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Summary: easy way to read Ulysses
Review: OK. It doesn't take a genius to realize that unless you're name is James Joyce you're not going to fully understand this book. There are too many obscure allusions and not even the very well read will get it all. So here's how I tackled the book. Skip the allusions. Yes, skip them. There's no point trying to figure them out because you won't. Just read the narrative, follow the story, trace the themes, and 'try' to appreciate Joyce's style. Then, if you really like the book that much go back and re-read it, only this time use one of the 'guides' to Ulysses that are out there to figure out the allusions.If you approach the book this way it become much easier to read. You'll still get the story, the structure, and the enough of the style.
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Summary: The Greatest Novel Ever? Hardly
Review: Technically brilliant. Intellectually stimulating. Emotionally lacking. Just because its deep doesn't mean its good. "Hamlet" touches your intellect as well as your emotions. "Ulysses" ingages your intellect, but where's the humanity? Where's the pathos? Read "Lolita" instead. That gets my vote for greatest novel of the 20th century.
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Summary: Soporific
Review: I read somewhere that this book has been termed the greatest book of 20th century in American History. I absolutely have no clue why. I think its just a hype. This book is very dry in prose and its hard to keep reading for more than 10 minutes. For me its one of the most soporific books - it makes me doze off in a few minutes in the middle of insomnia.
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Summary: Worth the Effort
Review: Of course it's difficult; it was meant to be so. However, Joyce's desire to keep critics writing about him by making _Ulysses_ a dense read is not reason to disparage what he was capable of doing. Another reviewer states that the book has neither plot nor story; this is absolutely erroneous. _Ulysses_ is not for the faint-hearted nor for the prudish. Certainly it remains on college reading lists because of its multiple layers of meanings; which few readers, if any, can grasp at first reading. To understand everything probably requires multiple readings, secondary sources, and/or formal study. Also, reading _all_ of Homer's _Odyssey_ is a great help, just for seeing the parallels Joyce was driving at. But many jokes and innuendoes can be understood immediately, and if you are truly reading the text, you can determine what is going on. But this is never a book that you can comprehend by merely skimming along, waiting for the narrative to clear everything up for you. The effort is worth it, but don't attempt it if your motive is simply to add another title to your "List of Important Books That I've Read."
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Summary: Yes, the emperor has no clothes. . .
Review: Camus wrote--in "The Plague," I believe--something to the effect that if one really wanted to comprehend every moment's passing, he or she should spend the whole of his or her life in lines waiting for theatre tickets. The point which Monsieur Camus was trying to communicate, I think, is that we should be somewhat happy for the passing of our lives, for it is when we are engaged in the most miseable of chores that we are most aware of time's pasage.
I must conclude that Camus never read Joyce, for I am certain that if he had, he would have substituted "reading Joyce's Ulysses" for "waiting in line for theatre tickets." This incoherent, gratuitously allusive, over-long monster of a novel is what English majors have canonized to prove to Engineers that they're smart too (and I write that as a not-too-bright Poli Sci major myself). In the interests of full disclosure, I admit that I have a special hate of this book: a sadist Yallie-Ellmanite English teacher of mine forced me to read it the summer before my senior year of high school. Ulysses has two great strengths. First, it steals the plot of the Odyssey in its entirety--thus, you're not really missing anything by not understanding it. Second, unlike other books in English, it does not discriminate--it it is equally incomprehensible to English and non-English speakers alike--little wonder that the touchy-feelies who dominate ivy league English departments love it so. Lemon soap; masturbate on the beach; stately, plump Buck Whocares? Sadly, though Ulysses is awful, Joyce was not without talent. One can see the glimmer of greatness--great lyrical streches of words, wonderful cadences here and there, etc. This book, however, is the literary equivalent of a Mondrian painting, it is the smug mocking of art(and in certain circles, those who dare to point this out are treated like the boy who observes that the emperor is not wearing clothes). If you want to talk about it at cocktail parties, buy the Cliff's notes. ***This reader referred to the Cliff's Notes editon of Ulyssses***
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Summary: Rich, complex, and essential
Review: All I can say after finally finishing Ulysses is that it deserves its reputation - both of them. Yes, it is a masterpiece - and, yes, it is a difficult, at times seemingly impenetratable read. When I finished reading this book and finally closed it, I felt I had accomplished a monumental deed. This is the only book I've ever read - and I've read many (difficult ones, too) - that was an actual physical chore to read. One reviewer mentioned that reading it is comparable to climbing Mt. Everest - many people start it, but few make it to the summit - and, ridicilous as that sounds, it is true, in a way. I'm not going to go into a detailed analysis of this book (that's arguably impossible, anyway), or summarize the plot, or anything like that - there is no plot. Small review forums limited to 1,000 words such as this one is not the place for a detailed dissertation on a book as profound, monumental, and important as Ulysses - doctoral thesises and 100,000 word essays have been written for that purpose by people far more qualified than I. It is not difficult, but impossible to summarize Ulysses: it must read in full. I have done so - it wasn't easy, but I did it. I read Joyce's A Portrait of The Artist As A Young Man first (which I highly reccommend you do also), although I didn't use any annotation or Cliff's Notes, or anything like that. I have no doubt that many of the book's complexities, metaphors, allusions, and ancedotes were lost on me, but I wanted to read the book on my own first. I don't claim total comprehension of his vast and difficult masterpiece; I fully admit that there are many parts of the book that I did not understand. This is no reason to slander the book, as many have ignorantly done. I did enjoy reading the book, however - and felt great joy and a sense of accomplishment upon on reading it - and yes, it IS a masterpiece, and for this reason: this is one of the few, if not the only book(s) ever written that accurately and realistically depicts real life. There is no plot, there is no "story" - there is certainly no moral. What this book (I believe) attempts to do - and does - is to portray life in a fictional setting - real life. This book takes two normal people, and describes their day. The cross paths at times - intersect, ramble, and collide - and this book, basically, just shows a normal day in the life of two normal people. This may not sound exciting - it isn't. It may sound boring - it often is. Imagine if you wrote down in a book every single event of your day in pain-staking detail (and there are parts in thsi book where Joyce goes into such detail as to border on mundanity, despite its ultra realism.) Still, it is a brilliant and ingenious literary device - surprisignly unattemped before - and carried off marvelously well here. This book addresses the normal, everyday things that other books always cease to mention: defecation, masturbation, rambling thoughts inside a person's head. Like Portrait, this book contains no quotation marks. All dialogue is written as it is personally experienced by the character; I know no other writer besides Joyce who writes - both dialogue and narraration - from INSIDE the character: you actually feel what it's like to walk around inside a person's head, rather than just witnessing his external actions, like every other book in the world. Ulysses, though a long and difficult read (especially if one chooses to study it), is ultimately rewarding, and I reccommend tackling it to anyone who reads with an open mind. It is a masterpiece, and it is, indeed, the true last word on realism.
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Summary: What a horrible book
Review: I'm an avid reader, who almost always finishes a book no matter how long or badly written but this one, I decided life was to short. This book is extremely dull!!! My book club decided to read this book after one of the members visited the James Joyce tower in Ireland, which the author supposedly wrote part of the book in. We also had noted that the book was on top 100 books of the century etc.. All of us decided the only reason this book could be recommended is because Joyce introduced a new form of writing called "stream of consisiousness". This style of writing basically goes into the character's mind and portray's his/her thoughts. This style at least in this book is very very had to follow, if no narrative is given in between characters thoughts by the author. But to top it all off, the book is boring to say the least, we decided unanimously to stop reading the book and some of us had already read 1/2 the book, myself included by sheer doggedness.
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Summary: This book is WAY overrated...definitely NOT the #1 book ever
Review: I know the Modern Library picked this as the #1 book of all-time, which was one of the reasons I chose to read it. However, I was sorely disappointed in it. I like books that I can read without having to scrutinize every page in abhorring detail. A book like Huckleberry Finn is a very readable book that I can read on one level and my son on another and both take a lot away from it. A book like Ulysses has only one level, and it's way to deep to enjoy. The "story" gets lost in the chaff. I have never used Cliff Notes in my life, but was forced to buy them about halfway through this book and was surprised to find some "obvious" things I missed. If you want a good book, read Frankenstein, Huck Finn, any Dickens, etc but skip this "classic" and leave it to those folks who like to disect a book and not enjoy it...
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Summary: Nothing could compare
Review: Ulysses is the greatest thing (in all of arts and sciences)ever created by a man. I have read it all the way through once, and have re-read the individual episodes plenty of times on their own. A whole part of my life was defined by the reading of this book. It is no small undertaking to construct a universe. Ulysses is more than a machine, more than an organism; Ulysses is a universe. If you want to read deeper into things (which of course you do, if you're reading this book), then the most indispensible of the commentaries is Stuart Gilbert's, which was written under Joyce's supervision.
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Summary: joyce is beyond all else
Review: For someone to revolutionize an artform is unique. But James Joyce did it with every book that he wrote. It is too bad he only wrote four but i guess between Ulysses and Finaganns Wake, a reader could spend his life decifereing them. On to Ulysses: this book is incredible. It is like a puzzle that is too large and complex to ever be finished, but at the odd moment that two pieces fit together, it is a revelation that sparks the mind and soul. Probibly the greatest peice of art that i have ever absorbed but to readers beware; it is more an art than a typical novel. Poetry, prose and passage all in one with spiritual interpretation to be discovered and shakspeare to be dissected. if you love the english language than read this book with an open mind and a hopeful heart. The book that shows the diversity of our language.
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