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barrypierce 's review for:
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by James Joyce
Oh my god guys JOYCE. This is genuinely one of the best books I've read so far this year. Not really a plot driven novel but more a character study of the young Stephen Dedalus and his journey through his teen years. While some aspects of this novel may be difficult to understand if you don't have just a little knowledge of Irish history (names like Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Davitt, and Wolfe Tone are mentioned quite a lot), I feel like that doesn't effect the enjoyment you can get from this novel. I particularly enjoyed the parts where Stephen and his father travelled to Cork (my local city) because I knew of all the places described and at one point Joyce even mentions my local train station (he also mentions a small village that is literally a ten minute drive from my house so that was odd but exciting) so those were fun little perks for me.
Joyce has this image of being some sort of monolithic, literary genius, which he is, but that image may put some people off his work. This isn't "Ulysses" or (thankfully) "Finnegans Wake", the prose of this novel is modernist but understandable and beautiful in every way. I feel the Joyce spark has been lit within me, I must read more! *eyes Ulysses on bookshelf* Hmmm, maybe some day my friend.
Joyce has this image of being some sort of monolithic, literary genius, which he is, but that image may put some people off his work. This isn't "Ulysses" or (thankfully) "Finnegans Wake", the prose of this novel is modernist but understandable and beautiful in every way. I feel the Joyce spark has been lit within me, I must read more! *eyes Ulysses on bookshelf* Hmmm, maybe some day my friend.