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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Finally. It's done. I'm done. Never realized how much punctuation mattered till now.
This book is gross and weird and beautiful and pretentious and vulgar and fantastic and so, so real. I imagine my feelings about it are similar to how some religious people feel about their holy texts. Every time I read even a passage of it, I feel more human.
I hated this book. I read it for class and ended up writing a rage essay regarding Bloom's "Jewishness" (note: I am Jewish) and how Joyce really just uses a supposedly Jewish character to spout his own feelings about organized religion and outsider identities within Ireland and Ireland's relationship with England.
It is considered one of the most important literary works of all time, but does that make it a compelling read? No, no it does not. To be honest, I didn't love anything else I've read by Joyce, and the only reason I read this was because my senior year Lit teacher in high school said he'd never had a student smart enough to finish it, and I took that as a challenge. Joyce is an expert craftsman when it comes to the English language, but the story is so long and boring it isn't even worth a read.
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the funniest book ever written, unfortunately it's reputation has made too many people take it seriously, leading to frustration. if you're considering reading ulysses, just go for it. you don't need to read the odyssey or joyce's other work. just read it and let his monumental genius wash over you.
Okay so I didn't finish the book because I just can't be bothered. I liked the writing and there were funny passages, but in the end it just isn't my cup of tea, so with 25% left I'm quitting the book.
Joyce was quoted as saying, "I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city suddenly disappeared from the earth, it could be reconstructed out of my book."
I truly think he has done this. The details are explicit and paint a picture of a city well loved. Ulysses was not my first Joyce book, so I knew already what to expect from his writing style and musical prose. He truly was far ahead of his times. He wrote this book when he was 25.
For me, this was NOT an easy read because there were many nuances I would not have picked up on. I thankfully had a VERY useful aid. RTÉ - Radio 1 has an amazing series where they discuss and analyze each section of the book. After reading each, I would listen to the discussion and would, as expected, learn so much more. This series made the book so much more accessible and I HIGHLY recommend it.
I truly think he has done this. The details are explicit and paint a picture of a city well loved. Ulysses was not my first Joyce book, so I knew already what to expect from his writing style and musical prose. He truly was far ahead of his times. He wrote this book when he was 25.
For me, this was NOT an easy read because there were many nuances I would not have picked up on. I thankfully had a VERY useful aid. RTÉ - Radio 1 has an amazing series where they discuss and analyze each section of the book. After reading each, I would listen to the discussion and would, as expected, learn so much more. This series made the book so much more accessible and I HIGHLY recommend it.
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
The literary 'emperors new clothes' - i am convinced that people only say that this is a 'masterpeice' or 'an essential book to read' (stupid scratch off posted) to seem smart and because they feel they have to. Because, honestly, this is nearly 700 pages of a complete and utter dumpster fire. I read the WHOLE DAMN THING and if you asked me what it was about and what happened in it, the best I could do would be "set in Ireland, there's a guy called Bloom and the last chapter is a woman gong through her sexual experiences. Speaking of the last chapter - no punctuation. at all. over 40 pages and not a single use of punctuation. Seems like it was meant to be a rrreeeaaalllyyy long stream of consciousness, so I could deal with no . , or ? but the lack of apostrphies in words like I'm , we'll and he'll is fkm infuriating. As for the rest of the shitshow of a novel, it didnt know what it was. Is it an epic poem? a novel? a play? (there is a chapter that is legit basically a script for a scene in a play. WHY?!) is it a monologue? and then the whole mess of the last chapter. I did not connect to the characters or book in any way. I highly recommend that NO ONE read this book ever ever again. Unless you enjoy boredom, confusion ad your brain melting. This is the hardest book I've ever read and it was SO NOT WORTH IT. No part of it was enjoyable. why are people forced to read this in education? I do not see what is so amazing or special about this book. it is truly truly awful.
I drank the Kool Aid on Joyce when I was in high school, sometime in the first five pages of "Portrait" and have never looked back. I read "Ulysses" for the first time at age seventeen, understood, maybe, a third of what was going on, but loved (and I mean passionately loved) all of that.
It took two more comprehensive re-readings, several sections of Lit Theory, a pretty copious study of the Western Canon and more Irish history than I'm entirely comfortable to admitting to reading for me to feel reasonably confident discussing this text. One could easily write a dissertation on a couple of sentences (and I'm sure many have). This book is rightly considered to be the cornerstone of the Modernist experiment. Almost every great piece of literature that followed this book owes some debt to it, even if it's unintentional. Ulysses is a veritable all-you-can eat buffet of literary allusion. It's long. It's wordy. And there few books that carry with them such an intimidating reputation for the casual reader.
But lest you misunderstand me here, let me just say this. "Ulysses" is funny and smart and wonderful, often mind-blowing read. Its rhythm will carry you through if you'll let it. You don't have to be a genius or a scholar to "get" Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus and their greater cadre of drunks and crooks and inamoratas and epic blow hards. The grand joke of "Ulysses"--this book that carries such a serious reputation--is that it's not so serious.
Seriously? Give it a shot.
It took two more comprehensive re-readings, several sections of Lit Theory, a pretty copious study of the Western Canon and more Irish history than I'm entirely comfortable to admitting to reading for me to feel reasonably confident discussing this text. One could easily write a dissertation on a couple of sentences (and I'm sure many have). This book is rightly considered to be the cornerstone of the Modernist experiment. Almost every great piece of literature that followed this book owes some debt to it, even if it's unintentional. Ulysses is a veritable all-you-can eat buffet of literary allusion. It's long. It's wordy. And there few books that carry with them such an intimidating reputation for the casual reader.
But lest you misunderstand me here, let me just say this. "Ulysses" is funny and smart and wonderful, often mind-blowing read. Its rhythm will carry you through if you'll let it. You don't have to be a genius or a scholar to "get" Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus and their greater cadre of drunks and crooks and inamoratas and epic blow hards. The grand joke of "Ulysses"--this book that carries such a serious reputation--is that it's not so serious.
Seriously? Give it a shot.
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes