Just to clarify, Debbie, Catch 22 is written by Joseph Heller.

Also, Catch 22 is worth the work, if you can shift it.  It's non-linear narrative structure makes it hard to get investing in the characters the first reading, but the structure exisit for a reason, if only to increase the shell shock that the characters are communicating through thier experiences. (After all, war is hardly an orderly, easy to read linear narrative.)  And try to remember that the book is satire, and therefore of a particular time and place.  Reading it in a new context, the references my not ring true until you have more context, whether through the book itself or through outside material.  One of the reasons the characters aren't as immediately accessible is because they represent types and particular roles within the environment, not necessarily the robust multidimensional characters in traditional novels.  

Who ever though all that literary critique from high school and college would help so much, eh?