traveller
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
Since I am planning a trip to Ireland, I thought I had best pick up some background. Joyce is often referred to, so I picked up "Portrait" as a audio book. What a wonderful experience! Slow in some places, true, but great fun to 'watch' as this person experiences life internally and externally. In retrospect, I realize I now have vivid mental images of many aspects of Irish life that would not come from "frommer's". Swimming in the Liffey, dealing with the poverty, how religion issues affected many parts of life, what comprises loyality and morality. So many bits that are only hinted at, yet as a whole, present a very colorful tapestry.<br><br> I actually enjoyed the sense of confusion that the author presents as bits of the young boy's memories, not just reflections, but actually 'seeing' and 'hearing' folks talking around him. Great! Gives me to chance to work my own brain and pull in inferences, rather than have all the boundries of thought and explanation set out to dry a boring death! <br><br>I loved hearing the colorful references to the logic loopings and mental gymnastics involved with such inexplicibles as a sense of place in the universe and the "everlasting", and all the extreme conditions that must comprise hell! <br><br>Not a 'nice' story, but a good book.<br><br>