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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
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
Girl what are you talking about, like i feel like its just word vomit and this random guy talking about very common feelings but thinking that he’s totally special and unique.
"You made me confess the fears that I have. But I will tell you also what I do not fear. I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too."
Written beautifully, knowing it's autobiographical makes it more special. A deep dive into spirituality, identity and finding oneself. I loved how the tone, intensity and introspection develops as he gets older.
Written beautifully, knowing it's autobiographical makes it more special. A deep dive into spirituality, identity and finding oneself. I loved how the tone, intensity and introspection develops as he gets older.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is an awful lot like an avant-garde album. Something like Bitches Brew maybe, something that, to this day, generations of new listeners still sit down with to try and wrap their heads around this thing they've heard about.
It was interesting revisiting Portrait for the first time since before I went to college. Back then I automatically jumped to the conclusion that this work of art was incredible purely on the basis that I'd never read anything like it. It just blew my mind really. I was a big reader back then but not yet introduced to the real high brow stuff. I hadn't realised yet why my dad sniffed at James Patterson. Joyce was really a new dawn.
Coming back to Portrait as an adult with a better idea of how books work, I found a few surprises. The famous description of hell that so shook me in my late teens was a lot shorter and less scary than I remembered. It probably helps that I've read Dante's Inferno since but even Lincoln in the Bardo bears a scarier warning for those who might have strayed from the light. The political debate about Parnell that gave me heart palpatations as a teen felt more like a dinner party that I'd probably been at.
This time around I was definitely more conscious of the parts of the book that didn't work so well. Joyce's escapades in college are insufferable. I know he was very clever but his thinly veiled autobiographical account of wandering university with his friends making witty rejoinders, shouting at each other in Latin, or contemplating the philosophical limits of a wicker basket was just too much.
Returning to the simile of Portrait being like an avant-garde album, there were cuts that worked and cuts that didn't. Parts of this book are sublime, including the contemplation of Hell and the political debate, even if they aren't quite as shocking as I remembered. There are parts that don't work so well but, to me, that's just the result of experimentation at this level. The good far outweighs what bad there is here. What really blows my mind about Portrait though, flaws and all, is that it doesn't suffer from the effects of "Seinfeld isn't funny", the idea that an older piece of art loses its impact because everything that followed it copied what made it revolutionary. This novel is over a hundred years old but still feels like it pushes boundaries. There still isn't anything out there quite like Joyce, certainly not for an Irish audience, and that's the real thing to take away here. That's what makes A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man an indispensable classic.
It was interesting revisiting Portrait for the first time since before I went to college. Back then I automatically jumped to the conclusion that this work of art was incredible purely on the basis that I'd never read anything like it. It just blew my mind really. I was a big reader back then but not yet introduced to the real high brow stuff. I hadn't realised yet why my dad sniffed at James Patterson. Joyce was really a new dawn.
Coming back to Portrait as an adult with a better idea of how books work, I found a few surprises. The famous description of hell that so shook me in my late teens was a lot shorter and less scary than I remembered. It probably helps that I've read Dante's Inferno since but even Lincoln in the Bardo bears a scarier warning for those who might have strayed from the light. The political debate about Parnell that gave me heart palpatations as a teen felt more like a dinner party that I'd probably been at.
This time around I was definitely more conscious of the parts of the book that didn't work so well. Joyce's escapades in college are insufferable. I know he was very clever but his thinly veiled autobiographical account of wandering university with his friends making witty rejoinders, shouting at each other in Latin, or contemplating the philosophical limits of a wicker basket was just too much.
Returning to the simile of Portrait being like an avant-garde album, there were cuts that worked and cuts that didn't. Parts of this book are sublime, including the contemplation of Hell and the political debate, even if they aren't quite as shocking as I remembered. There are parts that don't work so well but, to me, that's just the result of experimentation at this level. The good far outweighs what bad there is here. What really blows my mind about Portrait though, flaws and all, is that it doesn't suffer from the effects of "Seinfeld isn't funny", the idea that an older piece of art loses its impact because everything that followed it copied what made it revolutionary. This novel is over a hundred years old but still feels like it pushes boundaries. There still isn't anything out there quite like Joyce, certainly not for an Irish audience, and that's the real thing to take away here. That's what makes A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man an indispensable classic.
Um. No. This felt like too much work. But it did put me solidly to sleep every night. If this makes me an intellectual lightweight, so be it.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book.
It was wonderfully written in a progressive style that aged as the protagonist aged.
I should really read this one again… without a professor looking over my shoulder.
It was wonderfully written in a progressive style that aged as the protagonist aged.
I should really read this one again… without a professor looking over my shoulder.
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes