This book was just painful to me. It was so slow. I did not need to hear about why a guy loves to eat animal organs and how he likes them prepared in such detail. (Or what this same guy like to do to himself)
I thought I would like this book because I enjoyed the Portrait book by Joyce. It even had one of the same protagonists in Stephen Dedalus. But it was just so slow and gross.
So here is the deal. In the original Odysses, Telemachus searches for Odysseus and Odysseus searches for Telemachus. Basically a quest to find each other. Well in this book Bloom is mentally trying to find his son, who I think is dead, and Stephen is looking for his dad, even though he has a dad, but his real dad is only his flesh dad and he needs a super smart dad, because he is now so smart. Lame.
This book is at the top of many of the "greatest" lists. I don't get it.
The thing with this book is, yes it's painful but the "stream of conscious" or Now Joyce narrates this book is what sets it apart. The story is average but the ability to show what's in the protagonists head, combined with the inability at times to discern what's reality and what's not, is why this book is on everyones must read.
ReplyDeleteAaron-I did catch that part,a bout seeing in guys head. I thought it was interesting and definitely provocative. It would have been a great idea for a much shorter book though!
ReplyDelete