nikodemus's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
thomasgoddard's review against another edition
4.0
'No birds. Frail from the housetops two plumes of smoke ascended, pluming, and in a flaw of softness softly were blown.'
Two people highlighted this exact quote recently. The three of us all review books on Instagram. It's nice to have proof of that collective unconscious. We're none of us original.
What this book manages to do with language alone makes it worth reading.
Endless moments of absolute clarity cemented together with a healthy dollop of linguistic playfulness and domestic drama.
It reminded me a little of Proust in the sense of the familiar everyday events giving way to larger perceptions and protestations on existence.
The Recognitions by William Gaddis is the superior book according to my own particular tastes.
But I've not lost anything by reading this novel and the fact that I hadn't is largely due to its inability to shake off its elitist allusions.
Going in I resigned myself to the expectation that I would only be able to extract a minimum of meaning from the text. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Don't think this book is hard. It isn't. Two tips: 1) let it wash over you 2) don't read into it as hard as you think you need to. Your own understanding is plenty. The extra levels just make it re-readable. You don't need to get every reference right now.
Definitely worth the read. Particularly if you're walking a lot and can supplement the reading with little bursts of an audio version. It definitely helped me at times where reading the physical text got a little too exhausting. Occasionally just seeing the remaining pages made me feel daunted. So yeah, make it an audio/literature combo. Switch to audio for the domestic stuff. But when it starts to play with words in its splendid swallow-esq twirls and spirals... The text is vital!
kami5's review against another edition
5.0
This book is simply amazing. proust, marquez, and tolstoy all came close but they didn't get to smoke that romeo y julieta cigar. I've read Joyce's masterpiece again and again; it gets better every time. After reading this book, I feel that Shakespeare is a hack compared to the Man. Yes.
laurelrad's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I know it’s supposed to be a literary masterpiece but it is a slog to get through and I’m not sure it was worth it.
nicolemousicos_'s review against another edition
Will probs try to read again but for now, absolutely not.