Ike's review of Ulysses (original) (raw)

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Ike's Reviews > Ulysses

Ulysses by James Joyce

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Ulysses
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Life is too short to read Ulysses.

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Reading Progress

Comments Showing 1-50 of 79 (79 new)

Lynda I agree.

Aurora lol, right

message 3: by[deleted user] (new)

I suppose it might seem that way to someone with a short life.

Lisa Life is too short not to.

Karith Amel Ha! Ya, I kind of agree with you. But then again, it kind of depends on the context. Reading Ulysses with two good friends, and an Irish-Catholic professor, in an office filled with books and tea, might just be the way I want to spend my life.

Jonathonz A life isn't complete without a thorough reading of Ulysses. Try it with a copy of Gifford Annotated. It's unreadable without it.

Xianjing I cannot agree more.

Kathy I absolutely agree with you, the best thing to do is not bother with it.

Alex Frame it made a mess of my mind and I was reading it on a cruise when I was supposed to be relaxed. he must have been drinking some pretty strong tea when wrote it!

Grant Au contraire. Life is too short to NOT read it.

Agata soooooo true!

Kamer Aksoy güldüm.

Samuel Korb Life is too short not to read Ulysses.

Hammers_k preach

Eric Smith Actually, life is long.
Friends are few.
Jobs are many.

Theo Logos The point, I think, of reading Ulysses is to make life appear to be longer than it actually is; far, faaaar longer.

Theo Logos Joyce was a wicked trickster, and Ulysses was his parlor trick on the pretentious to keep them reading and studying a work of monumental boredom to mine his Easter eggs of irrelevant intellect.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Eric Smith I'm about 200 pages in and I'm finding it quite funny in places, odd in others, surreal in many. It is not as hard as I expected, not to say it's easy. I'm reading commentary along with it, because I'm not going to read it twice. I find it amazing that it is often picked as the greatest novel of the 20th century, it clearly is not, at least in my opinion. That said, it is probably the most influential.

Thoughtdome225 No. Life's too short to play Pokemon Go

Thoughtdome225 Not to read Ulysseys

William Gaule Well don't review it if you didn't read it. And you give it one star because you're arrogant ... It is idiots like you that give such a great work of art a bad overall rating ...

Mark André And too long not to.

Sturla And that's where you are wrong...

Mark André Who's wrong? Wrong about what?

AJ "And that's where you are wrong..."

"Who's wrong? Wrong about what?"

*grabs popcorn, runs for cover*

Mark André I'm lost. - )

AJ "I'm lost. - )"

That's me reading Joyce XD

Mark André Nah! It's fun! - )

Mark André What does Bloom say? "When will I see the joke?"

Mark André It's a great scene in CIRCE: at the brothel. Bloom is having a fantasy/hallucination and all the girls and the madam are sitting there watching and commenting and snickering about Bloom's dream; and so he finally turns to them and asks innocently, When will I see the joke? I guess you have to be there. - )

AJ Had ta be there.

Mark André Correction to #35.
Bloom says:
"When will I hear the joke."
pg. 568, rh.

Mark André I'm saying that I mis-quoted.

The quote is sort of the "punch" line to a long scene toward the end of the chapter.
It's Bloom's final humiliation dream (spoiler) and "some how" the girls get to witness it as it "happens" to Bloom.
When Bloom finally recognizes that they are laughing at him, he naively inquires:

BLOOM
(Smiles yellowly at the whores.) When will I hear the joke?

I got it wrong in my head back in June when I pointed out the scene.
Message #38 drew me back to the thread. Reviewing my own contributions: re-reading msg. #35 I discovered my mistake. I corrected it. - )

Anna You are so right! But I challenged myself to read it and I can't give it up just yet ....

Mark André Don't be mis-led by all the banter here. Reading Ulysses can be one of the most fun and entertaining experiences in all of literature.
Don't view it as a chore; rather, see it as an adventure. It takes time and effort and patience. But for every penny you invested you get a 100 back in return.
Ulysses is the story of a 16 year marriage, and how time and events can affect a couples' love. It is an adult book, and certainly not to everyones taste; but those of us who love it, read it again and again the rest of our lives!

message 37: by Ayumi (new)

Ayumi lol so funny😂

berthamason Yeah, let's read a bunch of stupid Stephen King books instead.

Scott J Stephen Fry says it’s great, his favorite — it makes me curious to find out why.

message 40: by[deleted user] (new)

if its too short to read ulysses then its too short to live

Mark André Shiva wrote: "if its too short to read ulysses then its too short to live"
What a cool comment! - )
And life is long enough to read Ulysses at least 3 or 4 times.

Mark André Greg wrote: "I would like to attempt Ulysses."

Don't believe anything you hear. Find out for yourself. - )

Fab For me, it seemed too short not to! Now, I hope it’s long enough for a reread :)

Mark André Fab wrote: "For me, it seemed too short not to! Now, I hope it’s long enough for a reread :)"
Hi Fab! There's plenty of time. Besides it will only take half as long, even with lingering on and savoring favorite spots, the second time. - )

Fab Very true, Mark! :)

Mark André Fab wrote: "Very true, Mark! :)"

- )

message 47: by Liam (new)

Liam Mulkeen My life feels shortened reading reviews from people who didn't read the book.

Alan Ulysses lengthens life, and mind.

Cathy THIS! Ulysses only makes your life seem longer.

Hudson Harriman-Smith I think life works the opposite way.

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