Joyce’s experimental masterpiece set a new standard for modernist fiction, pushing the English language past all previous thresholds in its quest to capture a day in the life of an Everyman in turn-of-the-century Dublin. Obliquely borrowing characters and situations from Homer’s Odyssey, Joyce takes us on an internal odyssey along the current of thoughts, impressions, and experiences that make up the adventure of living an average day. As his characters stroll, eat, ruminate, and argue through the streets of Dublin, Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness narrative artfully weaves events, emotions, and memories in a free flow of imagery and associations. Full of literary references, parody, and uncensored vulgarity, Ulysses has been considered controversial and challenging but always brilliant and rewarding.
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"Reading this book is an experience--I know that's probably a cliche, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. Enjoyable? Sometimes. Seat-of-pants exciting? Nah. Edifying? Always: like the systematic absorption of an encyclopedia into your brain. Try it, preferably with friends or a reading-group, or in a college setting." — Clara (5 out of 5 stars)
"Reading this book is an experience--I know that's probably a cliche, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. Enjoyable? Sometimes. Seat-of-pants exciting? Nah. Edifying? Always: like the systematic absorption of an encyclopedia into your brain. Try it, preferably with friends or a reading-group, or in a college setting."
“Talk about understanding ‘feminine psychology’—I have never read anything to surpass it, and I doubt if I have ever read anything to equal it.”
“Ulysses will immortalize its author with the same certainty that Gargantua immortalized Rabelais and The Brothers Karamazov immortalized Dostoevsky…It comes nearer to being the perfect revelation of a personality than any book in existence.”
“In the last pages of the book, Joyce soars to such rhapsodies of beauty as have probably never been equaled in English prose fiction.”
“To my mind one of the most significant and beautiful books of our time.”
“Almost every variety of human experience is crammed into the accordian folds of a single day, which makes Ulysses not just an experimental work but the very last word in realism.”
“Ulysses, considered by many to be the preeminent novel of the modern era, has been recorded for audio before. But this new version, featuring narrator John Lee, has much to recommend it. Even though he’s English, Lee can summon up a convincing Irish accent, and his petulant reading gives the book a great deal of vigor. His pace is ideal, neither too fast to follow the complex novel nor too slow to be wearying.”
" And on my fourth attempt I get past page 100 and read the whole thing. Actually I was quite intellectual and read it in parallel with The Odyssey. That set me up nicely for the Christmas holidays. "
" Again, read many years ago. I will put this on my list as a re-read. "
" The hardest book to read I have ever encountered. But a labour of love, jewels hidden deep but worth digging. I haven't read any Homer which may have assisted with the allegories. Worth trying "
" you have to just keep chipping away at this one - but it's worth it "
" Yoy really need to love Joyce to read this, as this was for college only read relevant chapter. The film was alot easier to grasp but all the same a worthful read "
" Reread with 'Bloomsday book'. Found 'Circe' hard going,but otherwise rewarding, Joyce sometimes tries too hard, e.g. the English styles paralleling the development of the foetus in the maternity ward sequence "
" A great attempt to create a book, where one day and one book will contain all days and all books. "
" I think I'm not well-read enough to truly appreciate this book...nor is my vocabulary large enough...nor is my attention span long enough... I should reread this in the future... "
" The copy I have is very poorly formatted, but I think I'm getting it. Lots of beautiful lines in there among the pondering. "
" Definitely the most challenging novel I've read. Perhaps also the greatest, and most rewarding? Only a long life contemplating this question will provide an answer, I think. "
" I probably would have liked it more if I had a degree in literature... as it was it just wasn't that much fun. "
" I get the literary and Greek references. It doesn't help. Maybe it is a work of genius. It's just not for me. Beautiful and enthralling language can keep me reading Faulkner even when it's not easy. But Joyce I do not find at all poetic. I simply do not like him. "
" Full disclosure: I took a course in university that was solely about this book. We read it, analyzed it, re-read and analyzed some more. There is no way I would have made it through otherwise. (Now if I can just find a university course on Gravity's Rainbow and Infinite Jest.) "
" Interesting. Will give another go! "
" The jury is still out "
" Stunning, absolutely compelling and certainly worth the copious study, research and Gaelic heartbreak. Can't believe I waited so long to read this book, certainly to my own personal detriment. "
James Joyce (1882–1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake, as well as the short-story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is an accomplished stage actor and has written and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.
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