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couuboy's review against another edition
5.0
There’s a hole in me that can only be satiated (and even then, only temporarily) by doorstoppers (which is to say ~700+ page novels known to be a slog to get through). I make sure to read at least one of these books every year, usually in January, coinciding with a few weeks without commitments between finishing the recurring job I have each summer as a swim teacher and the start of Uni. This year I decided to force myself to get through Ulysses, a book that I tried to read first when I was 16 and wanted to be one of those kids set apart from the majority (without having to wear a beret) but I only made it 15 or so pages into before realising I wasn’t quite the genius I thought I was.
The reason I picked this book to finally read this year is pretty dumb, basically I had a meeting with an editor because a short story I wrote was accepted for a journal, the editor was Irish and when he asked me what I’d recently been reading I said I’d just finished A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – now this wasn’t the most recent book I’d finished however I hoped this might kick-start a positive rapport between us (it did). We talked about Joyce for a bit and I said I was planning on reading Ulysses this summer (I wasn’t) because this again seemed like a potentially favourable remark (it was), and so to sum, here I am, having read arguably the greatest modernist novels trying to get someone to like me. Figures. Although that’s not entirely true, I’ll also say that a sense of cultural obligation/residual cultural king of the hill-ism is also to blame (I also love love loved both Portrait and Dubliners but that’s not as distinctive a reasoning…).
Back to the doorstoppers, this book succeeded at exactly what I hoped it would. I found a great pleasure throughout this book but especially so for majority the second half (that second last episode itself was probably my favourite section of literature I’ve ever read…) which took me only a few days to get through whereas the first half took a couple weeks, I think this is where one can identify the locus of my pleasure. During these particular readings sessions, I find myself completely engaged with the style, structure, and scenes of the novel to the point that I perceive to feel an imaginative access to thoughts and experiences of firstly the characters but also more abstractly with the author. These are the rewards I’m looking for in most novels, rewards which are locked away unless one is willing to work to truly penetrate into the text.
Which brings me to my next point; I know this book is full of thousands of references and quotes and puzzles that I didn’t get and some that I did. A lot of the enjoyment I felt came not just from understanding Joyce’s references, but the present references to Joyce which I had previously processed but never internalised. An analogy I kept coming back to was that it felt akin to when I watch an older movie and realise that one of my favourite Simpsons episodes had done a skit about it, a moment of “so that’s what that was about!” which puts both art objects in a new light, it triggers a deeper sense of understanding and offers a deeper, more fulfilling awareness of meaning. That which came before Joyce, which he utilised so fluently, and that which comes after substantialise the nature of art, which is the spirit of continuity.
But this is not to say that sheer quantity of references make an object art (look at shows like Family Guy), to me, the rewards of Joyce (and [earlier seasons of] The Simpsons if I may go so far as to compare them…) lay in his ability to present his narrative without the overt lookatme-ism attention calling to the references. One does not feel pandered to if they understand the reference because one does not feel they would be excluded had they not gotten it, Ulysses is ostensibly self-contained, however for those who choose to put in the effort to solve the jigsaw will reap greater satisfaction in the clicks of pieces linking together, of reality's picture becoming clearer. The first example of this in the text which really make me realise it’s richness was Buck Mulligan’s quoting of Whitman (“Do I contradict myself?” etc. etc.) this wasn’t a very subtle reference I’ll admit however, it lead to me realising just what game Joyce was playing at. I know that there was a plethora of meaningful references to this book that I missed given it was my first reading (and also my worldly inexperience…), but I also know that in a couples years or so when I decide to revisit and re-revisit this book I will have provided myself with a better foundation to observe more critically what this book has to offer. Ulysses is the kind of book which is as difficult as it is rare, and which makes me to want to look more deeply into the world, so as to reveal the beauty that has been there all along.
The reason I picked this book to finally read this year is pretty dumb, basically I had a meeting with an editor because a short story I wrote was accepted for a journal, the editor was Irish and when he asked me what I’d recently been reading I said I’d just finished A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – now this wasn’t the most recent book I’d finished however I hoped this might kick-start a positive rapport between us (it did). We talked about Joyce for a bit and I said I was planning on reading Ulysses this summer (I wasn’t) because this again seemed like a potentially favourable remark (it was), and so to sum, here I am, having read arguably the greatest modernist novels trying to get someone to like me. Figures. Although that’s not entirely true, I’ll also say that a sense of cultural obligation/residual cultural king of the hill-ism is also to blame (I also love love loved both Portrait and Dubliners but that’s not as distinctive a reasoning…).
Back to the doorstoppers, this book succeeded at exactly what I hoped it would. I found a great pleasure throughout this book but especially so for majority the second half (that second last episode itself was probably my favourite section of literature I’ve ever read…) which took me only a few days to get through whereas the first half took a couple weeks, I think this is where one can identify the locus of my pleasure. During these particular readings sessions, I find myself completely engaged with the style, structure, and scenes of the novel to the point that I perceive to feel an imaginative access to thoughts and experiences of firstly the characters but also more abstractly with the author. These are the rewards I’m looking for in most novels, rewards which are locked away unless one is willing to work to truly penetrate into the text.
Which brings me to my next point; I know this book is full of thousands of references and quotes and puzzles that I didn’t get and some that I did. A lot of the enjoyment I felt came not just from understanding Joyce’s references, but the present references to Joyce which I had previously processed but never internalised. An analogy I kept coming back to was that it felt akin to when I watch an older movie and realise that one of my favourite Simpsons episodes had done a skit about it, a moment of “so that’s what that was about!” which puts both art objects in a new light, it triggers a deeper sense of understanding and offers a deeper, more fulfilling awareness of meaning. That which came before Joyce, which he utilised so fluently, and that which comes after substantialise the nature of art, which is the spirit of continuity.
But this is not to say that sheer quantity of references make an object art (look at shows like Family Guy), to me, the rewards of Joyce (and [earlier seasons of] The Simpsons if I may go so far as to compare them…) lay in his ability to present his narrative without the overt lookatme-ism attention calling to the references. One does not feel pandered to if they understand the reference because one does not feel they would be excluded had they not gotten it, Ulysses is ostensibly self-contained, however for those who choose to put in the effort to solve the jigsaw will reap greater satisfaction in the clicks of pieces linking together, of reality's picture becoming clearer. The first example of this in the text which really make me realise it’s richness was Buck Mulligan’s quoting of Whitman (“Do I contradict myself?” etc. etc.) this wasn’t a very subtle reference I’ll admit however, it lead to me realising just what game Joyce was playing at. I know that there was a plethora of meaningful references to this book that I missed given it was my first reading (and also my worldly inexperience…), but I also know that in a couples years or so when I decide to revisit and re-revisit this book I will have provided myself with a better foundation to observe more critically what this book has to offer. Ulysses is the kind of book which is as difficult as it is rare, and which makes me to want to look more deeply into the world, so as to reveal the beauty that has been there all along.
dmfw's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This is a book which I feel is more enjoyable to have read than to be reading. In retrospect it's possible to appreciate the structure, the intellectual games and the artful way the novel is put together but to be frank I didn't get out what I had to put in to finish this book and even though I don't think a book has to be enjoyable to be worthwhile necessarily, I'm afraid I am going to rank this one on the basis of how I felt whilst I was struggling through. Which was mainly exhausted, not moved and not especially enlightened.
It may well be the case that a second or third reading is needed to properly appreciate it in which case good luck to those who want to do that. I've had enough after one pass...
It may well be the case that a second or third reading is needed to properly appreciate it in which case good luck to those who want to do that. I've had enough after one pass...
emegallego's review against another edition
4.0
Is it worth it? Yes. Does it have some arduous passages? Sí. Does it have some absolutely incredible passages? Also, yes. Do you have to be a literature nerd to enjoy it? A bit. Will you enjoy it more if you use a guide? Probably. Am I writing this review in the style of Ithaca-catechism-(impersonal)? Not on purpose, I promise.
segue's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
calcollins's review against another edition
5.0
very challenging read, best done aloud and with accountability partners! it's a great book that opened my mind to the phonetics of language, the rhythm and beauty found in literature, and just how confusing James Joyce can make things. it's a great example of things being made clearer through their abstraction, a masterpiece and easily the most influential and groundbreaking books of the 20th century.
nooralhuda's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
snubbeltraden_'s review against another edition
4.0
Erästä nimettömäksi jäävää suurta ajattelijaa lainaten: ihme työmaa koko homma
klmnz's review against another edition
I have learned I need to read more Shakespeare and especially The Odyssey before reading this. Will be coming back!
lauradzpz's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0