You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
“every life is in many days, day after day. we walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”
finally read this! it was surprisingly funny, and there was something really lovely about reading it in one day since the book itself takes place over a day, and i was pretty much reading the events at the times they happened. there was also two references to march 17th which was pretty fun cause that’s when i read it! i kept thinking i wasn’t going to finish it but i did and i’m glad.
each section of the book is extremely different stylistically which was super interesting. there was one written entirely through questions and answers, one composed of mini news articles with headlines, and the last section was one long stream of consciousness sentence that went on for over 60 pages… i thought it would never end. my favourite section was definitely circe, which was written in the form of a play with dialogue and stage directions. it was quite bizzare, bloom is on trial for his sins, hailed as the messiah, gives birth, performs miracles, dies, turns into a woman and so on.
the structure is inspired by homer’s odyssey but i was only dimly aware of this while reading; in the intro this was described as a scaffolding to add structure while writing, but ultimately it can be removed without affecting the book. it definitely is the kind of book you could spend your whole life analysing but i feel like it was never intended to be fully understood by the reader so i allowed myself to not get everything, i definitely enjoyed it a lot more because of this. there was also loads of references to hamlet so i’ll have to read that now!
on one of my breaks i went to the martello tower that the first part of the book is set; joyce stayed there for some time. there was some beautiful descriptions in the book of looking out over the bay from the parapet and the main room inside- it’s set up today just as it was then. it was so lovely to be there and see those spaces and the view, i also was chatting to some of the people working there about the book and they knew so much about it, i’m definitely going to go back and ask them more now that i’ve finished it. in many ways the book reminded me of mrs dalloway, only more elaborate / experimental and set in dublin. knowing the majority of the places mentioned was great since i could picture them so clearly. there was a real fondness for ireland imbued in joyce’s writing; i know that he left ireland in 1904 (the year this is set) and didn’t really return, and so this book felt like an epitaph for his time here.
there was so many amazing quotes and funny moments, it was thoroughly enjoyable. i can see why it was controversial at the time it was published but it’s a worthwhile read for sure. i’ll include more quotes here…
“what's in a name? that is what we ask ourselves in childhood when we write the name that we are told is ours.”
“look at the sea. what does it care about offences?”
“the movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant’s heart on the hillside. for them the earth is not an exploitable ground but the living mother.”
“his shadow lay over the rocks as he bent, ending. why not endless till the farthest star?”
“what is the age of the soul of man?”
“though they didn’t see eye to eye in everything, a certain analogy there somehow was, as if both their minds were travelling, so to speak, in the one train of thought.”
“art has to reveal to us ideas, formless spiritual essences.”
“the summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace.”
there was so many amazing quotes and funny moments, it was thoroughly enjoyable. i can see why it was controversial at the time it was published but it’s a worthwhile read for sure. i’ll include more quotes here…
“what's in a name? that is what we ask ourselves in childhood when we write the name that we are told is ours.”
“look at the sea. what does it care about offences?”
“the movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant’s heart on the hillside. for them the earth is not an exploitable ground but the living mother.”
“his shadow lay over the rocks as he bent, ending. why not endless till the farthest star?”
“what is the age of the soul of man?”
“though they didn’t see eye to eye in everything, a certain analogy there somehow was, as if both their minds were travelling, so to speak, in the one train of thought.”
“art has to reveal to us ideas, formless spiritual essences.”
“the summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace.”
“love loves to love love.”
“with the old shake of her pretty head she recalls those days. god, how beautiful now across the mist of years!”
“i stand, so to speak, with an unposted letter bearing the extra regulation fee before the too late box of the general post office of human life.”
“to learn one must be humble. but life is the great teacher.”
“we are praying now for the repose of his soul. hoping you’re well and not in hell. nice change of air. out of the fryingpan of life into the fire of purgatory.”
“think you're escaping and run into yourself. longest way round is the shortest way home.”
“her very soul is in her eyes.”
(i realise this may seem like a lot of quotes, but proportional to the book it isn’t really)
“with the old shake of her pretty head she recalls those days. god, how beautiful now across the mist of years!”
“i stand, so to speak, with an unposted letter bearing the extra regulation fee before the too late box of the general post office of human life.”
“to learn one must be humble. but life is the great teacher.”
“we are praying now for the repose of his soul. hoping you’re well and not in hell. nice change of air. out of the fryingpan of life into the fire of purgatory.”
“think you're escaping and run into yourself. longest way round is the shortest way home.”
“her very soul is in her eyes.”
(i realise this may seem like a lot of quotes, but proportional to the book it isn’t really)
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Near totally incomprehensible. I really tried.
Re-ban this thing.
Re-ban this thing.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished my reread today accidentally proved you can in fact read Ulysses in two days though I don't recommend that for one's first time or you'll cause all sorts of problems for yourself.
It's as inconceivable as ever and it's not been matched yet. I don't think it will be either but I'm an odd sort.
its the best its tthje best
yes
It's as inconceivable as ever and it's not been matched yet. I don't think it will be either but I'm an odd sort.
its the best its tthje best
yes
200 pages in and i could not tell you 1 thing that happened so i stopped
challenging
emotional
funny
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced