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What a dumb, trash book. I hated every change in style in every chapter of this book. It's a huge slog with no payoff. There's some creative styling, but an absolute disdain for the reader that'll make you wonder why the author bothered in the first place. Well, with that fun introduction, let me tell you what it's "about"!
Ulysses is a slow, tedious day-in-the-life journey of some people living in Dublin. Mostly, it's about this guy named Leopold Bloom, but it also sometimes is about this other guy Stephen Dedalus, and even more rarely about Leopold's wife, Molly Bloom. Bloom walks around the city - he talks to people, goes to a funeral, goes to a library, goes to a museum, masturbates to a girl in a park, goes to a cafe and gets accosted by anti-semites, goes to a brothel, blah blah blah. He runs into Stephen at a few of these things. At the brothel, Stephen basically gets beat up outside and has nowhere to stay the night. Bloom gets Stephen up and takes him to his home and gives him some hot chocolate. After, Stephen leaves to go I don't know where.
Some of the book is stream-of-consciousness in the heads of various characters (mostly Leopold, sometimes Stephen/Molly, and maybe other folks at times). Some of the book is in different literary styles, sometimes even changing styles within the chapter. What results is very confusing - at least to me. There were some chapters where I was unclear about what happened at all. Some people seem to really love this - maybe there's something I missed there. Maybe you have to study this book for a year to grasp some of these things. I read it in about a month and a half - I guess that's not good enough!
So yeah, the book is confusing. It's also so so so so so so so so so so dull. Not very much really happens in the book. It's over 1000 pages, but, in terms of stuff happening, I've described probably like 75% of it in the above paragraphs. It is quotidian to the max.
I don't have much more to say about Ulysses. It is probably the worst book experience I've ever had (I remember really hating Austerlitz when I read it, too - I don't revisit these miserable books often enough to find out which one is most miserable!). So, I guess I don't recommend it.
Ulysses is a slow, tedious day-in-the-life journey of some people living in Dublin. Mostly, it's about this guy named Leopold Bloom, but it also sometimes is about this other guy Stephen Dedalus, and even more rarely about Leopold's wife, Molly Bloom. Bloom walks around the city - he talks to people, goes to a funeral, goes to a library, goes to a museum, masturbates to a girl in a park, goes to a cafe and gets accosted by anti-semites, goes to a brothel, blah blah blah. He runs into Stephen at a few of these things. At the brothel, Stephen basically gets beat up outside and has nowhere to stay the night. Bloom gets Stephen up and takes him to his home and gives him some hot chocolate. After, Stephen leaves to go I don't know where.
Some of the book is stream-of-consciousness in the heads of various characters (mostly Leopold, sometimes Stephen/Molly, and maybe other folks at times). Some of the book is in different literary styles, sometimes even changing styles within the chapter. What results is very confusing - at least to me. There were some chapters where I was unclear about what happened at all. Some people seem to really love this - maybe there's something I missed there. Maybe you have to study this book for a year to grasp some of these things. I read it in about a month and a half - I guess that's not good enough!
So yeah, the book is confusing. It's also so so so so so so so so so so dull. Not very much really happens in the book. It's over 1000 pages, but, in terms of stuff happening, I've described probably like 75% of it in the above paragraphs. It is quotidian to the max.
I don't have much more to say about Ulysses. It is probably the worst book experience I've ever had (I remember really hating Austerlitz when I read it, too - I don't revisit these miserable books often enough to find out which one is most miserable!). So, I guess I don't recommend it.