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teresatumminello 's review for:
Ulysses
by James Joyce
This is not a review.
Too many years ago to count, the summer after studying [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|965500|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330216970s/965500.jpg|3298883] and [b:Finnegans Wake|1718198|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336408311s/1718198.jpg|322098] with a feisty, elderly Irish Jesuit priest at the Catholic university I attended, I attempted [b:Ulysses|331597|Ulysses|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347878479s/331597.jpg|2368224] on my own. I didn't finish it. In fact, I hardly got started. I believe I stalled during episode 7 (Aeolus), which is where, this time, I had to go looking for some help for the first time. I understand now why my professor didn't choose this as one of Joyce's works for us to study, even though we read [b:Finnegans Wake|1718198|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336408311s/1718198.jpg|322098]; as very young adults we did not yet have nearly enough experience with literature and language in general.
Several times in the beginning I wondered why I was continuing to read on, since there was so much I didn't 'get,' and then, right at that point, I'd read something that made me continue. For example, during episode 9 (Scylla and Charybdis) the most difficult thing was not the words I was reading, but their context: I didn't know who was talking, who was being talked about and whether they were actually talking or thinking. I let it go and just read, and eventually it made a kind of sense. Near the end of the episode I breathed a sigh of relief that I know Shakespeare and Hamlet. It then became fun. And fun this book is, and funny: several times I laughed out loud, or inwardly groaned at Joyce's childlike delight in punning. As I read, or rather reread passages, a meaning would surface: a giddy, heady experience akin perhaps to what a young child feels upon learning to read.
By chance I'd acquired an edition with no notes and no annotations, so for the most part I just read without stopping. Of course I looked up a few things online, not to mention reading all the great posts by my GR group buddies. If not for them, who knows when or if I'd ever have restarted or even finished this? A schedule (thanks, Kalliope!) makes me a little anxious and that's a good thing. At first I couldn't imagine myself one day rereading this, as quite a few of my online friends do, but as I got deeper and deeper into it, oh, yes.
Too many years ago to count, the summer after studying [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|965500|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1330216970s/965500.jpg|3298883] and [b:Finnegans Wake|1718198|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336408311s/1718198.jpg|322098] with a feisty, elderly Irish Jesuit priest at the Catholic university I attended, I attempted [b:Ulysses|331597|Ulysses|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347878479s/331597.jpg|2368224] on my own. I didn't finish it. In fact, I hardly got started. I believe I stalled during episode 7 (Aeolus), which is where, this time, I had to go looking for some help for the first time. I understand now why my professor didn't choose this as one of Joyce's works for us to study, even though we read [b:Finnegans Wake|1718198|Finnegans Wake|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336408311s/1718198.jpg|322098]; as very young adults we did not yet have nearly enough experience with literature and language in general.
Several times in the beginning I wondered why I was continuing to read on, since there was so much I didn't 'get,' and then, right at that point, I'd read something that made me continue. For example, during episode 9 (Scylla and Charybdis) the most difficult thing was not the words I was reading, but their context: I didn't know who was talking, who was being talked about and whether they were actually talking or thinking. I let it go and just read, and eventually it made a kind of sense. Near the end of the episode I breathed a sigh of relief that I know Shakespeare and Hamlet. It then became fun. And fun this book is, and funny: several times I laughed out loud, or inwardly groaned at Joyce's childlike delight in punning. As I read, or rather reread passages, a meaning would surface: a giddy, heady experience akin perhaps to what a young child feels upon learning to read.
By chance I'd acquired an edition with no notes and no annotations, so for the most part I just read without stopping. Of course I looked up a few things online, not to mention reading all the great posts by my GR group buddies. If not for them, who knows when or if I'd ever have restarted or even finished this? A schedule (thanks, Kalliope!) makes me a little anxious and that's a good thing. At first I couldn't imagine myself one day rereading this, as quite a few of my online friends do, but as I got deeper and deeper into it, oh, yes.