Ulysses (1922)

Be sure and get the correctly set Gabler edition ~ it makes a big difference !

Without a doubt, this is as far as you can go in English. ( )

I was able to knock this out in about 5 weeks, on my first try. I used an old copy of A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by Wm Tyndall for reference, along w Sparknotes. If I could only have one book on a deserted island, this would prob be it.

Still quite confused by the whole book. Each chapter having a different writing style is a bit unsettling. It is imperative to read it until the end, because the last two chapters really give you perspective. I read most of it on a Kindle, and kept pace in a Gabler edition.

My favorite character was Bloom. What a whack job, what a silly man. Stephen didn't do much for me. Have to process the story a bit more, because it was intense. JJ makes up some crazy/funny words. ( )

As much as I feel the pressure to say that this is a great book, I can't. I acknowledge its genius, but I could never get into the book. Although Molly's chapter is great.

Updated on 4/10/14: Yup, still don't think this book is as fantastic as people claim. I did enjoy it more this time around, because I gave up on trying to understand EVEREYTHING. ( )

Thoughts made narrative; Odyssey-reflecting themes, coupled with a different narrative style for every episode and a boatload of rhetorical devices (did Joyce leave out any?); reversions to historical literary styles; obscure references to Catholic and Irish and Jewish tradition, Irish politics and history, and a wide scattering of other things ... 700 pages of this, and still we cover no more than eighteen hours of a rather ordinary day in Dublin: June 16th, 1904. An absolutely brilliant novel, but I needed help to understand it. I relied on the Wikipedia outline and Sparknotes chapter summaries, two among many references available.

Much of this novel is written in the language of the daydreamer, not restricted to interior thoughts that move a plot forward but open to capturing every thought that might pass through the consciousness of these characters as they go about their day. The sheer volume and range of this delivery turns a nothing-special morning and afternoon into an epic. Joyce is lambasted for writing over most people's heads, but he isn't doing it in a bullying or non-inclusive way - else why are there enough body function references to entertain a toddler? Some of his characters' thoughts, particularly Stephen's, can be learned in the extreme but are interspersed with the most casual, mundane passing fancies. Everything and nothing is important. All people are capable of every kind of thought up and down the scale of decorum, and all of us are riding that scale on a daily basis. These are the most realistic characters ever put to paper, and I'm ready to believe nobody will ever do it better.

What I don't believe is that Ulysses is worthwhile reading for anyone who doesn't come to it of their own volition. Forget the critics, the professors who are paid to help you appreciate it. It's only good reading if you think it is. Approach Joyce via Dubliners and Portrait first to see if you can enjoy him at all, and catch up on Homer's epics. If those are a hassle or boring (and whether you understand them is beside the point), don't trouble yourself any further because all you're going to miss here is an exercise in frustration with his madness (exactly why I'm not going to read the Wake). But if you liked all of that and what Joyce can do, his prior work pales next to the technical feats he pulled off with Ulysses. ( )

Terribly difficult to follow, but that was the intent of James Joyce. I had to turn to the web page for this novel at www.schmoop.com to find the guidance to continue reading after several failed starts. Once I got the hang of it using this guidance (about half-way through the novel) I put aside the help from Schmoop and simply enjoyed the joy of the stream of consciousness experience. ( )