eva243•2mo ago

Returned to 'Ulysses' after a ten year gap and something finally clicked

I first tried Joyce's 'Ulysses' back in college at 19 and gave up around page 50. It felt like nonsense (you know, all those random grocery lists and Shakespeare quotes). I picked it up again last month after hearing a podcast break down just the first episode, and suddenly I could actually follow the structure. The difference was knowing that each chapter mimics a different style or Homeric episode. It took me about two weeks to get through the whole thing the second time around. Has anyone else had a book that only worked for them after a big age gap?

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derekgibson2mo ago

Wait, you really think people are just pretending to get something out of it? I mean I get where you're coming from, some books definitely get overhyped. But for me it was more about a different kind of reading. I tried reading "The Sound and the Fury" when I was 22 and hated it so much I threw it across the room. Ten years later I read it in one weekend and it actually made me cry. Sometimes life experience just changes how your brain processes stuff, you know? Like hearing that podcast broke down the map for you in a way your college brain couldn't figure out. That's not pretending, that's just learning how to read a complicated thing.

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jason732mo ago

Honestly I think the whole "it finally clicked" thing is mostly just people convincing themselves they liked it. You spent two weeks forcing yourself through a book that even Joyce called a game for scholars, and the payoff is you can now recognize some Homer references. Ngl most people who say Ulysses clicked are just better at pretending they got something out of it.

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