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

"No Joyce, just no."


"Okay, maybe it's just me, but I really really do not like Modernism stream of consciousness. It makes no sense to me. Okay, maybe it would be fun for the author to write something in his stream of consciousness, but honestly it's not going to make any sense to someone who does not have the same consciousness! So yeah, I guess this book is really artistic in how he's portraying his artsyness, but to everybody else who does not share that consciousness, we are all left completely lost. I had a really hard time trying to follow his thinking. A lot of it was really dry and boring and the whole book dragged from start to finish.
This is just my opinion of course. I'm really not accustomed to this style of writing and maybe if I took more time, I would appreciate it more. But I still don't like it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who actually enjoys reading."


"done, finally. still don't get it. i s his head in the clouds or is he just wacked?"


"I fantasize about inventing a time machine simply for the sole purpose of beating James Joyce over the head repeatedly with a hardbound copy of this book while shouting 'STREAM...OF...CONSCIOUSNESS...MY...A$$!'"


"It is amazing what they make you read in literature classes, especially when there are so many good books out there. This book was pompous, annoying and offensive. There was nothing to it and no reason I could see in reading it other than to know that there are some ramblings that shouldn't be published. The majority of books I've read in my literature classes have been disappointing, offensive or just plain boring. It's too bad we can't read something exciting, interesting and thought provoking."


"Fuck this flowery bull shit. I felt like a tool for not liking this. The next book I read was POST OFFICE by Bukowski. I felt vindicated to say the least. Great for insomnia, little else. I guess you can give him some props for starting that whole 'writing for writings sake' thing and babbling on about nothing. Kerouac did well with that artistic idea. But JOYCE'S writing style is way overdone and pretentious and the setting/subject, ughhh, boring. No thank you. Too old school, it just doesn't register with me. I like stories about drug addicts and depressed ass holes. This was just about the most boring shit I ever read. Couldn't even bring myself to finish it."


"Okay, so famous Irish author James Joyce is on every Great Books list ever published. Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake, Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man...they're all praised and renowned, and on college reading lists for the educated student, and all this other shit.

Here's the thing though: James Joyce SUCKS."


"Joyce and I are so NOT friends! Do you get people looking at you with pity when you tell them you don't like him, as though you just aren't smart enough to 'get' him? I 'get' him alright-I just think he's awful!"


"It was SO WHINY. Poor me, poor me, blah blah blah ... James Joyce doesn’t write because he likes to write. James Joyce writes because he likes to make lit students suffer when they try to puzzle out what the hell he means. This, friends, is not art. This is evil, pure and simple. And that is why I hate A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ... I am placing much of the blame on my AP Literature teacher from my senior year of high school. First of all, she was really short (possibly less than 5 feet)"