simon & Schuster (1997), Edition: Export ed, Paperback, 576 pages
Description
Bob Slocum was living the American dream. He had a beautiful wife, three lovely children, a nice house...and all the mistresses he desired. He had it all -- all, that is, but happiness. Slocum was discontent. Inevitably, inexorably, his discontent deteriorated into desolation until...something happened. Something Happened is Joseph Heller's wonderfully inventive and controversial second novel satirizing business life and American culture. The story is told as if the reader was overhearing the patter of Bob Slocum's brain -- recording what is going on at the office, as well as his fantasies and memories that complete the story of his life. The result is a novel as original and memorable as his Catch-22.
User reviews
LibraryThing member PsibrReadHead
No. It didn't.
LibraryThing member danconsiglio
This book is a well-orchestrated, slow, crushing train wreck. Never have I ever experienced any piece of art ever in which the artist hates his subjects so deeply. Jesus H. Macy! Heller drives his characters around an ugly, cyclical, bleak existence in slow motion. As impressed as I am with the
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book as a piece of literature, I did not enjoy reading it, and I do not feel like it has revealed anything to me. I need a beer now (and I think that's what Heller wanted me to need). Show Less
LibraryThing member giovannigf
I couldn't finish this tripe. I loved Catch 22, but what the hell was the problem with this generation of American writers (e.g. Mailer, Roth, Updike, Bellow, etc.) that they were so incredibly misogynist and racist? And egocentric and self-pitying, to boot!
LibraryThing member invisiblelizard
Joseph Heller may be one of the great writers of the past century, but I wouldn't swear to it after reading Something Happened.
I will admit to tempering my own opinion of this book based on the opinions of two people I respect very much: K and Kurt Vonnegut, both of whom rank this among their
But let me blame the author for setting those expectations too high. I mean, seriously, if you're going to name the book Something Happened, you damn well expect something to bloody happen. And I do mean before page 561 (out of 569). No, don't skip ahead to the end to see what finally happens. That will ruin it for you. Something does happen, eventually, but in a story this long and depressing, you know it's not going to be good.
Heller is a great writer, no doubt about it. He can lay down one great sentence after another. His voice is well crafted, which is important for a first-person narrative. He knows who his main character, Bob Slocum, is. He understands him inside and out. He understands Bob's family and co-workers, who are the focal points of the various chapters. Heller has great characters. Multi-layered and flawed, just like real people tend to be.
Here's my gripe. He doesn't craft a good tale. But maybe I was expecting too much. This isn't a plot-driven story. This is a character driven story. There are scenes upon scenes, told in rambling tangents, one after another, to show what kind of person Bob is and what kind of world he lives in, where (contrary to your expectations) nothing much happens except that you begin to understand for yourself that Bob and most people around him are extremely unhappy, to the point where you, also, become unhappy, and you read furiously trying to find something to be happy about, and then something happens (finally, at the end) and...
And I won't tell you. But you're left at the end of the book wondering, literally – and I think even the most prudish would echo these sentiments verbatim – what the fuck did I just read, before you come to your senses, put down the hose and air out the garage.
Which is probably the brilliance of the book. It's a finely crafted story about depressing people weighted evenly on every single page as if Heller himself doled out the misery measured precisely for every word. Oh, yes, I loved the writing and the characters. I just hated reading it.
And dammit if I don't think I'm going to have to read it again some day.
I will admit to tempering my own opinion of this book based on the opinions of two people I respect very much: K and Kurt Vonnegut, both of whom rank this among their
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favorites. In fact, it was a deal with K which led me to finally reading this one, after years of her urgings. (She read Special Topics in Calamity Physics as her part of the deal and wasn't blown away by that one, either... not that you should compare the two books at all.) So let me start off by saying that I wanted to like this one. I wanted to like it very much. This, perhaps, led to some unrealistic expectations on my part.But let me blame the author for setting those expectations too high. I mean, seriously, if you're going to name the book Something Happened, you damn well expect something to bloody happen. And I do mean before page 561 (out of 569). No, don't skip ahead to the end to see what finally happens. That will ruin it for you. Something does happen, eventually, but in a story this long and depressing, you know it's not going to be good.
Heller is a great writer, no doubt about it. He can lay down one great sentence after another. His voice is well crafted, which is important for a first-person narrative. He knows who his main character, Bob Slocum, is. He understands him inside and out. He understands Bob's family and co-workers, who are the focal points of the various chapters. Heller has great characters. Multi-layered and flawed, just like real people tend to be.
Here's my gripe. He doesn't craft a good tale. But maybe I was expecting too much. This isn't a plot-driven story. This is a character driven story. There are scenes upon scenes, told in rambling tangents, one after another, to show what kind of person Bob is and what kind of world he lives in, where (contrary to your expectations) nothing much happens except that you begin to understand for yourself that Bob and most people around him are extremely unhappy, to the point where you, also, become unhappy, and you read furiously trying to find something to be happy about, and then something happens (finally, at the end) and...
And I won't tell you. But you're left at the end of the book wondering, literally – and I think even the most prudish would echo these sentiments verbatim – what the fuck did I just read, before you come to your senses, put down the hose and air out the garage.
Which is probably the brilliance of the book. It's a finely crafted story about depressing people weighted evenly on every single page as if Heller himself doled out the misery measured precisely for every word. Oh, yes, I loved the writing and the characters. I just hated reading it.
And dammit if I don't think I'm going to have to read it again some day.
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LibraryThing member NicholasPayne
As flat an affect as I've ever encountered in fiction, which I think is precisely the point. Rendered all too well, this book offers little to care about. Therein lies its brilliance, and its lack of popularity. Or so I believe.
LibraryThing member Danlikebooks
Due to my life circumstances at the time of reading, this book probably had more effect on me more than any other I will ever read.
It is basically the brutally honest rantings and recollections of Bob Slocum, who is less than happy with his “ideal” life. I liked the non-linear style and
Ultimately, I recognised that some of the characters in the book were all around me at work (in a very similar workplace) and that, as a 19 year old apprentice, I was being groomed to become one of them. Fittingly, I discovered the book during a pointless two-hour wait to use some equipment in the library of my workplace - under the orders of one such person I was subsequently warned I would become by the book.
Something Happened is very dark and at times disturbing, but still contains an abundance of Heller’s unique wit and clever turn of phrase. In comparison, a very different book to Catch-22 but IMHO an achievement to rival it. I would say essential reading for Heller fans but, despite being one of favourite books, I’m not sure I could recommend it to everybody.
Yes, I quit the job. Thanks Joseph!
It is basically the brutally honest rantings and recollections of Bob Slocum, who is less than happy with his “ideal” life. I liked the non-linear style and
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constant divergences of Bob’s thoughts. At times it is exhausting, almost tedious but often utterly compelling and insightful. Ultimately, I recognised that some of the characters in the book were all around me at work (in a very similar workplace) and that, as a 19 year old apprentice, I was being groomed to become one of them. Fittingly, I discovered the book during a pointless two-hour wait to use some equipment in the library of my workplace - under the orders of one such person I was subsequently warned I would become by the book.
Something Happened is very dark and at times disturbing, but still contains an abundance of Heller’s unique wit and clever turn of phrase. In comparison, a very different book to Catch-22 but IMHO an achievement to rival it. I would say essential reading for Heller fans but, despite being one of favourite books, I’m not sure I could recommend it to everybody.
Yes, I quit the job. Thanks Joseph!
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LibraryThing member J.v.d.A.
Sheeesh....I'd hate to call Heller a one book man, but this novel (as well as a couple of others) are a pretty good argument for that proposition. I read this book many years ago and I'll certainly never read it again....a very average read and an unfortunate title.
LibraryThing member detailmuse
It's Freudian psychoanalysis, isn't it, that requires the patient to speak his every thought aloud to the psychiatrist, literally for months or years of sessions, until the central issue is discovered? This novel reads like a transcript of such sessions, where it's the mid-1960s and forty-ish Bob
In Catch-22, Heller balanced the horrors of war with laugh-out-loud hilarity. Those extremes aren't present in this novel; instead, the general anxiety and melancholy are balanced only with mild smiles. Here, the polarity is the narrative focus -- 569 pages recounting absolute minutiae, contrasted with the merest paragraph that summarizes a terrible event. And when that event is voiced, as in psychoanalysis, the rest is wrapped up in short order.
One must be in the mood for Heller, and be agreeable to his methods of storytelling. If you are, or are interested in a retro story (think Mad Men), this novel is worth reading.
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Slocum relates his anxieties about his middle-manager office job; his mother, father, siblings; his wife; his current, former, and potential lovers; his increasingly independent teenage daughter; his very sensitive pre-teen son; and his mentally disabled pre-school son. That's pretty much the story: his anxieties. Everything feels true to the '60s; it feels true to today, too, though politically incorrect.In Catch-22, Heller balanced the horrors of war with laugh-out-loud hilarity. Those extremes aren't present in this novel; instead, the general anxiety and melancholy are balanced only with mild smiles. Here, the polarity is the narrative focus -- 569 pages recounting absolute minutiae, contrasted with the merest paragraph that summarizes a terrible event. And when that event is voiced, as in psychoanalysis, the rest is wrapped up in short order.
One must be in the mood for Heller, and be agreeable to his methods of storytelling. If you are, or are interested in a retro story (think Mad Men), this novel is worth reading.
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LibraryThing member Rhysickle
In the same way that the structure of catch-22 mirrors the insane logic of warmongering, 'Something Happened', by going over the same tiny things over and over and over in ever increasing detail, manages to reflect and really bring out how people get sucked in to the neuroses of modern life.
It's
It's
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not as good a read as Catch-22 (but then again, what is?), but it does have ideas, it is cleverly written and it is affecting. Definitely worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member paulsikora
Droll America narrated drolly.
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
"I know at last what I want to be when I grow up. When I grow up I want to be a little boy"
Firstly I have to say that the title of this novel is a bit of a misnomer because virtually nothing happens until the last two pages and my copy was 550+ pages long.
Truthfully the only character in this novel
"I frequently feel I'm being taken advantage of merely because I'm asked to do the work I'm paid to do."
Much of the novel is in the form of first-person narratives predominantly about the narrator, yet despite him being a promising and affluent executive with an attractive wife, three children, a nice house and as many mistresses as he wants he is still unhappy and feels that something is missing in his life. According to the blurb this is 'an expose of the horrors of prosperity and peace' but I found Slocum a whining, self-pitying misogynist and is a very distasteful character. He visits and revisits key moments of his past in particular his teenage flirtations with a former colleague called Virginia, which I personally found monotonous and tedious.
In fact tedium would best describe my opinion of this book. Whilst Slocum does have a fairly hypnotic voice I found myself struggling to stay awake and turn the next page. In particular I hated the author's overuse of brackets, some of them contained over a page of prose, meaning that I sometimes forgot what had gone before and had to re-read it. In contrast the dialogue when it appeared I found quite pithy and amusing. I did manage to finish the book but in all honesty I cannot say that I would recommend it to others.
Firstly I have to say that the title of this novel is a bit of a misnomer because virtually nothing happens until the last two pages and my copy was 550+ pages long.
Truthfully the only character in this novel
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is Bob Slocum, an executive in his forties with an unnamed corporation. Although he tells us about his family and his colleagues we only hear his opinion of them. His family are filled with the qualities that Slocum has given them whereas he fears his colleagues and they fear him. Everyone appears to be suffering in some way. "I frequently feel I'm being taken advantage of merely because I'm asked to do the work I'm paid to do."
Much of the novel is in the form of first-person narratives predominantly about the narrator, yet despite him being a promising and affluent executive with an attractive wife, three children, a nice house and as many mistresses as he wants he is still unhappy and feels that something is missing in his life. According to the blurb this is 'an expose of the horrors of prosperity and peace' but I found Slocum a whining, self-pitying misogynist and is a very distasteful character. He visits and revisits key moments of his past in particular his teenage flirtations with a former colleague called Virginia, which I personally found monotonous and tedious.
In fact tedium would best describe my opinion of this book. Whilst Slocum does have a fairly hypnotic voice I found myself struggling to stay awake and turn the next page. In particular I hated the author's overuse of brackets, some of them contained over a page of prose, meaning that I sometimes forgot what had gone before and had to re-read it. In contrast the dialogue when it appeared I found quite pithy and amusing. I did manage to finish the book but in all honesty I cannot say that I would recommend it to others.
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LibraryThing member magonistarevolt
I want to read this solely based on the excerpt included in Alfie Kohn's book No Contest: The Case Against Competition, which literally brought me to tears:
""I try to give him a will to win. He doesn't have one...He passes the basketball deliberately -- he does it deliberately, Mr. Slocum, I swear
"No." I shake my head and try to bury a smile. Good for you, kid, I want to cheer out loud... for I can visualize my boy clearly far out in front in one of his relay races, laughing that deep, reverberating, unrestrained laugh that sometimes erupts from him, staggering with merriment as he toils to keep going and motioning liberally for the other kids in the race to catch up so they can all laugh together and run alongside each other as they continue their game (after all, it's only a game)."
""I try to give him a will to win. He doesn't have one...He passes the basketball deliberately -- he does it deliberately, Mr. Slocum, I swear
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he does. Like a joke. He throws it away -- to some kid on the other team just to give him a chance to make some points or to surprise the kids on his own team. For a joke. That's some joke, isn't it? ... When he's ahead in one of the relays, do you know what he does? He starts laughing. He does that. And then slows down and waits for the other guys to catch up. Can you imagine? The other kids on his team don't like that. That's no way to run a race, Mr. Slocum. Would you say that's a way to run a race?""No." I shake my head and try to bury a smile. Good for you, kid, I want to cheer out loud... for I can visualize my boy clearly far out in front in one of his relay races, laughing that deep, reverberating, unrestrained laugh that sometimes erupts from him, staggering with merriment as he toils to keep going and motioning liberally for the other kids in the race to catch up so they can all laugh together and run alongside each other as they continue their game (after all, it's only a game)."
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Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 1975)
Notable Books List (1974)
Language
Original publication date
1974-09
Physical description
576 p.; 5.52 x 1.42 inches
ISBN
0684841215 / 9780684841212