Rating: 
Summary: A Serious (but Rewarding) Read -- Not for Easy Laughs
Review:
I have read many books and I would rate Something Happened as one of my favorites, right up there with Lolita. For those of you who found Catch-22 hilarious, this is not in the same genre. It is funny, but often in a wistful, sad sort of way. Personally, I didn't find even Catch-22 to be the knee-slapper some believe it to be. There is too much angst beneath the jokes for it to be a total knee-slapper.
Something Happened is the psychological study of one man's continual struggle to find meaning in his life. Bob Slocum, the central character, has repressed nearly all his good traits to climb the corporate ladder and to insulate himself from the pain of personal relationships. His reward is a comfortable and secure position as a middle manager in a major corporation, a seemingly cozy family in a wealthy suburb and easy sexual gratifcation with any number of young women. He seemingly has it all. Yet, he knows there should be so much more.
As you delve into the novel, you begin to understand the why's of his repugnant behavior and to see him as an imperfect, yet whole, human being. As my husband once commented, Bob Slocum is not a good guy, but he's not a horrible guy either.
The story has no obvious plot so many reviewers lament that "nothing happened." Even the climax some claim to be worth the 600 pages, however, is well foreshadowed and will disappoint if you cannot enjoy good character development.
But if you savor full, rich characters who are neither saints nor monsters (much like you and me), and if you like to periodically reflect on the world around you (especially the inter-personal one and why we hurt those we love), then this will be a highly rewarding read.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Novel! Check it out!
Review:
What author Joseph Heller seems to be best at is writing from inside someone else's mind.
Joseph Heller's "Something Happened" was his first book after the landmark Catch-22 and it differed from that novel in one respect. Where Catch-22 was the mind of an era on display; here it is only one man. Where Catch-22 displays the idiosyncrasies that we collectively call war; "Something Happened" displays the idiosyncrasies that we call a perfectly normal life. It is only when we see the mind of that perfectly normal life that we realize that "normal" is as far from the truth as one can get.
But, of course, that depends on your definition of "normal." We realize that we are all just like the main character of this novel, and we all consider ourselves to be normal; and that is what will scare you the most. "Something Happened" will raise some serious questions in your mind!
In some ways, the main character, here, resembles Willy Loman of "The Death of a Salesman." (Maybe because you realize that there is a bit of Loman in each one of us -- maybe more than we care to admit.)
The book reads very much like JD Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" (though with more of a story). The continuous flow of thought from a confused mind; accurate and engrossing. This book has received much less hype than Catch 22, but try it for yourself! Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- completely unrelated to Heller, but very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club" by Richard Perez, an exceptional, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.
Rating: 
Summary: Nowhere near Catch-22
Review: I read many reviews before posting mine and I was outraged by some readers comparing Catch-22 with Something Happened. While the former was a classic which stays with one for a long time, the latter is an exasperatingly endless account of a corporate executive Bob Slocum who keeps dwelling into his mind for most of the time and after reading about his confused, ironical, directionless statements, I wished he'd just shut up. Although I will grant that it does have its funny moments - but few and far betweeen. While Catch 22 was a delightfully original work of art, this seems just a half baked attempt to cash in on the Catch-22 expectations. Heller just goes on and on, ad nauseam about the most trivial things of domestics and you sometimes wonder "okay, but where's the plot?"
I'd just like to make a final statement - Heller does a totally disappointing encore to Catch 22. Don't read this book. I greatly recommend against reading such a monstrously long account of a sexist, promiscuous, weird executive who seems all confused and keeps boring the reader with him. Totally avoidable fare.
Rating:
Summary: i have to do a book report
Review: for those of you out there who have read this book, i would like to say doing a 10 page comparison of this book and Catch 22 is the most annoying thing...ever. Tip for those of you in Mrs. Jens class do not pick these books, the only information you will find is on Catch 22.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest suicide note ever written
Review: Heller could've followed up CATCH 22 with another piece of zany madcap cartoon comedy. But luckily he didn't. Instead he wrote something that's far better than CATCH 22. He wrote a confessional monolog that conveniently explains why people kill themselves. (Or why they feel suicidal even if they never get around to killing themselves.) And the obvious question is: why did it take so long for someone to write something like this?
"In my middle years, I have exchanged the position of the fetus for the position of a corpse ... I was with a married woman not long ago who told me she felt so lonely at times she turned ice cold and was literally afraid she was freezing to death from inside, and I believe I know what she meant ... Everything drains away, leaving me with the apathetic outlook that I have arrived at my true level and it is low."
Rating: 
Summary: Loved it and also hated it.........
Review: Reviewing this book, as well as actually reading it, is no easy task. I have very mixed feelings about it, which in itself is not that uncommon, except for the fact that these feelings are diametrically opposed to each other. How do you review and rate a book when you both loved and hated it?
On one hand, Heller is without a doubt a superb writer, and Bob Slocum is a profound, complex, and extremely real character. The novel is very well written and allows you to dive deeply into Slocum's mind and also into his (lack of) soul. There is a certain hypnotic effect that takes place as you are getting to know Slocum. At times, Heller helps himself by developing Slocum through repetition. Many times will themes, dialogues, and ideas be repeated, which may become boring to some extent.
On the other hand, this novel left me with a sense of complete emptiness. In my opinion a good book is one that makes you feel strong emotions, regardless of whether they are positive of negative...so strictly by my own definition, this is a good book. How rewarding is it? Very little....
Regarding the book's plot, it is practically nonexistent. I would not have liked to have to write a book report on Something Happened, and be expected to complete a section or chapter called Plot!
To be quite frank, with Heller's reknown wit, I was expecting a more humorous book. This turns out to be one of the saddest books I have read in a long time. Slocum is the kind of person that nobody wants to be but a whole lot of people turn out to be. He doesn't love, or need, or cherish, or value anything. He is truly a character without a soul.
Is the novel worth the time you have to put into the 560+ pages? I'd have to reluctantly say.....yes.
I've read many books which try to satirize the american dream and the modern way of life, but this one goes too far. However close to real life this book may be, I like to think my son will grow up in a world where the imense majority of people laugh, love, dream and care deeply about someone or something....
Finally, if you're depressed, wait until you're happier to pick up this book....it may develop suicidal tendencies.
Rating:
Summary: Good Business Reading
Review: Some random reviewer on Barnes and Noble gave us this: "the novel reads like a kick in the groin."In many ways, this novel is a more scholarly, literary, and philosophical precursor to Fight Club in that it chronicles a man who is, by any common standard, a very successful person in Corporate America. He has an excellent and well-paying job. He has a wife. He has children. He has a lovely house. Yet he finds his life shallow and empty of purpose. He finds himself indulging in self-destructive behaviors. He finds himself completely unable to communicate with his family. He finds himself completely unable to connect in any genuine sense with any other person in his work or social life. He examines every facet of his life from his job, to his marriage, to his children, and he finds that a strange sort of cowardice pervades his life. He realizes that "something happened" in his life to change everything he knew and every way he behaved and made him the ineffectual, pompous, and empty coward that he and all the people around him have become. For those people in the business community who have pondered their own existence and the true results and purpose they will have on the world, this novel will read like a kick in the groin. Something Happened is a completely unsettling and unflinching look at the kind of life that is derivative of one spent in the service of a business. It will teach you why you fear everyone you work with and why they fear you. It will teach you why you so often feel so alone. And it will teach you why you learn to break free and why you may be so unable to do it.
Rating:
Summary: An existentialist Masterpiece
Review: The title of this book by Joseph Heller is "Something Happened." Another title could have been "Life: The Book." This is one of the very, very few books I know that accurately and realistically portrays real life - life as it actually is - warts and all. The book I read immediately before this one was James Joyce's much-touted masterwork, Ulysses. Now, that book can, and has been, described the same way by many, and it is, in many ways, the very last word on realism. That said, it has much in common with this book, and Something Happened is, in many ways, the better book. Classicists and romanticists may well prefer Joyce's novel and consider it downright blasphemy to have it compared with this modern masterwork, but the fact is, this is a very good and much underrated book, and will probably be preferred by post-modernists and existentialists over Ulysses. The book is very long - nearly 600 pages - and does have a tendency to ramble at times - often seemingly without a point. It's written in the style of a first-person narrative, and this is one of the few books where you truly get into the head of the main character. That is the main difference between this book and Ulysses: unlike the latter work, which follows the adventures of three separate characters as they follow parallel courses and sometimes intertwine, Something Happened consists entirely of one character's thoughts and actions. And, since it deals only with other people insofar as they relate to him, it can get a bit solipsistic at times - however, that said, Heller's intention with this book (I think) was to accurately and realistically describe the thoughts in the head of a fairly normal, everyday American male. He does a rather remarkable job of this. The only real criticism of the book I can make is that it does tend to repeat itself quite a lot at times: certain situations are mentioned again and again with little or no variation, often seemingly for no reason - but, as anyone knows, this is, indeed, how most people's minds do work. The main character, Bob Slocum, is not a perfect person - but he is a REAL person. This is not another cardboard cutout character that we see all too many of: this is a real living, breathing flesh and blood character, warts and all - HUMAN, just like us. Many of the situations he finds himself in - both in the workplace and domestically - as well as the thoughts and emotions he finds himself experiencing, will no doubt hit home with a great many readers. Although Heller more than likely constructed Slocum to portray a certain generation of people - the anguished, confused veterans of the war - he is applicable to the Average Joe: he's the true Everyman. Heller seeks, in this book, to answer the real question: What, just what, DID happen, to that great, blinding glow of post-war euphoria? Or, as Roger Waters put it, "Whatever happened to the post-war dream?" Where's the American Dream? Where's all the sun and rainbows? WHAT HAPPENED? Something did. I highly reccommend this book. It is a masterpiece, and criminally underrated. It's a shame that Heller's reputation rests almost solely upon Catch-22, when he has so many other notable and distinct works, such as this one. As another reviewer pointed out, I believe this book was overlooked by Modern Library when they made their list of the Top 100 Books of the 20th Century: it truly belongs on it. Don't make the mistake of overlooking it.
Rating:
Summary: Something Happened with 5 pages left!
Review: This book was one of the most difficult I've read in recent memory. It can truly be considered literature rather than pop fiction. It is the stream-of-consciousness of a businessman in the late 60s/early 70s who seems to be going through some hard times. There is very little plot for over 500 pages, yet the author masterfully draws you into the psyche of the narrator. Then BANG something happens right before the end. If you stick with it, you will find that the character's mental health deteriorates painfully until the defining moment of the book. THEN look for your symbolism, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Heller's magnum opus
Review: This is Heller's masterpiece, not the vastly overrated Catch 22. That book was an entertainment; this one is a work of art. It might be described as a portrait of Hell, set in the affluent suburbs of Connecticut. I read this work twenty years ago, and it's still vivid in my mind (how many books can one say that about?). In fact, I checked in to the Amazon site because I plan to read it again and was curious to see what others had said about it. Heller's powers of description are awesome, as is his ability to `explore' his protagonist's psyche. I felt I was right there with Bob Slocumb, inside his mind. A disagreeable individual he may be, but he is also infinitely human, and as another reviewer stated, a modern American Everyman, with whom (alas) I identified. I read through some of the previous Amazon reviews and am baffled by those who panned this book and said it was tedious. On the contrary, I found it a real page-turner. The writing is fresh and moves right along. Perhaps those reviewers who hated it were expecting another Catch 22, or in some way approached it with pre-set ideas as to what a novel should be and were therefore disappointed. The `repetitiveness' that some complained about was neither sloppy writing on Heller's part, nor careless work by his editor. It serves the purpose of getting inside the character's mind and portraying his life, and it held my attention throughout. Is every thought or feeling that each of us have day in and day out always startling and fresh, and do we never repeat ourselves? I think not. The portrait Heller creates is masterful. Next to some of the post-modern, magic realism dreck that passes for fiction these days, Something Happened is incomparable. By all means, pick this book up; you won't be disappointed, unless you're expecting it to be something else.
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