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azacoholico 's review for:
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce
This book is my first contact with Joyce, and I can't say I was displeased in the slightest by it.
James Joyce's style is so unique and full of references that almost every page has at least two references that need to be explained at the last pages of the book (at least in my edition of it).
It tells the story of Stephen Dedalus, beginning with his infancy and ending when he is a young man. Accordingly, the language of the book evolves, grows, and matures basically as the protagonist himself does so. The first chapter (from his first memories to when he was about 8 or ten of age) I didn't know what the hell was happening half of the time, because events follow each other with little to no indication of separation between them. Second chapter was better, and more accesible, and the third, fourth and fifth were better and better in this aspect. The fifth chapter was glorious, I really liked that it was implied that even though his goal was clear now, he needed to mature and experiment the ways of the world to become a true artist; I think that speaks a lot of that particular age, when you are 19 and you think you know stuff, and maybe you have some glimpses of some truths, but in reality there's still a lot that you don't know.
By the end I was recollecting my own febrile attempts at poetry and considering seriously to drop what I have in life and try to become an artist. Joyce really illustrates the doubts and the persona and the motivations of such people. It was great.
James Joyce's style is so unique and full of references that almost every page has at least two references that need to be explained at the last pages of the book (at least in my edition of it).
It tells the story of Stephen Dedalus, beginning with his infancy and ending when he is a young man. Accordingly, the language of the book evolves, grows, and matures basically as the protagonist himself does so. The first chapter (from his first memories to when he was about 8 or ten of age) I didn't know what the hell was happening half of the time, because events follow each other with little to no indication of separation between them. Second chapter was better, and more accesible, and the third, fourth and fifth were better and better in this aspect. The fifth chapter was glorious, I really liked that it was implied that even though his goal was clear now, he needed to mature and experiment the ways of the world to become a true artist; I think that speaks a lot of that particular age, when you are 19 and you think you know stuff, and maybe you have some glimpses of some truths, but in reality there's still a lot that you don't know.
By the end I was recollecting my own febrile attempts at poetry and considering seriously to drop what I have in life and try to become an artist. Joyce really illustrates the doubts and the persona and the motivations of such people. It was great.