Ulysses - the Spark Notes

(Originally written February 21, 2018)

From my Goodreads review:

Ok, so the Spark Notes gets three stars and the novel only gets two? What gives?

Honestly, Ulysses was not that enjoyable. Some of that, a lot of that, lack of enjoyment stemmed from how difficult it was for me to follow. This little guide made a lot more of Joyce intelligible to me. I'm not saying that I would have loved Ulysses had I read the Spark Notes first, only that I have a deeper understanding and thus, appreciation for it now. My plan was to read another interpretation of this book and then Dubliners by Joyce but I feel I need a break. I'll try and get back to Joyce quickly though, while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind.

I'm just not that into James Joyce

(Originally written February 14, 2018)

My Goodreads review:

I'm just not that into James Joyce. There is a ton of brilliant stuff in the book and the variety of genres within the book is interesting. But, like with my review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I found I was often bored in reading it. There's some pretty funny stuff in it like the scene that mirrors Odysseus escaping from the Cyclops. However, it's mostly just the thought processes of the main characters with not much going on. For me, reading James Joyce is like watching figure skating. I can appreciate the beauty and technical skill that goes into it, but while it's impressive I'm probably going to change the channel relatively quickly because I'm just not that into it...