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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
2 stars because I know it has cultural relevance and can at least appreciate that, but so much of this can simply be classed as a terminal case of "men writing women badly."
There aren't enough superlatives to describe Ulysses. I didn't want it to end. Wonderful and I appreciate it more every time I read it.
Feb. 2017: I simply cannot continue. Even listening to this, which I had hoped would help make it go down easier, is unbearable. I stopped before Bloom's trip to the outhouse (I was also using Cliff Notes in hopes of figuring out what I was listening to) which I just couldn't bear the thought of hearing. With my luck, that would be one of few things I would hear and be able to comprehend what the deuce was going on. (That pun was wholly unintended but I'll leave it.)
June 2017: In April, I put this back on my bedside table and made myself read little bits and pieces just to try to finish this thing eventually. Now I am fully resolved to do this with the aid of some fantastic lectures found on Audible in Great Courses. After listening to the introductory lecture and the one on Telemachus, I think I'm ready, dare I say, to start all over. I may be mad.
July 2017: I have now skimmed the entire book. I really don't know what else to say about that. The lectures helped immensely, but it is still unintelligible to read. To me, anyway.
June 2017: In April, I put this back on my bedside table and made myself read little bits and pieces just to try to finish this thing eventually. Now I am fully resolved to do this with the aid of some fantastic lectures found on Audible in Great Courses. After listening to the introductory lecture and the one on Telemachus, I think I'm ready, dare I say, to start all over. I may be mad.
July 2017: I have now skimmed the entire book. I really don't know what else to say about that. The lectures helped immensely, but it is still unintelligible to read. To me, anyway.
I’ll write an actual review later but for now omfg I did it
Update: This took me months to get through, but now that I’m not reading it anymore, I can’t stop thinking about it (yes I said yes I will Yes— ahh!! Cmon, is that not the best way to end a novel EVER???). I love moody broody Stephen and weirdo Bloom and the whole cast of crazies. That said, I can’t ignore that some passages were impossible to read (looking at you Oxen in the Sun) and on the whole I couldn’t have understood it without a guide (two guides actually) to get me through. So, it is dense, long, opaque, overly intellectual, self important, inaccessible. Yes. But honestly I kind of liked it.
Update: This took me months to get through, but now that I’m not reading it anymore, I can’t stop thinking about it (yes I said yes I will Yes— ahh!! Cmon, is that not the best way to end a novel EVER???). I love moody broody Stephen and weirdo Bloom and the whole cast of crazies. That said, I can’t ignore that some passages were impossible to read (looking at you Oxen in the Sun) and on the whole I couldn’t have understood it without a guide (two guides actually) to get me through. So, it is dense, long, opaque, overly intellectual, self important, inaccessible. Yes. But honestly I kind of liked it.
Unfair of me to rate this without appreciating its finer symbolisms. I’m the Icarus to (Joyce’s) Dedalus for thinking I could get through this without a companion guide!
I did it, I did it, I finished it! Is it a classic? Yes. Is it a Master class in linguistics and language? Yes. Is it a comedy? Yes. Did I need help to understand most of it? YES!!!! I recommend the audio version to enhance comprehension. I’m glad I’ve read it, but I probably won’t do it again (although that’s what all the Ulysses lovers recommend).
There's no way to describe this in 1000 characters. Maybe the best book ever written...but thank god there's not two of them! Brilliant but impenetrable.
There's no way to describe this in 1000 characters. Maybe the best book ever written...but thank god there's not two of them! Brilliant but impenetrable.