I actually think 'Ulysses' is overrated and boring

Last month at my downtown book club at the library on 4th street, everyone was raving about James Joyce's 'Ulysses' like it was the best thing ever. I read the whole thing over 6 weeks and honestly, I just found it pretentious and way too long for what it says. The stream of consciousness style felt like a mess, not genius. Has anyone else in this group read it and just not gotten the hype?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret_flores171mo ago

Used to feel the same way actually. Read it in college and couldn't stand it. But then I gave it another try a few years later and something just clicked. Still long and messy but I started seeing why people call it genius.

phoenixgonzalez15d ago

@margaret_flores17 I get what you're saying about giving it another try. I think there's this bigger pattern in everyday life where we're told something is great so we force ourselves to like it, and when we don't, we feel dumb. It's like when everyone says a movie is amazing and you sit through the whole thing just waiting for it to get good, but it never does. That's how this book felt for me. I'd rather spend my reading time on stuff that doesn't feel like homework.

barbarahill1mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, I couldn't finish it. Life's too short to read 800 pages of someone's messy thoughts.