I was in Kenya when I read 'Catch-22,' and I associate this book that has nothing to do with Kenya - whenever I think of 'Catch-22,' I think of Nairobi.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I grew up in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya, so it's hustle and bustle, and there's always something going on.
When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as 'Catch-22' I'm tempted to reply, 'Who has?'
In Kenya, crime and terrorism are deeply linked, not least by the failure of successive Kenyan governments to control either.
Catch-22's first readers were largely of the generation that went through World War II. For them, it provided a startlingly fresh take, a much-needed, much-delayed laugh at the terror and madness they endured.
'Catch-22' was a huge failure, and it rubbed off on everybody connected to it. I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about.
'Caught' is a novel of forgiveness, and the past and the present - who should be and who shouldn't be forgiven. None of my books are ever just about thrills, or it won't work.
Catch-22's admirers cross boundaries - ideological, generational, geographical.
Kenya, being a third world country, from a young age your eyes are open to the real world. I'd like to think growing up there taught me to stand on my own two feet, make my own decisions about what I wanted to be.
I was eighteen when I first read Joseph Heller's stunning work 'Catch-22,' and was at that time close to being drafted for the fruitless and unenlightened war in Viet Nam.
I cited 'Catch-22' as a landmark film and one of my favourites.