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sydneyklecker's review against another edition
5.0
I loveddddd this!! I’m a sucker for anything Irish as well, but really was here for the writing. Oooooo I love Joyce? I gotta read Ulysses now!
santraginusv's review against another edition
4.0
This felt like hustling onto a train at 5 PM at Utrecht Central, on a Friday.
About 1.1 million people travel by train on a daily basis in my country (The Netherlands). At least half of those pass through Utrecht Central, either by already being on the train when it arrives, or by attempting to board it.
The result: no seats. Your options: standing for 20-40 minutes (depending on exit point), sitting on some filthy stairs whilst being harassed by people who are in search of a chair/want to exit the train or sitting on one of the doorhandles, which is only comfy in exactly one position, for round about 15 minutes after which your arse goes numb
On Friday the crowds are worse due to all the students students going home in an attempt to get their parents to cook/do laundry for them. Not only are there simply more people, there's more people with humongous bags filled with laundry which has been lying on the floor for over a week.
So you are there, on that train, you managed to make it, it's 5 pm you're hungry, your arse feels like dying and then, oh then there's the best part. Then there are people eating on the train. Taunting you with their food, food that smells heavenly, even though you hate pasta.
THAT is what reading this book is like for me. I want it so bad, I want to go home, I want to read this, I wish to dine at its buffet of whatever it feels to impart on my puny brain, but I can't because there's a metal bar digging into my arse, there's a dude sloshing pizza all over my shoes and the pungent smell of student is filling my nostrils.
About 1.1 million people travel by train on a daily basis in my country (The Netherlands). At least half of those pass through Utrecht Central, either by already being on the train when it arrives, or by attempting to board it.
The result: no seats. Your options: standing for 20-40 minutes (depending on exit point), sitting on some filthy stairs whilst being harassed by people who are in search of a chair/want to exit the train or sitting on one of the doorhandles, which is only comfy in exactly one position, for round about 15 minutes after which your arse goes numb
On Friday the crowds are worse due to all the students students going home in an attempt to get their parents to cook/do laundry for them. Not only are there simply more people, there's more people with humongous bags filled with laundry which has been lying on the floor for over a week.
So you are there, on that train, you managed to make it, it's 5 pm you're hungry, your arse feels like dying and then, oh then there's the best part. Then there are people eating on the train. Taunting you with their food, food that smells heavenly, even though you hate pasta.
THAT is what reading this book is like for me. I want it so bad, I want to go home, I want to read this, I wish to dine at its buffet of whatever it feels to impart on my puny brain, but I can't because there's a metal bar digging into my arse, there's a dude sloshing pizza all over my shoes and the pungent smell of student is filling my nostrils.
nikodemus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
4.75
kackjennedy's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
nickygra's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.75
graceesford's review against another edition
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
2.0
oliviaquintero's review against another edition
bro so fucking boring mindless dribble
lyssquee's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Impossible to actually give a star rating to James Joyce, because any shortcomings may just be my own.
I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. Some truly incredible bits of prose. I often felt like the writing was washing over me like a gentle wave, and it was up to me to catch that wave or let it crash beyond me.
Stephen is a generic moody teenage boy... with serious Catholic guilt and access to too many heady historical philosophical ideals. He made me laugh many times with his melodrama and overthought theories on art, religion, and the soul - theories which he himself contradicts via his mere existence. He is not very likeable, but that itself makes him strangely lovable.
I have never read a book as slowly as I read this one. A lot of work to understand, but worth it.
I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. Some truly incredible bits of prose. I often felt like the writing was washing over me like a gentle wave, and it was up to me to catch that wave or let it crash beyond me.
Stephen is a generic moody teenage boy... with serious Catholic guilt and access to too many heady historical philosophical ideals. He made me laugh many times with his melodrama and overthought theories on art, religion, and the soul - theories which he himself contradicts via his mere existence. He is not very likeable, but that itself makes him strangely lovable.
I have never read a book as slowly as I read this one. A lot of work to understand, but worth it.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
4.0
A modernist icon and a complexly written story.