James Joyce - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

"Boring does not begin to describe James Joyces classic novel about a young, portraited artist."


"I just knew from the first sentence that the book was not written with me in mind. I distinctly recall, as a three-year-old, getting annoyed with another three-year-old for referring to Winnie-the-Pooh as 'Pooh-Bear'. Well, truth, I was annoyed she even liked Winnie-the-Pooh in the first place, but then to go and refer to him as 'Pooh-Bear'? It was too much to 'bear' ha! Anyway, 'pooh-bear'? 'moo-cow'? Too close for comfort."


"This book was the ultimate bore. I didn't even understand half of it since it was written in Irish."


"I don't believe for a second that this book would still be so fondly remembered if it wasn't forced upon so many students by their English teachers who are convinced that it is a must read. Well, I've got bad news for them: it isn't!! This is a book that should remain in obscurity forever and ever. I still don't get why this book is so popular. Oh well, I guess I'm not elitist enough to appreciate it!!"


"I suppose it must be me: I can’t agree with all the hype and overblown praise I’ve seen for this piece of puerile meandering.
This review is based on a partial reading of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man because I really couldn’t force myself to read more than the first 25 pages (and page 99, to see if it had improved). I decided there were better things to do with my life than spend any more time on it. In spite of its literary reputation, this was not a book I cared to read to its conclusion."


"The style itself is new, interesting and will be in the coming years subject to a whole slew of experimentation as authors find this new style of stream of consciousness a new technique to add to their repertoire... all in all, this novel presents a novel literary technique, that will hopefully be honed and perfected in the near future in the next great literary piece that will hopefully ignite the flame that contemporary works seem to have ignored."


"I found the style of writing similar to Charles Dickens"


"I had moderately high expectations coming into this book. I thought the story of an Irish misfit, referenced in the opening of 'The Departed' would provide something entertaining. Instead I found it extremely difficult to get through (and this is coming from someone who read 'Atlas Shrugged' in a week) and filled with the sort of run-on sentences that make children grow up to hate reading. Annoying yet pretentious; this is the sort of book people who liked 'Catcher in the Rye' will like."


"this is a classic, but omg it's so hard to read. i hate books that don't let you read them. struggling to understand what the hell is going on sucks. and that old voice, that old way of writing. not good. i stopped really early."


"If I wanted to be an asshole and do a pastiche, I would write this as my review:
'Mother's day is May May Day dancing around the pole whee dance faster, children spinning over and under down and around I laugh sing cry fall down labored breathing Mother holds me pats my head smiles tra la la what a day in May!'"


"Vry typical James Joyce novel. Old english type of language. The story line waunders all over. Not a good read at all to me."


"First of all, he was quite the post modernist"