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magdalenagolden 's review for:
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce
Overall I found it a very tedious read but not without its rewards. I remember reading somewhere that A Portrait is half-way between [b:Dubliners|11012|Dubliners|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1334138184s/11012.jpg|260248] and [b:Ulysses|338798|Ulysses|James Joyce|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346161221s/338798.jpg|2368224] and from my reading about 1/3 of the first (I haven't finished due to lack of time, but I liked it - it's definitely on my to-finish list) and from what I heard about the latter, that comment does ring true. It also makes me think that I probably won't enjoy Ulysses ;)
There are two things I liked most about A Portrait - one is how the narrative changes with the age of the protagonist and the second - specifically Chapter 3. It portrayed exactly how I felt being raised in the Roman Catholic faith and why I would never want my (future hypothetical) children to endure the same psychological abuse.
While I value the above (and other) insights of the book, I think my biggest complain is that I simply didn't enjoy it. I found myself skimming through long passages, not able to concentrate, numbed by the splendid, but exhausting, narration. I also feel like I missed some of the depth - not fully grasping the subtle meanings or metaphors. I guess you could call me lazy but reading A Portrait felt like a lot of work to me at times and, while there is nothing wrong in it per se, I think it's safe to say that Literature would not have been a good choice of degree for me ;)
There are two things I liked most about A Portrait - one is how the narrative changes with the age of the protagonist and the second - specifically Chapter 3. It portrayed exactly how I felt being raised in the Roman Catholic faith and why I would never want my (future hypothetical) children to endure the same psychological abuse.
While I value the above (and other) insights of the book, I think my biggest complain is that I simply didn't enjoy it. I found myself skimming through long passages, not able to concentrate, numbed by the splendid, but exhausting, narration. I also feel like I missed some of the depth - not fully grasping the subtle meanings or metaphors. I guess you could call me lazy but reading A Portrait felt like a lot of work to me at times and, while there is nothing wrong in it per se, I think it's safe to say that Literature would not have been a good choice of degree for me ;)