A review by stefo
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have really mixed feelings about this book, it has some brilliant moments, especially Chapter 3. Unfortunately however its very sluggish, I almost fell asleep reading like 10 times until I realized I could take in this mess by audiobook, and by God was that a good decision, everything was so much easier to understand without having to suffer Joyce's lack of commas in his sentences. As for themes go I quite enjoyed Stephen's internal tumult and questioning of everything around him, It did remind me of when I was 10 or 12, after his Catholic school days however (start of Chapter 5) stuff became very, very dry and boring. I really did not care about the characters' banter and debates of beauty and aesthetics as they are pretty outdated. 
I surely hope that Ulysses is much better and a more interesting read since everyone told me to read this book here and Dubliners first. Will take a long break before reading anything Joyce however. Very LIGHTLY recommended, only for people who like this type of heavy literature.
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