A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Posted on December 25, 2015 in Books
Happy Holidays!
In brief, I liked Joyce’s prose right away. There is something so simple yet good in how he puts words together.
However, the plot, the dialogue, and the character left me a bit wanting. I did like it in the beginning, but not much actually happens in terms of plot. You really have to relate to Stephen to enjoy it. I am not male or religious enough to have done so.
This book reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, but I like this book much better. I prefer Stephen much more than Holden Caulfield. It’s a similar angsty and reflective coming of age story but this one with a much more Catholic bent.
This was my first Joyce, and I do not think it will be my last. However, for a book less than 300 pages, this took me much longer than I would have liked. I hope Ulysses or Finnegan’s Wake is better, but I won’t try those out for awhile.
Read December 9-25, 2015.
I wish I had read this BEFORE attempting Ulysses. I still doubt I would have loved Ulysses, but I think I might have appreciated it more. Yes, Stephen is FAR more likable than Holden. Actually, for less annoying would probably be more precise. My review of A Portrait: http://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-portrait-of-artist-as-young-man-by.html
Don’t even waster your time with my review of Ulysses
Hi JE! Thanks for the comment. I am now dreading Ulysses. Holden was super annoying. Stephen was a bit more interesting, and the book could have been worse. Happy Holidays and thanks again.
I wouldn’t want to warn anyone off from Ulysses. It is THE literary mountain ya know…defying you to climb it. I’m glad I did. I might even reread it someday. I pretty sure I’d appreciate it more now. One recommendation though, if you ever do decide to scale its lofty heights, have a commentary handy, and although I usually hate to read a book this way…I ended up reading commentary on each chapter BEFORE I read the chapter. I doubt I would have comprehended half of it otherwise.
Hello JE! Yes. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I am not exactly looking forward to it even though there are SOME aspects of Joyce’s writing I liked. We’ll see. Maybe next year or 2017. Thanks for the comment. Happy New Year. 🙂