Something Happened

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Something Happened. . . but just took long to happen.......2007-06-10

You're hard pressed to find a bigger Heller fan than me, but this was Heller's weakest effort. The book was just way too long. Something Happened could have achieved the same thing with half as many pages. The problem isn't really the length of the book but the redundancy of the content. Heller achieves a very affective description of Bob Slocum's existence and the drudgery and competition that is found in middle management corporate America rather early on in the book, but then he drags the pages out painfully for hundreds of more pages.

Also the use of parenthesis throughout the book becomes confusing when he goes for a full page in the parenthesis and then goes back to normal. I found myself losing the original thread so many times that the book lost any semblance of continuity very early on. This practice was extremely disruptive to my reading and caused much of my disappointment with this work.

The flow of the book was terrible which only emphasizes the fact that the book is much too long. The something that does eventually happen falls way short of redeeming this gawky, poorly constructed novel. Though I might have fallen asleep during a few pages, I did sludge my way through every last page of this book which is an achievement comparable to climbing a mountain in and of itself.

Heller has so many very good books out there that this one can and should be skipped for the really good ones.

Chilling, funny investigation into the rotting underside of the human psyche.......2007-04-21

Joseph Heller's "Something Happened" is more than just a brilliant stylistic exercise, or a period piece portraying the social mores of the 1970s. It is nothing less than a deep and insightful novelized investigation into the human psyche, with a distinct Neo-Freudian bent.

A short synopsis with no spoilers: Bob Slocum is a middle-aged middle-management executive who's worked for his company for decades. He hates his job, dislikes his family, engages in extramarital affairs, longs for a past he knows is a fiction, and worries about his sanity.

Littered throughout "Something Happened" are textbook-perfect depictions of human phobia and neuroses. Bob Slocum feels that the things around him lack meaning, and his life itself is bereft as well. He is too intelligent to not recognize that the symbols of his society are arbitrary, but too weak to rebel against them and to inject meaning into his own life.

The book is told from a first-person monologue perspective, and is so deft and pitch-perfect that it feels like nothing less than inhabiting the character's mind. It is difficult not to empathize with the protagonist, and to feel your world view slowly but surely morph into his. This is a book that stays with you, and is difficult to shake when you're finished.

A wonderful non-fiction companion piece for this book is "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker. In this book, Becker discusses the singular existential problems of humanity from a psychological perspective: we are creatures with symbolic-analytic brains capable of thinking with vast complexity; but that brain is tethered to a sweating, defecating meat-sack which decays and dies. We are part angel and part animal - and unlike the lower animals, we know we're going to die. This pervasive fear and foreboding of death plays itself out in all our myriad fetishes, fears, prejudices, and societal exercises.

This is not a book for everyone. Its perspective is unremittingly bleak, and the first-person stream of consciousness narrative is not for those who like action-packed Dan Brown-type escapades (not that there's anything wrong with that). If you are a reader who enjoys black humor and psychological complexity, you may well be mesmerized. I could not put this book down, myself.

Highly recommended. Not for the faint of heart of the short of attention span.

unendurably tedious.......2007-04-20

I am a graduate student in English, pursuing a Ph.D. I have read hundreds of books, many of which were dull, slow, plodding, pretentious. Not one approaches this book for sheer unendurable tedium. I cannot explain how any author could keep himself typing such unrelenting drivel, nor how an agent could read it and pitch it to a publisher, nor how that publisher could see such a dull book into print. You'd think at some point common sense would kick in and somebody say, "damn, this is awful. If we must publish it can't we at least pare it down to 200 pages of awfulness instead of over 600?" An utter systematic failure.

I give it one star because it it the lowest possible; really it deserves a zero.

worth the read.......2007-03-23

Heller's novel is indeed a bit plodding compared to some of his other work. but the central story line is an important one. We see inside the mind of the man caught up in corporate America, with his completely unsatisfying family life and purposeless competition at work. Instead of "something happened," I might have titled this book "What the hell happened?" The theme of unrealized expectations rings through prominently, leaving the reader realizing that the protagonist of the story probably can't wait to just be done with it all, with death as the only real way out.

Okay, what happened?.......2007-02-01

Wow! I have read almost all these reviews and I only saw one where the reader actually gets it (and knows it), that the something that happened was not the shock event at the end of the book, but, in the larger sense, the answer to the middle-aged angst about what happened to all those great dreams I had when I was young. What happened to all those dreams? I don't know - something happened.

Maybe it was just ordinary life that got in the way. Or, as many of the readers pointed out, nothing happened. A big fat nothing - nothing really became of all those dreams, and that's what the book is about. (Happens to almost all of us, right?)

So, if you are saying nothing happened, it's like, you actually got it, even though don't know that you got it, so you think you didn't get it.

Admittedly Joseph Heller is a hard read. Even Catch-22 is a hard read. Heller's vocabulary is hard, the sentences are convoluted, and there is not much flow. Whether you like this book might have a lot to do with your reading speed. I am a fast reader, but if I were not, a 500+ page book with no action and no plot would probably seem very tedious to me.

Or it may depend on what stage you are at in your life, and whether you have ever worked for a large corporation, and whether you even can like the main character a little bit. (I never did like Death of a Salesman, because I never found anything likeable in the main character. Although lots of people really could relate to him, I never could.)

I think maybe this is one of those books that if you start it and you are not liking it, just put it down for five or ten years and pick it up again later. It's a good book, although I actually had to deduct a star for the shock ending. (What's up with that? Heller just needed a shock ending to trick us, to make us think, oh, that's what happened? He needed a major event for the father to feel guilty over and that's what came to mind? He needed an allegorical event? It's jolting and I don't think it fits with the rest of the book; to me, it's his one false step = minus one star.)

Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies

Average customer rating:

Probably more appropriate as a reference volume for large numbers of readers
Wonderful if you lived thru the '70s and even if you did not
Excellent new history of the seventies

Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies
Edward D. Berkowitz
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0231124945

Book Description

In both the literal and metaphorical senses, it seemed as if 1970s America was running out of gas. The decade not only witnessed long lines at gas stations but a citizenry that had grown weary and disillusioned. High unemployment, runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, caused in part by U.S. dependence on Arab oil, characterized an increasingly bleak economic situation.

As Edward D. Berkowitz demonstrates, the end of the postwar economic boom, Watergate, and defeat in Vietnam led to an unraveling of the national consensus. During the decade, ideas about the United States, how it should be governed, and how its economy should be managed changed dramatically. Berkowitz argues that the postwar faith in sweeping social programs and a global U.S. mission was replaced by a more skeptical attitude about government's ability to positively affect society.

From Woody Allen to Watergate, from the decline of the steel industry to the rise of Bill Gates, and from Saturday Night Fever to the Sunday morning fervor of evangelical preachers, Berkowitz captures the history, tone, and spirit of the seventies. He explores the decade's major political events and movements, including the rise and fall of détente, congressional reform, changes in healthcare policies, and the hostage crisis in Iran. The seventies also gave birth to several social movements and the "rights revolution," in which women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities all successfully fought for greater legal and social recognition. At the same time, reaction to these social movements as well as the issue of abortion introduced a new facet into American political life-the rise of powerful, politically conservative religious organizations and activists.

Berkowitz also considers important shifts in American popular culture, recounting the creative renaissance in American film as well as the birth of the Hollywood blockbuster. He discusses how television programs such as All in the Family and Charlie's Angels offered Americans both a reflection of and an escape from the problems gripping the country.

Customer Reviews:

Probably more appropriate as a reference volume for large numbers of readers.......2006-04-14

For me "Something Happened" is a very difficult book to size up. If you were over the age of 18 and paying any attention at all to current events during the 1970's then you will not find very much new information in this book. In large part I found "Something Happened" to be very matter of fact and even a bit tedious at times. Having said that I must acknowledge that author Edward Berkowitz has produced an extremely well balanced analysis of the events of this tumultous decade.
For those who are too young to remember the 1970's "Something Happened" presents a fairly comprehensive overview of the political, economic, scientific and cultural phenomenon of the decade. Berkowitz also gives us a very balanced assessment of our political leadership during the decade and attempts to explain why the country as a whole seemed to be in such a funk during these years. Berkowitz succeeds in making the argument that there was a lot more going on in the 1970's than most people realize.
In the final analysis I believe that "Something Happened" is better suited as a reference book than a book for the general reader. I would definitely not recommend it for anyone over the age of 50. While "Something Happened" was an interesting trip down memory lane I found little in the way of new information in this book and that frustrated me. And yet I can see how valuable this book might be to someone much younger than myself. All in all this was a worthwhile project that deserves a spot in your public library.

Wonderful if you lived thru the '70s and even if you did not.......2006-03-17

I approached this book with some trepidation--the '70s were a queasy, transitional decade. But Berkowitz did a magnificant job capturing and explicating the ambiguities and contradictions. In his remarkably even-handed overview of the period, he had me nodding with recognition and happily astontished with his explanations of things I lived through but did not understand at the time. If you are 50+ myou should read this book because you'll just plain like it. If you're younger than 50, you should read it because you will learn agreat deal about a very misunderstood time in America.

Excellent new history of the seventies.......2005-12-27

The traditional take on the decade of the seventies is that nothing much happened during that self-absorbed period. The seventies were a decade of hideous bell-bottom pants, long side-burns, gaudy leisure-suits, and a superficial engagement with civic culture. The seventies are often viewed as a kind of doldrums between the political activism of the sixties and the conservative resurgence of the eighties. But as Edward Berkowitz explains in this clear, concise, and well-written history of the 1970s, the seventies were indeed a decade in which Something Happened. In fact, a whole lot happened. According to Berkowitz, the 1970s were the decade when the social, political and economic patterns of the postwar period terminally broke down and fundamentally changed into something very different.

Through a review of the economics, politics, and cultural expressions of the period, Berkowitz is able to craft a brief but very comprehensive overview of this entire misunderstood decade. Although he focuses primarily on the public policy and politics of the era, he also provides a credible sketch of the "rights revolution" of the period, as well as some insightful social commentary in the form of reviews of the major movies of the period.

Although Berkowitz is a professor of history at George Washington University, this is not a dry, academic text. Berkowitz has a light literary touch and a style that is easy on the reader. Berkowitz's account is also refreshingly free of political agenda. In Something Happened, Berkowitz provides a clear-eyed and objective view of this surprisingly interesting period.

For those of us who lived through the seventies, but have forgotten most of it, or especially for those for whom the seventies are entirely an abstraction, this little book provides the overview we need to get our heads around this fascinating period in American history. This excellent book is destined to become one of the standard texts on the seventies, and it is certainly the most accessible, reliable and readable overview currently available.

Something Happened and I'm Scared to Tell: A Book for Young Victims of Abuse

Average customer rating:

Misses The Mark
It helped my kids
Some good things, but BE CAREFUL!
Excellent resource for reaching young children at-risk

Something Happened and I'm Scared to Tell: A Book for Young Victims of Abuse
Patricia Kehoe
Manufacturer: Parenting Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0943990289

Book Description

With the help of a friendly lion, a young sexual abuse victim is able to talk about sexual abuse and recover self-esteem. Gentle and positive approach to reassure children.

Customer Reviews:

Misses The Mark.......2005-03-24

I feel this book falls FAR short of the mark in helping children discuss sexual abuse. It veers off into fantasy and that could be confusing for some children.

I didn't like the way a lion helps a "gender-neutral" child disclose sexual abuse. I felt the lion added a touch of the whimsical and detracted from the very real concerns surrounding the issue of child molestation. On the plus side of the ledger, the feelings that accompany sexual abuse are not limited to either gender but are universal and that point is made in this book. Even so, I would not have found this book helpful at any age. The rationale the lion gives the child as to why predators target children was worded in a way that sounds as if predatory behavior was being condoned. I agree with another reviewer that the reasons stated herein are NOT valid reasons for child molestation.

As a child, I was led to believe that "bad touches" were only recognized as such if done by strangers. That made me wonder if one had recourse when "bad touches" were NOT executed by strangers. Although I never bought the theory that only strangers were predators, the issue of "bad touches" being done by somebody one knew was not addressed. Had I read this book during those years, I would have wondered why the lion "was telling that kid it's [bad touches] okay" for the reasons provided. I would also have been angry and thought, "I don't like that [bad touches] and even if it's somebody you know, it is STILL bad." I amend my earlier stand to state that if it is somebody the child knows, that is far worse because trust issues are severely impaired. One has no reason to trust or distrust a stranger, but in the case of someone a child knows, that makes for a more threatening environment.

I agree with the good point raised in another review that the book appears to be more sympathetic towards predators and downplays the serious repercussions predatory behavior has. I would think that by 1987, when this book was published, stupid myths such as this would have long been dispelled.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this one. Read Kleven's book, "The Right Touch: A Read Aloud Story to Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse;" Freeman's "It's My Body;" Linda Walvoord Girard's "My Body is Private;" Cornelia Spelman's "Your Body Belongs to You" and listen to Peter Alsop's collection, "Songs on Sex & Sexuality," especially the song, "My Body" instead. These are stellar family friendly works that provide accurate information in a gentle and direct way that will empower readers of all ages, particularly young readers.

It helped my kids.......2003-04-24

I recently adopted two young children and began to suspect they had been sexually abused. My preschool daughter even underwent a forensic examination but did not disclose anything. I read them this book, however, and it sparked a discussion about sex and what happens during sex that led to them disclosing the very serious abuse they underwent. So even though this book is not perfect, the illustrations are not in color, for example, it would be the highest rating possible from me.

Some good things, but BE CAREFUL!.......2001-03-01

In this book, a friendly lion helps a child come to terms with the reality of sexual abuse. The use of an androgynous child should help both males and females to recognize themselves, and the discussion of common feelings related to abuse (such as fear, guilt, and confusion) is valuable. However, as a survivor of sexual abuse myself, I was shocked and dismayed by the list of possible reasons abusers target children. The lion tells the child that child abusers may be afraid to love adults, and that adolescent offenders may simply be "curious about sex." It is my opinion that these are not valid reasons to abuse a child. Such misinformation only detracts from the child's needs by "explaining away" behavior and making the abuser an object of pity. As a result, a child may feel that it is wrong to feel angry or sad, because the perpetrator, being "afraid to love grownups," had no choice but to abuse. I am sure this is not the message the author intended to convey. However, if I had read this book as a child, I am certain I would have felt terrible for my abuser and therefore locked myself further into silence. If you must use this book, tell a child that much has been learned and acknowledged since its publication. Also, look for books published in 1993 or later. Great strides have been made in the last eight years.

Excellent resource for reaching young children at-risk.......1999-08-21

This book is fairly direct in exploring a young child's discomfort arising from sexual abuse. I use it in a prevention program I conduct with four,five and six-year-olds, and it was responded to with great interest (and many questions) by a little girl who had already aroused the concern of school staff. Evidently, it reaches the intended audience!

Average customer rating:

I highly recomend this book!

Something Terrible Happened: A Novel
Barbara Ann Porte
Manufacturer: Orchard Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

AIDS & HIV | Health, Mind & Body | Teens | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0531068692

Customer Reviews:

I highly recomend this book!.......1998-07-03

The experience of having a parent die is horrid. Everyone knows that, but in this book you live through it with Gillian. Her mother was the light of her world until she found out that she had AIDS. The first reaction to the shock, trying every traditional medication she can get her hands on, brings the two on a frenzied search. Gillian's grandmother has always held the strength of the family, and she sends Gillian away to her dead father's relatives. The adjustment from a world in the city of West Indian women, to a "ghost white" family in Tennesee is not easy for Gillian, and as her mother becomes weaker each day, they aren't on good terms.

Book Description

It was a stormy Saturday night and detective Messina just wanted to go home. He didn't anticipate questioning two drenching wet boys about what they saw. He never asked to pull three bodies from a Houston bayou. And, he most certainly never wanted to see pictures of himself posted on a Houston web page with would be hints and clues about what's going on. That Saturday night, Messina was only interested in going home

...Then Something Happened.

Set in the diverse backdrop of Houston, Texas, it's a story that shows both sides of the horrors of teen violence and Messina must wade through it all to find out what happened, and more importantly, why.

Something Happened on the Way to Happily Ever After: A Biblical View of Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage

Average customer rating:

Excellent
A MUST READ FOR BOTH MINISTERS AND INDIVIDUALS IN GENERAL.
I learned the hard way
single best book on these difficult subjects
In the absence of an Old Testament certificate of divorce...

Something Happened on the Way to Happily Ever After: A Biblical View of Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage
Rick Walston
Manufacturer: Wipf & Stock Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 1597524816

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-02-01

Walston has done it again! I have been a pastor for thirteen years, and regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage, I can find no better resource on the subject. Walston shows his ability to reach his audience; although he is a very well-educated individual, he doesn't boggle down the mind of his readers with scholarly terms and definitions.

The book is good for the graduate level students as well as the lay person in the congregation that has a heart to minister and counsel those that are just starting off in marriage and those that are looking for answers in their struggling marriages.

With the study questions for each chapter, the reader(s) will find this book becoming a practical study of biblical insight and knowledge.

This book is highly recommended.

A MUST READ FOR BOTH MINISTERS AND INDIVIDUALS IN GENERAL........2006-08-23

Dr. Rick Walston brings more than two decades of ministerial experience to this work that examines the biblical view of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. He writes with a pastor's heart while sharing real-life stories that he has encountered over the years during counseling couples.

I highly recommend that ministers read this book so that they can learn from Dr. Walston's insights and experiences so that they know how to better minister to those who are struggling in a marriage, divorce, or remarriage.

Likewise, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently married because there are biblical lessons that can be learned from it that can strengthen the marriage covenant. This book is also helpful for the individual who has gone through the tradegy of divorce: God is capable and able to help individuals through the healing process that follows the divorce. Furthermore, those who have experienced divorce and are now remarried can learn biblical truth on their situation as well.

I learned the hard way.......2006-06-16

I was amazed at the way that Dr. Walston wrote this book . . . it was almost like reading a novel, but it was full of theological insight. The real-life stories at the start of each chapter really sets the stage for the truths that are to come. I learned about divorce and remarriage the hard way, "school of hard knocks." Then I learned about my real-life D&R in the context of the Bible and What God has to say about it through this book. I wish I had known about these things that Walston teaches on years ago; perhaps, then I would not have made the mistakes that I did. I've been recommending this book to many friends.

single best book on these difficult subjects.......2006-05-24

After Reading Dr. Walston's other book, "The Speaking in Tongues Controversy: The Initial, Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit Debate," I was excited to read this book, so I bought it immediately. I was not disappointed. Walston demonstrates the same level of Biblical scholarship in this book as he does in his other book, yet all the while making it easily understandable for the lay-person. His writing is clear and easy to understand. He takes some very difficult issues (and passages of Scripture) and makes them very clear. This book has now become my primary text for premarital, divorce, and remarriage counseling. If you are divorced and remarried or you minister to people who are, you need this book. It is, in my humble opinion, the single best book on these difficult subjects.

In the absence of an Old Testament certificate of divorce..........2006-03-06

...Walston's book is the next best thing to educate and counsel religious people on the array of biblical passages on divorce. Easy to read and understand, a better desktop reference for therapists to address clients' confusion, guilt, and despair---be it warranted or imagined---surrounding divorce and remarriage cannot be found.

Average customer rating:

Something terrible has happened
Peter Van Slingerland
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B0007E1F3K

3 Titles By Joseph Heller : Something Happened - Good As Gold - God Knows

Average customer rating:

3 Titles By Joseph Heller : Something Happened - Good As Gold - God Knows
Joseph Heller
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TB1ED2

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