Ulysses

Rating:
Summary: There is a reason this always tops everyone's list
Review: There is not a book out there that is more frustrating than James Joyce's Ulysses...unless, of course, it is Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. The problem lies in the fact that this novel is such an amazing piece of art that the reader can feel like Joyce forgot all about him. It is almost impossible to read by oneself with it's seemingly garbled maze of words and phrases and madness. However, this is what makes it such a joy to read. Imagine that an author decided to do away with any and all rules concerning fiction and to write a book that was it's own entity, showing you what it wanted to show you, telling you what it wanted to tell you and acting like its own character. This is what Joyce has accomplished with Ulysses. I was fortunate enough to read this book in a class, four months of nothing but Ulysses, and I have to warn would be readers that I don't think I would have made it through without expert guidance. I would advise anyone wishing to tackle this literary giant to gather some book loving friends, and a guidebook or two for Ulysses, and to take it very slowly. Read a chapter a week and then meet up with you group to discuss and puzzle out what you have just read. I am willing to bet that your weekly conversations will be a greater work of art than any book out there, and I think that Joyce would have liked that, would have enjoyed sparking debates and conversation, its probably the main reason why anyone creates anything; for it to be enjoyed and shared. The story line is simple, you have two main characters, Stephen Dedalus, the brilliant but alienated loner. You have Leopold Bloom, a simple man who is as alienated as Stephen, but not for his mind, for his cultural background and meek manner. The entire book takes place over the course of one day in Dublin, and after the first three chapters the entire book simply follows Bloom around during a day when he knows that his wife is having a romantic meeting with her lover. It is hard to sum up such a giant book in a few sentences like this, but basically Bloom is trying to set his life back on track, trying to reconcile himself with his wife's betrayal, and trying to reach out to Stephen who he feels could use a loving family. Of course, you could read this book and not find any of what I am saying in there, but the beauty of Ulysses is that I would love to hear what it is that you found in this novel as much as I would love sharing what I found.

Rating:
Summary: 10 years to read, but well worth it
Review: I was finally able to get into _Ulysses_ this past February after trying for ten years or so. I just finished it (it's June). Phew!! Yes, it's a hard nut to crack -- you can see why so many people give up in rage and frustration (and unfairly express their resentment at being unable to understand by writing vitriolic reviews). And yes, if you're going to climb Mount Everest (or maybe K2 -- _Finnegans Wake_ appears to be Everest) you need an oxygen mask and a team -- get _The Bloomsday Book_ and _Ulysses Annotated_. But to say it was well worth it would be a giant understatement.

I'll try to say in a nutshell what's so great (for me) about it: _Ulysses_ is the incredibly poignant story of one ordinary man's attempts to reconcile himself to his failures as a father, a husband and a human being. At the same time, through its rich description of Dublin (which comes to stand for every human community, everywhere); through a staggeringly complex web of historical, metaphorical and philosophical associations; and through Joyce's use of words, in which the English language _itself_ becomes a character in the novel, _Ulysses_ becomes about much, much more than a day in the life of one man -- it becomes a hugely cosmic-comic and very personal oddyssey through the readers' soul, in which every pretension or fantasy one could possibly have is brought to light and then smashed. Does this sound dismal? It isn't -- it's hilarious; and for those who've made it through, the ending words of Molly Bloom's soliloquy and her final "yes" are the sparkling, intoxicating wine of possibility -- heartbreakingly bittersweet, moving and transcendent.

Rating:
Summary: Deserving Your Attention for Repeated Readings
Review: My discussions about ULYSSES bring out a similar comment from others--no matter how many times we return to the novel, we find something new. This richly rendered piece proves that virtual reality existed long before computers; it required a rich imagination, a good eye for detail, and a finely tuned ear for the music of voices and everyday sound. We find these things in ULYSSES. It deserves the praise it has earned for these many decades.

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Summary: A Long slow Day in Dublin
Review: I had this book described to me by a friend as both the best and worst book she had ever read. I can truly understand and appreciate her sentiments. Parts of the book are sheer poetry, and the descriptions and language draw the reader into the mystical brilliance of James Joyce's non-narrative. Other parts are maddeningly obscure and leave the reader wondering just what the hell is going on. The surprising part of this is that these obscure moments actually add to the book, rather than detracting from it. If "Ulysses" were not so obscure in so many parts, then the sheer mundaneness of much of the day would make it as boring as its detractors claim it to be, but the obscurity forces the reader to read attentively throughout. This is not a challenge enjoyed by all. This is not a light read, and if you're looking for a summer book by the cottage then stick to John Grisham and no fault to it (the light reads serve their purpose and should not be denigrated). However, if you're looking for a book that will test your imagination "Ulysses" is the perfect book. You probably won't fully understand it (I estimate I fully understood about 2/3 of it) but you will have learned much about yourself and the world of early-20th century Dublin and also of the world we live in today. Also, another reviewer here as written that this is a book to be read aloud. I agree whole-heartedly with that appraisal. It will add to both your understanding and enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: And he was so gifted
Review: Joyce had sometimes been called a writerÕs writer. One reviewer even suggested we should give Ulysses the benefit of a doubt, for the same reason we uneducated lay-folk use to accept on sight modern physics or EinsteinÕs Relativity theory. Now I can think of all sorts of definitions for the meaning and purpose of imaginative literature -- to serve as the arcane Cabala for the initiates of a secretive cult is not one of them. If a novel lacks what it takes to reach every conceivable kind of reader, regardless whether it is to be received as a pleasure or a nuisance, than it is a failure, plain and simple. I may detest what I read -- even successful novels donÕt come with a gun held to your head -- but Ulysses is simply an empty shell, nothing left to form an opinion or taste either way. A bad writer is just bad, because he canÕt cope adequately with his task. But there is also a possibility that I may detest a good writer for the waste of skill and talent on something I deem to be an unworthy or badly misguided effort. So even if I may not like what he has to say, I can still be impressed by the beauty and cogency of his delivery. I donÕt like it, but the man has something to say, and he says it well. But this here is different: can anybody tell me what else it possibly could be than the vain demonstration of stylistic skills from the portfolio of a great talent -- with absolutely nothing to say? God knows, I am all for a reader who pays to a good authorÕs work the respect it deserves and pitches in a bit of his own effort. This should entitle a good reader to carry home something worthwhile. However it is not just the Ulysses, I got the same impression from the entire work of James Joyce, even from his early poems. Except for a precious few luminous moments (the travel of young Steven in the train compartment, the damp and creeping cold atmosphere on the rugby pitch in the ÔPortraitÕ) it really amounts to little more than an exercise in the rhetorics of imaginative writing. It must be me, but I canÕt help feeling something amateurish in all this contrived effort. Call Joyce a genius, if you like, we all know he was determined to be remembered as the outstanding writer of the 20th century. And we do! We remember his legend the same way we remember Cervantes or Kafka before we open their books. An aura surrounds ÔUlysses,Õ and this awe may even carry us through a few passages and purple patches, but thatÕs where the comparison ends. Take away the halo from Cervantes and Kafka and you still enjoy a robust read -- I doubt the same can be said of Joyce. He had the gift, and he knew it, but even his consummate admiration for Ibsen didnÕt help him to find for himself a story worth telling, that is a story which would make his talent shine and captivate the reader. Technically, Ulysses is a superb piece of narrative engineering. A myriad of leitmotifs and themes entwine, separate and meet again each delivered in a variety of different voices and styles. So, ok, a letter torn to tiny shreds into the river carries to a corresponding theme five chapters later, a piece of soap bought in the morning becomes an important item in late afternoon, a galaxy of town-folks revolve around each other and do their daily chores, though mostly in pubs, hospital-canteens and hostelries -- a tat one-sided should it ever become necessary to reconstruct Dublin from scratch. So our Mr. Bloom masturbates over the sight of a crippled girl -- the joke to write parts of this particular passage in the pseudo-elegant journalese of a turn of the century fashion magazine is lost on me: is it supposed to poke fun on the clichŽ beset thoughts in the poor girlÕs mind? In fact Joyce ventriloquizes a lot; all over the book the English language is taken through her paces like a dressage horse, nobody can deny the authorÕs brilliance, and sometimes he even presents a superb artistic flash, like the gold coins the principle is handing out to Stephen. Yet even here I see the author glancing sideways under his eyelids: are we really looking? Do we catch the moment? (Kafka did such things in his sleep.) So what does all this amount to, on some 800 pages, except to small change? Yes, Ulysses has style, a whole museum of styles to be exact, and nothing but style. After you finish it, if you make it through, you will leave it behind like a confused dream, and forget it just as soon.

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Summary: PFFT!
Review: I both love and hate this book.

I love it because it is magic. It isthe most ingeniously, brilliantly and beautifully written piece ofliterature that I have and most likely will ever come across.

I hateit because, now, and for the next hundred or so years (that sameapproximate space of times between Shakespeare and Joyce) there is noother book that can be written. All other art is the same materialrehashed in comparison to Joyce. None of us will live to see the timewhen another "Ulysses" (just as another "KingLear" or "Romeo and Juliet") is appropriate.

As TSEliot said, 'it is the book to which we are all indebted and to whichnone of us can escape'. Before "Ulysses", I hoped to becomea writer. Now, I don't know if I can in the very least read any otherfiction. Anyone who writes and does not read "Ulysses" doesnot know what they are plagiarisin and what they are making redundant; thosewho write that have read "Ulysses" (and have at least somesense of its brilliance and pulchritude) are plagiarising.

This book towers*unimaginably* over others. Read it aloud. The third chapter is morerich in prose than anything else I have come across.

It is a shamethat this epic has been branded an esoteric one. Do not hesitate toexperience the works of the greatest master since the Bard.

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Summary: Hail, Postmodernism is dead, long live¿its demise.
Review: Recently I was staying at a friend's house and in the library was Ulysses, I pulled the book out from the shelf and started to read it. I knew the book was famous, considered by many the greatest book of the 20th Century, and I had a vague recollection of having tried to read it when I was still a teenager. Fully conscious and wide-awake I closely read the first 40 or 50 pages. I can't say I don't remember what I read, but I can say I had no idea where the "action" took place, no idea of who was talking, and absolutely clueless to what any of the characters thought. The experience was completely mind-numbing. I then turned to the last chapter, and turned page after page looking for the period at the end of that chapter's opening sentence. I don't know how thorough my scanning was but I believe the whole last chapter, several pages, is one very long sentence.

Joyce is an aesthetic bother of Marcel Duchamp (known for The Fountain, a urinal, now a museum piece) and John Cage (the composer of pieces for prepared piano, where the piano's strings are mangled with trash. He also is the "composer" of violin piece where the performer goes through the motions of playing without making a sound. I don't know if Amazon's audio capabilities can capture the nuance of that piece.) In this "club" we have a composer who writes noise or silence, an artist who exhibits a toilet, and a writer who is incomprehensible...long may they rest in peace.

Two positive things I can say about James Joyce is that he has a great sounding name and he gives wonderful titles to his works.

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Summary: Greatest novel ever? I think not.
Review: This is one of those classic novels that gives classic novels a bad name. Modern readers equate the word "classic" with "boring and hard to read." But most classics have risen to that status because they are timeless, powerful and entertaining - Heart of Darkness, War and Peace, and Red Badge of Courage come to mind (all highly readable, by the way). Then there are the novels that have been made famous because of the academic community's inability to distinguish between obscure genius and obscure pretentious pap. Ulysses falls into the latter category.

This work has its moments, no question. I actually enjoyed the final hundred pages. Too bad I had to read 900 pages (hardcover version) of intellectual onanism to get to them. Joyce was a talented writer, but trying so stridently to prove that to his readers is just plain arrogant. His prose makes Faulkner look like Crichton. I was able to follow the narrative less than half of the time. Lest you think that has more to do with my intellect (or lack thereof) than bad writing, you should know that I am a well-read, educated person who makes his living as a professional editor. The point is, if a literate audience can't make (any) sense of your work without referring to a 500 page reference book every two minutes, your novel is a failure.

Ulysses is a book for people who think a blank white canvas hanging in an art gallery is genius. Fans of Joyce need to read Tom Wolfe's Painted Word before they can have any credibility defending Joyce's "masterpiece."

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Summary: Ulysses - Modern Library's #1 Fiction of the Century
Review: The Modern Library (Random House) has ranked Ulysses by James Joyce to be the #1 fiction of the 20th century.

Now the question is does it deserve to be called the best fiction of the century?

The answer will depend on your background and tastes. If you enjoy philosophy, heavy symbolic imagery, psychology, analysis of religious corruption, drawing parallels between Greek Myths and everyday life, and learning new english words then you will undoubtedly get the most out of Ulysses.

I personally think that Ulysses is a great choice as the best fiction of the century because it covers almost *all aspects* of life from romance to racism. And it is one of the first books that lets you really see how the mind works (i.e. "stream of conciousness" technique). But it is probably this psychological aspect of the novel that turns people off. If one can get past this barrier than it can be seen that Ulysses is truly worthy of its #1 ranking.

Homer's Odyssey (from which "Ulysses" is the main character) is considered to be one of the greatest books of western literature of all time. It is only fitting that Ulysses fills this role in the 20th century.

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Summary: How to best understand and appreciate this book.
Review: There is often much talk about how to best "get" this book. Many will suggest various commentaries, some will suggest several "deep" reads.

The best way to come to understand this book, its place in the history of literature, and the excessive praise it has earned in its reviews is to read one simple fable: "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen.

If you are looking for an example of great literature, don't look here. If you are looking for a model to improve the precision of your own thought and expression, don't look here. If you want to come to understand a great joke and laugh yourself into hysterics at the sheer buffoonery of modern life, read this book.

Having made it through this sick joke of a book and coming to know it thoroughly, I've been in a position to enjoy fits of uncontrolled laughter when I listen to fans of this book begin to yammer. It's a great inside joke that you can really only be in on if you've read the book and understand something of its place in literary history. Having read this silly tripe and listening to self-important types discuss it is more flat out silly than getting stoned out of your brain and watching the South Park movie.

As H. C. Andersen taught us, if we simply cannot find any meaning in something it is entirely possible there is no meaning there. And just because other people claim to see meaning in this book, or fleas in a flea circus, or clothes on a naked emperor... well, you get the idea.

Hence, I have to give this book at least 2 stars. You will be rewarded by reading it. Even if not in the way this book's proponents promise.