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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This book made no sense at all! First of all, there is no flow from past to present, it just BOOM flashback, and the reader is not told that it is a flashback. Second, this book is a short book but it takes forever to get into it. Unlike most of the book I read, where I can actually imagine what is going on in the scene, this is like I'm just reading words, not a story. Third and probably the only thing going for this book is that it has some character development in it, that is if you understand what is going on in the book. I would not recommend this book, unless you have the spark notes to it or you are into 19th Irish literate.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-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
challenging
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-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
challenging
dark
reflective
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
Challenging and confusing for a non-native English speaker. Some passages were beautiful, but otherwise difficult.
I appreciate this book. It's a well-written, thought provoking novel that deserves its place in literary history.
However, I didn't necessarily enjoy this book.
However, I didn't necessarily enjoy this book.
emotional
inspiring
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
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? -- ever, every minute?
No. [Pause] The saints and poets, maybe -- they do some.
--_Our Town_, Thorton Wilder
I definitely dived into Joyce expecting something far more convoluted. Perhaps I misread it; it's all possible. But I supposed compared to Faulkner, the shifting of time frames and stream-of-consciousness is not so extreme. Indeed, this is written in a way that...seems more true of our thought-experience; that is, Faulkner wrote as if conveying sense-data, barely processed; Joyce's writing seems to be more the internal musings of a budding artist.
That's what this story is, as the title suggests: that of someone growing up, discovering self, etc. I think it is the most focused and probably one of the better done. Reminiscent in parts of Hesse's _Demian_, but less weird and with more beautiful sections of language (though some were distinctly better and others near dull)
That said, far from a perfect or easy read; the Irish politics and many names of secondary characters/friends and all got a little mixed up and confusing. Definitely liked the theme of language and developing one's own ideas and learning to be an individual more than just quoting others, i.e. becoming the artist.
Ought to reread sometime.
On to Ulysses.........[those are the ellipses of pure apprehension]
No. [Pause] The saints and poets, maybe -- they do some.
--_Our Town_, Thorton Wilder
I definitely dived into Joyce expecting something far more convoluted. Perhaps I misread it; it's all possible. But I supposed compared to Faulkner, the shifting of time frames and stream-of-consciousness is not so extreme. Indeed, this is written in a way that...seems more true of our thought-experience; that is, Faulkner wrote as if conveying sense-data, barely processed; Joyce's writing seems to be more the internal musings of a budding artist.
That's what this story is, as the title suggests: that of someone growing up, discovering self, etc. I think it is the most focused and probably one of the better done. Reminiscent in parts of Hesse's _Demian_, but less weird and with more beautiful sections of language (though some were distinctly better and others near dull)
That said, far from a perfect or easy read; the Irish politics and many names of secondary characters/friends and all got a little mixed up and confusing. Definitely liked the theme of language and developing one's own ideas and learning to be an individual more than just quoting others, i.e. becoming the artist.
Ought to reread sometime.
On to Ulysses.........[those are the ellipses of pure apprehension]
In my opinion the most “reader-friendly” of Joyce's books. The style of the narrative copies the maturation of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, from a boy into a young man. We follow the formative experiences of his youth (his disillusionment with, his disillusionment with , his disillusionment with – I think you get the idea) and are privy to the most intimate moments of his life, such as the various existential epiphanies. Joyce demonstrates his prowess as a writer as he captures the most mundane of moments beautifully and no word goes wasted (he takes this a bit too far for me in Ulysses, which I never finished and probably never will). Portrait also contains probably the most graphic description of hell I've ever seen on paper and its metaphor of eternity almost made me cry. So yeah, this is some amazing writing.