Ulysses Read-along (Part 4)

Ulysses – James Joyce (Read-along)

Evan’s ESS = 3.5 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = out of 10

Content = R (Adult Content, Language, Sexual Content, Incomprehensible Narratives, Mother of all Run on Sentences)

Why:  It’s no secret that Ulysses has been having his way with us over the past month.  Today however; let the joyous news be spread, the wicked old witch at last is dead!!! 

Two months ago, in our considerable naivety, we committed to undertake the oft esteemed Ulysses.  While this turned out to be the most troublesome read of our short literary endeavors, we owe a debt of gratitude to Fizzy Thoughts for hosting this painful event.  Had it not been for the accountability of a few other brave readers, we’d never have made it across the finish line.  Thoughts of abandonment tempted us throughout, yet in the end we are proud of our accomplishment.  Not entirely sure what we accomplished, but at least it’s out there.

Our thoughts on the final check-in (Part 3 of the novel) are pretty much the same as before.  If Mr. Bloom or Stephen ever invited us on a night out on the town, we’d decline on the spot.  Actually, if either Mr. Bloom or Stephen’s phone numbers appeared on our caller ID, we’d ignore the call and leave town immediately. 

Part 3 contained more incoherent ramblings as the characters retreated back to Mr. Bloom’s house after a night of debauchery, paranoia, and hallucinations (at one point a Hobgoblin made an appearance, which was awesome).  Episode 17 should be highlighted for its uniqueness, considering the entire narrative was written in the form of questions and answers.  And then there was Episode 18 – Stream-of-Consciousness in its most evil form.  No punctuation.  No coherent thought.  No way we’re reading anything authored by James Joyce ever again.             

Throughout the novel, the question on the table has been James Joyce – Insane or Genius?  Our response is, YES – followed by a few other additives that are unfit for this blog.  Ulysses was an exercise in anger management, perseverance, and lunacy.  Honestly, we’re just ready to be done.  Good riddance!         

Ulysses Read-along - Part 3

Ulysses – James Joyce (Read-along)

Evan’s ESS = TBD out of 10

Erin’s ESS = out of 10

Content = PG (Adult Content, Very Mild Language, Inappropriate Spying, Frequent Bar Hopping)

Why:  We apologize in advance for the brevity of this update, but if we don’t focus all our energy on completing Ulysses, we risk dropping out of this read-along.  The good news is that we’re only 1 episode behind, however, the bad news is that the episode in question happens to be a whopping 181 pages long. *Gulp*

Impressions for this third section?  Pain.  Pain and suffering.  We’ve tried to remain optimistic and have found some comfort in the fact that the reader isn’t supposed to understand Ulysses.  Why James Joyce?  Why?  Special thanks to our friend Lisa who recommended some very interesting resources.  Still, our head is about to explode. 

On the bright side (or the not so depressing side), it has been interesting to see what the next Episode is going to bring – stream of consciousness, incomprehensible garble, play script.  While we didn’t understand many of the events, the dialogue in Episode 14 was at least interesting, plus “The Citizen” is a really cool alias.  We also encountered our first action sequence, albeit brief, when Mr. Bloom experienced a brush with death in the form of a maliciously thrown tin box...

Okay, back to the reading... hopefully we’ll emerge next week with a smile on our face.  No guarantees.

Ulysses: Read-along - Part 2

Ulysses – James Joyce (Read-along)

Evan’s ESS = TBD out of 10

Erin’s ESS = out of 10

Content = PG – 13 (Adult Content, Very Mild Language, Morbid Reflections, Wandering Contemplations)

Well, time for another check in, and truthfully, the name of this second post should be called: What in the world did we sign up for...  We definitely needed considerable “help” to navigate through the first half of Part 2 and we owe a debt of gratitude to the many online resources available.  Unfortunately, there’s no online guide to describe our thoughts on this next section.  Soooo, in sticking with the theme of the novel, we’ve decided to utilize more of a random thought model... 

Summary of what we think we read:  Part 2 opened with Leopold Bloom carrying on a conversation with his cat and reflecting on the nature of his pet. Maybe not the most exciting way to start a historic day, but at least we were finally introduced to the main character.  From there, we encountered a post office, a morbid funeral service, and multiple restaurants.  A whole lot of other stuff happened; unfortunately we don't really know what they were.  Oh, and there’s an uneventful chance encounter between Mr. Bloom and Stephen Dedalus.

Random thought: While the narrative jumps are quite disorienting, it’s that much more rewarding when you actually comprehend a string of paragraphs.  You want to smile, as if to say “Ha! I’m wicked smart too!”  Then you realize the people nearby are wondering why you have a weird grin on your face and you feel stupid all over again.

Interesting way to describe suicide:  “Death by misadventure.”

Condemning thought on main character:  We felt some mild disappointment in the main character, highlighted by the following example.  If one is going to go through all the trouble to create a secret alias, they’ve got to do better than Henry Flower.  No offense, to anyone named Henry Flower, but if the entire alias naming world is at your disposal, surely you can do better.  We’re thinking something like... okay, maybe this is harder than we thought.  Still, our disappointment remains.

Another random thought: As you read Ulysses, the novel does have a sort of style and elegance.  Like it’s just a little too brilliant to fully grasp.  Like Joyce was way too smart and wanted to play a joke on “normal people” like us... 

Stream of Consciousness at its very best:  Right in the middle of a funeral service and without any warning or precedence, Mr. Bloom makes the following observation: 

“My kneecap is hurting me.  Ow.  That’s better.” 

We actually thought this little gem was pretty funny. 

Abbreviated wrap up: Okay, we’re dangerously close to going over our arbitrary word count limit, so until next time... chin up!

Ulysses - Readalong

Ulysses – James Joyce (Readalong)

Evan’s ESS = TBD out of 10

Erin’s ESS = out of 10

Content = PG (Adult Content, Very Mild Language, Rambling Walks by the Shoreline)

Never before have we been intimidated by a book.  Sure, we’ve been plenty intimidated by literary characters, but never a book itself.  Ulysses actually had our stomach in knots as we continued to delay the commencement of this readalong.  Needless to say, we had some pretty strong preconceptions of what James Joyce was going to bring to the table... still do.  It is with a strong dosage of optimism and bravery that we must forge ahead (hopefully the nightmares will improve over time)!

Okay, so far, Ulysses isn’t as bad as we thought, except for Episode 3, but we’ll get there in a minute.  In Episode 1 we are introduced to Stephen Dedalus and two of his annoying roommates.  The trio indulge in a lively conversation over breakfast regarding some offensive remarks made about Stephen’s mother (God rest her soul).  In Episode 2 we glimpse Stephen at work (he’s a teacher) and overhear another lively conversation between him and his boss.  There’s a whole lot of philosophizing and some other stuff that we were just barely able to grasp.   

As we mentioned, the read was going pretty well for us until Episode 3.  At this point the wheels came off, as we were confronted by the dreadful stream of consciousness technique.  Instantly, we experienced a horrible flashback to The Sound and the Fury.  Why is this style acceptable?  How can one possibly sort through random thoughts and flashbacks (there may have even been a flash forward somewhere) presented without dialogue or any other structure.  A reader of our mental capacity has no hope.  Hold on a second while we wipe the blood streaming from our eyes...

The good news – and there is some reason to rejoice – the plot has not totally escaped us.  Yea!  In fact, we’re actually looking forward to tackling Part II!