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Jan 23, 2018xiaojunbpl12 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I've yet read Odyssey, neither do I know the story. I've yet been to Dubin, only travelled quite a bit in and around Clare County plus mind journey to Ireland's past. My knowledge of history, literature, philosophy are limited, though I'm catching up... However, my first read of this VOLUME is (to my suprise) rewarding. Immersed in Joyce' Joy, I didn't work hard digging out the obscure treasure and relic to inspect the details carved or eroded, mostly I swam with the flow, reading more larger sections in one sitting, without intermittent referencing that can interrupt my stream of conciousness. One cannot read if try to understand every single detail, one cannot hear if dwell on a sound harmony of one transient. My take at current stage is limited to what I heard from my vocal interpretation, besides allegory (I must have missed much), humor (pun, rhyme, riddle) and guilty pleasure, esp. empathy felt with Bloom (his brilliance of imagination and dreamscape; his ordinary being of else...any one can relate to). I tried to like Stephen for his talent and some intangible attractivness, but too far-fetched for me to even level myself first (I'll ruminate more when read again). Molly (as well as a lesser female character Gerty) gave me an added bonus not to question author's arrogance and showing off. There are many other characters who confused me at the time and some still do, though they seemed to serve certain interests or purposes, I put them off as the background hum or salad base. The book must have inspired many progenitors in the realm of high art, commercial art, even multi-media today (Bloom is an Ad guy!). Each chapter varies in style and form, and may be preferred by different reader. To me (pertinent to science-trained or not), a special mention is "Ithaca", not due to its being easier or more difficult to chew, it was my reading experience transformed my attitude towards it from curious, slightly annoyed, addictively detested, to absolutely captivated.