Ulysses

I finished Ulysses by James Joyce today after a crazy month digging my way through this one-of-a-kind monster and I need to share. I can't bring myself to call it a novel because it is so much more than that. It's a documentary, stage play, concert, encyclopedia, atlas, textbook, advertisement and so much more. To even say I finished it feels absurd because this work challenges the assumption that any writing can be truly finished or completely understood on the first, second or any number of re-reads. You get out of Ulysses as much as you are willing to put in. It is an endless work of literature. This read through was incredibly frustrating at many points and I don't know if I would have been able to make it through without the printed Guide to Ulysses by Patrick Hastings, I would recommend it to anyone looking to make the plunge. To me, a sign of a great book is one that has books written about it.

I laughed, I cried, I yawned, I was transfixed, I blushed, I pondered, I cringed and I want to do it all over again. It's comforting and exciting to find something that you know you will go back to and be challenged by for the rest of your life. To quote the guide quoting someone else, "you have to read Ulysses in order to read Ulysses". It only gets better from here.

Nothing is more Ulysses than ending a rant on Ulysses without discussing a single plot detail. Please tell me if I'm crazy or if this resonates with anyone.