No, but I watched the cartoon when I was a kid. It’s about a kid looking for his Dad, scouring the galaxy in a spaceship with a cargo hold full of frozen families, right?

Spent a year reading it at college. If you stop worrying about understanding it all, it’s a story about a lonely, self-absorbed young man, who wants to be an artist not a teacher and an older, gentler man who loves his cheating wife more than anything in the world. It’s definitely worth a go and don’t be ashamed of reading the spark notes version if you get stuck! It’ll help you understand the plot. Once you have that you can relax and enjoy the language!
Really proud every time I see Irish writers for sale at the book stores and flea markets here in Berlin. We’re a wonderful literary nation! :)

Being honest I simply don’t have the brains to understand it… My bad!

Ulysses is a classic. As with all classics it is oft quoted but seldom read.

I read it by building up to it. First Dubliners, then Portrait, then I listened to a reading of it on tape (try a podcast now) and finally read it on a long holiday. It was worth it. The language is rich, the plot is straightforward, the landmarks are familiar and Molly Bloom’s soliloquy is pure filth. What’s not to like?

Tried to read it and fell asleep. Then I watched the movie and fell asleep.
After reading the results of the vote it looks as if I do not have a sleep problem !

Every year we have this silly debate about how unreadable Ulysses is. Declan Kiberd in ‘Ulysses and Us’ says –
‘Joyce himself was not forbiddingly learned. He cut more classes at University College, Dublin than he attended, averaging less than 50 per cent in many of his exams. His classmate Con Curran noted that he made the little he learned there go a long way. When he left secondary school at 18, Joyce knew most of the basic things you need for reading (or writing) Ulysses – the Mass in Latin, the life and themes of Shakespeare, how electricity works, how water gets from a reservoir to the domestic tap and Charles Lamb’s version of the adventures of Ulysses.’
Perhaps it is unfamiliarity with the above which causes the under 45s to create such a song and dance about reading the book. The mammy (b.1910. Matric 1928) read it and enjoyed it thoroughly in her seventies. Admittedly, no more than myself, she did not know how electricity works.

Tried numerous times. Gave up. It’s a bit like art You are told are classics but you look at them and can’t see it. Such is art. It strikes you or it doesn’t. You just need the self awareness to be happy with your own view. I couldn’t read Joyce. It’s ok. !

Does 6 pages count? What the fruit was he rabbiting on about? I think I’ll check sparknotes. That’ll do the Jab.

I gave up after about 100 pages I have to admit and haven’t tried again since

18 liars!!

People should not be put off by the often po-faced awe in which it is held. It is a very funny (ha ha) book and Irish people more than any other are able to get the jokes – it is, after all, set in Dublin – and it is well worth dipping into for a few laughs. Sure, parts of it are difficult but so what? Sometimes it is worth it to struggle with a book to get under its skin. Same with music. Beethoven’s Ninth, for example, requires effort on the part of the listener. This applies to all great masterpieces of whichever medium. For this reason Ulysses will always only appeal to a small minority as most people do not wish to make the effort. Which is fine but there are great rewards for those prepared to work at it. And my advice to those thinking of tackling it is to read a guide to the book first. I would recommend Declan Kiberd’s “Ulysses and Us”.

Tried it but didn’t get very far. Its so long winded Ulysses makes Shakespeare look easy in comparison

“Glowing wine on his palate lingered swallowed. Crushing in the winepress grapes of Burgundy. Sun’s heat in it. Seems to a secret touch telling me memory.”

Sadly, no. I need someone like David Norris to read it to me or to at least read an edited version of the book to me! I know I would not read it because I wouldn’t understand a lot of it. But I would love to know the story.

Joyce is much misunderstood, if understood at all, and more often than not quoted out of context. He was a satirist in the tradition of Swift, a genius who possessed a penetrating insight into the ‘state’ of Ireland and his hometown Dublin. His words resonate as strongly today as they did when written. By reading Joyce, particularly Ulyssees, you will gain a deeper insight into Ireland and its citizens than through any history book.

What a wonderfull read I reccomend this piece of work.

While widely acclaimed by literary scholars and others of that ilk, to me, the biggest testament to how overrated the book is, is that so many people started to read it and could not finish it. I would not be surprised if it held the record for the book most abandoned by people.
To me, if a book is good, it must be enjoyable to many. Ulysses is NOT enjoyable to many, and that comes from those who attempted to read it and found it confusing, boring and just damned to difficult to be enjoyable.

I got to page 76. I will stick to “The Dead”. I enjoyed the movie version of it directed by John Huston.

I was put off it by David Norris’s enthusiasm for it. I preferred Strumpet City anyway

“Around the country, people will turn out for events…”,,,thought it is confined to Dublin?

I like poll’s….that is all!!

Wow. Just 10 percent have read it! Why don’t they turn it into a movie?

And was Séamus Seoige a gaeilgeoir or did he just express cúpla focail?

Nope and I’m not bothered to either, I’ve simply no interest in it compared to books of other genres.

I know all about stately plump Buck Mulligan’s shaving habits, but never got much further. Life’s too short.

There may be a payoff to struggling through the whole tome, but I’m inclined to think the writer should do the hard work and the reader should reap the benefit. Pick up a Peter Carey or an E. Annie Proulx and you won’t be able to put it down.

A MASTERPIECE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION. THE SKELETONS RAN SCREAMING OUT OT THE CLOSETS WHEN THEY HEARD HIM COMING.THE EPISODE IN BARNEY KIERNAN,S PUB IS A MASTERPIECE IN ITS OWN RIGHT. AND COMPARABLE TO THE EPISODE FROM A CORK PUB IN PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST.. CHILLINGLY ACCURATE VIEW OF THE IRISH CATHOLIC NATIONAL MINDSET.

The story of Joyce’s “Ulyssess” has effected American culture much the same
way as one of those Bergman films from the 60′s and 70′s.; none of us understand the plot,
so we defensibly explain to others how there is some kind of hidden-meaning.