A review by kraelwake
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

3.0

This was my second time reading Portrait, with about, oh...ten years in between readings. I must have blocked most of it out, because most of it felt new. I remembered not liking it much and being sort of non-plussed the first time. I remembered why once I was knee deep in the hell fire section. Also, the latin. So. Much. Latin. Now I could've busted out my Latin-English dictionary, but I just didn't want to. Being a new mom means that I read things as deeply as I can on a first read and move on. I don't have time to research and analyze. So, I will most likely pick this novel up again at some future point with an aim to really dig in, because I think there's some really great material here. All that being said, definitely a worthwhile read, interesting character development, varied literary devices which kept me intrigued, etc. The first half of the novel reminded me quite a bit of Proust's Swann's Way, which I really loved. The ability to capture those very specific feelings and thoughts and moods of childhood is very...well, moving. It gets to me. I would have given Portrait 4 stars, but oh, the fires of hell. They tormented me. Truly. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for the incredible lengthiness of that whole sermon, but until I find out what that is the next time, it's a solid 3 stars from me.