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

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The writing is really good. That’s the one thing this book had going for it, and honestly makes me optimistic to try another James Joyce in the future. What I didn’t like about the book is basically the main character. I’ve summarized it in this one thought: I cannot understand a characters whose personal growth is completely independent of others. I feel no connection to characters who walk around the world with no consideration for other people. As I was listening to the book I couldn’t remember any of the side characters, they had no important role except to be vessels of long philosophical lectures. Maybe this feeling is due to my own misunderstanding of the book, and maybe this lack of important side characters is some manifestation of loneliness, but in that case I’ve read much better books on loneliness.

To summarize, this book wasn’t for me. I’m a character-focused reader and I felt no connection to the main character