Ulysses

Ulysses made me feel dumb. Maybe if I read it a few times I would have a clue as to what is going on, but it took me a long ass time to read. So, I might not ever read it a few times. Does anyone understand what this book is about?

Luckily there is wikipedia and so that helped somewhat, but often I found myself reading and re-reading a page multiple times just because I had no idea what it was even saying. Like this passage: "But tomorrow is a new day will be. Past was is today. What now is will then morrow as now was be past yester." Can you understand that in one read through?

And the book is filled with these kinds of paragraphs. It's really confusing. So, I'm not going to talk so much about what the book is about because I couldn't really explain it. And yes, I feel dumb.

However, I also feel accomplished because Ulysses was a challenge I really wanted to take on. And I definitely thought the writing was beautiful and poetic and it made me feel scholarly just for reading it. If I had mountains of time to do nothing but read and analyze, I would have taken it on this book. But, there are so many books that I want to read and I also have to work, clean, socialize, that I just couldn't take the time necessary to really get into Ulysses with a fine tooth comb.

Should you read it? Yes, if you love literature and want a challenging book. If you understand it, teach me.

5/5 stars, because I have to give James Joyce mad props and because he used a "lexicon" (that's wikipedia's words) of 30,030 words and that's something to give stars to.