Ulysses

From Amazon.com

Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialized from March 1918 to December 1920 and then published in its entirety in February 1922.

It is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature and has been called a demonstration and summation of the entire movement. Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904.

Ulysses is the Latinized name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between the poem and the novel, with structural correspondences between the characters and experiences of Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus, in addition to events and themes of the early 20th-century context of modernism, Dublin, and Ireland's relationship to Britain.

The novel is highly allusive and also imitates the styles of different periods of English literature. The novel's stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—replete with puns, parodies, and allusions—as well as its rich characterization and broad humor, have led it to be regarded as one of the greatest literary works in history; Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.

This book didn't interest me one bit when I joined a reading challenge of sorts many moons ago. I was discouraged by the reviews which are divided - love or hate, nothing in between. Some negative reviews say it is very difficult to read, hard to understand, doesn't make sense, life is too short to read an unreadable book, people who claim they have read it are liars/pretentious, etc. I avoided it and all of James Joyce's books even if I had nothing else in my stash or Kindle.

A few months ago, one of my favorite funnies drew Celebrate Literary Day, and one of them is Pretend You Have Read Ulysses Day. It made me chuckle and I decided maybe it's time to take a stab at it.

I did not expect to like the book nor finish it. It is moderately long at 740+ pages and took me a little over 1 month to finish although I feel like I never really finished it and I won't pretend I understood all of what I read. I will definitely read it again and couldn't care less if I won't be able to fully understand all of it. I refuse to read books/publications that explain each episode. That would be retarded if you need a book that explains what you are reading and I want to interpret them myself.

I love the book anyway and the prose is beautiful, often hilarious, and reminds me a little of the style of writing on some parts ofThe Last Samurai. I didn't find it too difficult to read although I gave up on the Latin passages. No need to dwell on those. James Joyce was a genius. Yeah.