ReviewsUser reviewsUser Review - Flag as inappropriate What did I just read? User Review - Flag as inappropriate This book written by an extremely well read author tries to demonstrate how all of history is cyclic. Joyce drew upon an encyclopedic range of literary works. His strange polyglot idiom of puns and portmanteau words is intended to convey not only the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious but also the interweaving of Irish language and mythology with the languages and mythologies of many other cultures. User Review - Flag as inappropriate Everyone tries to decipher the meaning of this book, and its underlying plots. Seems to me, after only being able to stand a few chapters, that Joyce just plain lost it towards the end. Perhaps this weird collection of nonsense is really "outsiders art" in a literary sense. Why it is considered a classic is completely foreign to me. Where it anyone but Joyce, it would NEVER have seen publication. Perhaps that, also, was his point...I'm James Joyce, and any of my rubbish will find publication...even if I just write gibberish. I would be willing to bed Stephen King could make a bestseller doing just that... User Review - Flag as inappropriate Not for the "perhaps I shall read it". Perhaps for the deluded-hapless. Word gluttons-as am I. User Review - Flag as inappropriate Well, I did it – I read each of the 628 pages of this book. And I am stumped. As a novel, this clearly rates a zero. However, as a “compilation of puns, riddles, word games, linguistic curiosities, and bits of cultural trivia” it is overwhelming. You could take any page and spend weeks deciphering the text for its hidden, double and triple meanings. I starting reading the book using Tilldall’s Reader’s Guide, assuming that the book was to be read “word by word making sense of everything in linear order,” just like any other novel. But that is wrong! The correct way to read FW is to let the words flow and let your mind play with the words, both visually and acoustically. Expect 95% to flow right on through, but that 5% will provide a stimulating playground of word play, sound play, literary and historical references, and much ado about the Gospels and Catholicism. The craftsmanship is so creative that each morsel causes a pause in your reading for a chance to replay the phrase or sentence to see how many other meanings could be intended. Of course you will need to have that foundation from classic literature, folklore, myths and legends, historical figures and events, proverbs, the Bible, and Catholic rites and prayers. So do not use this as your introduction to the classics. But after you’ve made your way through a recommended-reading list (I used the Top 100), FW becomes at least approachable, yet never comprehensible. | User ratings
All reviews - 33 5 stars - 14 4 stars - 6 3 stars - 3 2 stars - 2 1 star - 3 Unrated - 5 All reviews - 33 Editorial reviews - 0 User reviews - 5 All reviews - 33 Kirkus - 1 LibraryThing - 26 |