Catch-22 is Fifty Years Old

I was especially interested in this article -- "The Awful Truth of Catch-22" --exploring the meaning of Heller's novel. Summary of the author's point:

"I think Heller's argument was not with war or with death but with God. That the novel is less about the death of Snowden than "the death of God," as that theological tendency was known back then. That what the novel is really about is theodicy. Theodicy being of course the subcategory of theology which attempts (and studies the attempts) to reconcile human suffering, cruelty, and evil with the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God. Heller doesn't think it can be done."

Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923)

Catch 22 is Heller’s most famous book, and the one that will probably be best remembered. His characters are vivid, as is his description of the futility felt by soldiers in a war. It was famous, but did anyone learn anything about futility? Can one learn?  

Good as Gold is a book about New York Jews that I think has already been forgotten, because who can follow a satire about Henry Kissinger and the Nixon era any more?