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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
My Recommendation: If you like stream of consciousness, random shifts in perspective and timeline, have at it. If those two things are not your cup of tea then pass. I will not be reading James Joyce again in the future no matter how many beautiful passages I stumbled into, there weren't enough to make me want to voluntarily subject myself to this again. I fell asleep trying to read this SO MANY TIMES! And I'm not talking fell asleep in bed, I'm talking on my lunch break at my desk in the office, standing up in line at the post office, and even at one-point walking around the house specifically trying NOT to fall asleep just to get through Chapter 3!
My Response: Ugh—I should've given up while I was ahead, or used the same app I used to slog my way through Ulysses. This was the longest 215 pages of my life.
I actually broke down for the last chapter and found an audiobook version from my local library to listen to at 1.25x speed while sorting data and stuff at work. So, at the very least I can say I enjoyed the Irish accents for that portion of it and the Whaley last name shout out about 75% of the way through :-D
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
My Response: Ugh—I should've given up while I was ahead, or used the same app I used to slog my way through Ulysses. This was the longest 215 pages of my life.
I actually broke down for the last chapter and found an audiobook version from my local library to listen to at 1.25x speed while sorting data and stuff at work. So, at the very least I can say I enjoyed the Irish accents for that portion of it and the Whaley last name shout out about 75% of the way through :-D
Continue reading on my book blog at geoffwhaley.com.
I first read this in college and it was like a thunderclap. Someone else has felt things the way I do! Someone else sees these things. Someone else knows what it's like. I read it again in my forties, and it was still as rich and life-fulfilling as I remembered.
If you are a sensitive, thoughtful man, you should read this book (maybe a sensitive, thoughtful woman as well, although Joyce can hardly get beyond objectifying women, so it might not be as good for you). If you are someone who has lived in terror of hell, you should read this book. If you are someone who has never understood the appeal of team sports, you should read this book. If your head has often been a better home than the world around you, you should read this book. It is warm & rational & aesthetic all at once in a way that few books are.
But it is also of another time, and of a certain class. I can see where there are people who would be bored stiff, who just wouldn't get it. So I can't say it's universally great. But for the thoughtful, the distantly kind, the grinning self-explorers, this should be on your shelf.
If you are a sensitive, thoughtful man, you should read this book (maybe a sensitive, thoughtful woman as well, although Joyce can hardly get beyond objectifying women, so it might not be as good for you). If you are someone who has lived in terror of hell, you should read this book. If you are someone who has never understood the appeal of team sports, you should read this book. If your head has often been a better home than the world around you, you should read this book. It is warm & rational & aesthetic all at once in a way that few books are.
But it is also of another time, and of a certain class. I can see where there are people who would be bored stiff, who just wouldn't get it. So I can't say it's universally great. But for the thoughtful, the distantly kind, the grinning self-explorers, this should be on your shelf.
The only thing better than reading this for the fifth time is having it read to me by Colin Farrell, whose intonations give the text so much more depth.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Completely agree with one of the reviews on the back cover describing Joyce’s writing as like Impressionism, but I would posit that’s really only in the first half or so of the novel. Outside of that, he does a lot of other interesting things, from the transcribed sermons of the main character’s Catholic school’s spiritual retreat to the series of diary entries with which Joyce finishes the novel.
I think this book would be really fun for someone who knows Latin, as it definitely has a consistent presence throughout the narrative, and it also made me want to research Irish history, especially politics, at the turn of the twentieth century.
I really loved how Joyce depicted Stephen’s awakenings into consciousness as he grows up, it was such an accurate depiction of developing awareness of the world around you, but I did have a slight problem with his glorification of the tortured artist. The only time I felt he was pushing back against this was in Stephen’s final discussion (or second-to-last?) with his friend Cranly, who I think is my favorite character.
I think this book would be really fun for someone who knows Latin, as it definitely has a consistent presence throughout the narrative, and it also made me want to research Irish history, especially politics, at the turn of the twentieth century.
I really loved how Joyce depicted Stephen’s awakenings into consciousness as he grows up, it was such an accurate depiction of developing awareness of the world around you, but I did have a slight problem with his glorification of the tortured artist. The only time I felt he was pushing back against this was in Stephen’s final discussion (or second-to-last?) with his friend Cranly, who I think is my favorite character.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the first chapter, liked the last chapter, and could not understand anything between those two ... Let's say I'm confused about how I feel about it on its whole.
Reading the first two chapters for class felt painful, but the conversation we had about it and what is realism and what is a young adult and what is liminality was great.
I think I win for comparing Stephen Dedalus at the Christmas dinner table to Becca Moody at all tables with Hank, Karen, Charlie, and Marcy.
I think I win for comparing Stephen Dedalus at the Christmas dinner table to Becca Moody at all tables with Hank, Karen, Charlie, and Marcy.