Review of Ulysses by James Joyce
Title: A novel not to read so much as experience
LIKE MOST PEOPLE who haven't read Ulysses, I've had this novel on my "to read" list since high school, and that's about 40 years, and everyone hears whispers of it in high school and through college but who actually *reads* it anyone who wants to but it's known as the most difficult book to finish and why is that because there is no narrative arc, no story in the traditional sense, no character development, no tension within the text (I can't say "story" because there is no "story".) and what's it like to read it I had to finish it to see what it said.
YOU START AT THE START and wend your way through like Leopold Bloom wandering a day in Dublin and just like that you're off wandering with him eating tea and biscuits and drinking and the chime of a clock can set you and him both off into any other direction like watching a Fellini movie until any action brings him and you back into whatever narrative there is there is no narrative arc pulling you along because there is no tension because you're simply reading words on the page and other fun stuff in Latin and French and Greek, too, why not because he can because there is no theme beyond the telling of the consciousness like this, yes, right, just that quick, then you're off with him floating away and if you think this gets any better you're mistaken because that's the entire point of what Mr. Joyce intended to do but while he's reaching for depth he left behind humanity and let technique rule his text and drops the n-word (can you believe it it's not the [current year] when he wrote this!) so that there I said it and how edgy can he be with the play's the thing, with crossdressing and transgenderism and feces and drinking urine. So. Such. Much. Chuck. Duck. Don't. So it's not Molly's famous Yes you're after it's you're own No but I'm afraid it's a definite Maybe and the discovery of discoveries is that you're able to read a book when you're able to read a book.
AND WHEN YOU LEARN that he wrote nearly one third of the novel in galley and page proof stage yes! you understand the nature of his Yes! and what he's oh so cleverly doing so that a rhythm begins in your yes reading yes revisions yes yes yes and even Mr. Joyce he himself said he'd earn immortality with the novel because he put so many puns and riddles and newwords and whatnots that it'd keep the professors guessing for centuries about what he really meant because it's a play, too, the play's the thing said Bill S., and Joyce is playing, it's the biggest play on us all and once you understand that you know his game and what a great big lovable mess is James Joyce's Ulysses, not a pleasure to read but a chore to read but read it one must to fight the dust.
IS IT THE GREATEST NOVEL ever written in the English language? I cannot laugh that loud. But he dares to try to capture that most elusive of creatures, Life.
TRY READING The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses by Kevin Birmingham as you're reading Ulysses I did and highly recommend it.
It's okay
2/5 Goodreads
3/5 Amazon
LIKE MOST PEOPLE who haven't read Ulysses, I've had this novel on my "to read" list since high school, and that's about 40 years, and everyone hears whispers of it in high school and through college but who actually *reads* it anyone who wants to but it's known as the most difficult book to finish and why is that because there is no narrative arc, no story in the traditional sense, no character development, no tension within the text (I can't say "story" because there is no "story".) and what's it like to read it I had to finish it to see what it said.
YOU START AT THE START and wend your way through like Leopold Bloom wandering a day in Dublin and just like that you're off wandering with him eating tea and biscuits and drinking and the chime of a clock can set you and him both off into any other direction like watching a Fellini movie until any action brings him and you back into whatever narrative there is there is no narrative arc pulling you along because there is no tension because you're simply reading words on the page and other fun stuff in Latin and French and Greek, too, why not because he can because there is no theme beyond the telling of the consciousness like this, yes, right, just that quick, then you're off with him floating away and if you think this gets any better you're mistaken because that's the entire point of what Mr. Joyce intended to do but while he's reaching for depth he left behind humanity and let technique rule his text and drops the n-word (can you believe it it's not the [current year] when he wrote this!) so that there I said it and how edgy can he be with the play's the thing, with crossdressing and transgenderism and feces and drinking urine. So. Such. Much. Chuck. Duck. Don't. So it's not Molly's famous Yes you're after it's you're own No but I'm afraid it's a definite Maybe and the discovery of discoveries is that you're able to read a book when you're able to read a book.
AND WHEN YOU LEARN that he wrote nearly one third of the novel in galley and page proof stage yes! you understand the nature of his Yes! and what he's oh so cleverly doing so that a rhythm begins in your yes reading yes revisions yes yes yes and even Mr. Joyce he himself said he'd earn immortality with the novel because he put so many puns and riddles and newwords and whatnots that it'd keep the professors guessing for centuries about what he really meant because it's a play, too, the play's the thing said Bill S., and Joyce is playing, it's the biggest play on us all and once you understand that you know his game and what a great big lovable mess is James Joyce's Ulysses, not a pleasure to read but a chore to read but read it one must to fight the dust.
IS IT THE GREATEST NOVEL ever written in the English language? I cannot laugh that loud. But he dares to try to capture that most elusive of creatures, Life.
TRY READING The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses by Kevin Birmingham as you're reading Ulysses I did and highly recommend it.
It's okay
2/5 Goodreads
3/5 Amazon
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