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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My review shouldn’t be a judge of this book’s character, personally I just felt the length/energy put into understanding this book vs payoff was very uneven
This was such a slog and was 2 stars before penelope. Half of the chapters were incomprehensible to me. Joyce is undoubtedly an amazing writer, but the book was far too stylised in that the so much clarity was lost because of the way he told his story, which made it not very enjoyable to read. Still, it was technically brilliant and some of the less challenging chapters were great.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This is my first time reading Ulysses outside a classroom environment as part of a group meeting weekly to discuss the journey. And while it is one of my favorite books this has been my favorite reading experience of Joyce’s big, bold masterwork. The book rewards digging deep and thinking big and over the course of 5 months we did just that.
Yes, James Joyce is revered by many Dubliners and others, but Ulysses (pronounced You-lis-'ace) was too tangential and long winded for my taste.
Holy shit that was epic. I can’t think of another book quite like it. The writing style ebbs and flows. The language is both complex yet not. It’s funny, sad, insightful, and wilfully silly. It’s a bit of a marathon and the last 80 pages or so feels like the downhill stretch of a long mountain hike. I loved it.
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's hard to rate this book because there are chapters that I really, really enjoyed, like Nausikaa and Penelope, but there are also plenty of chapters that I absolutely hated (particularly Oxen of the Sun and especially Eumaeus). Reading this book in 24 hours was an exhausting and brutal experience, but it was also worth it to be able to go through the entire span of the book in the amount of time that the plot takes place. My group went around Ann Arbor to places that would accord well with whatever chapter we were reading. We went to the bell tower for Telemachus, the cemetery for Hades, the Daily building for Aeolus, etc. I'm not sure I would have ever taken on this entire book on my own, but it was definitely an interesting and worthwhile experience.