Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was brave enough to write and to publish a book titled, "Something Happened" in which he makes nothing happening almost something. Most of the time the writing is at least good enough to make you want to turn the page. Heller's daughter, who many think is his closest reader, thought it his best book.

"I suppose it is just about impossible for someone like me to rebel anymore and produce any kind of lasting effect. I have lost the power to upset things that I had as a child; I can no longer change my environment or even disturb it seriously."

These two sentences occur on page 18. Amazingly, Heller is able to sustain their powerlessness another 500-plus pages, right through to the end of the book.

I'm writing a book right now where something happened. I thought I knew what happened, that I was in charge of the material, but now I'm not sure. I'm at that point in the writing of the book where I'm writing it after I thought it had been written, the hardest part of writing a book.