yikes!

[Alex smith]

normal people beware! this novel is definatly the most complex, intracate, confuing and immposible to follow novel I've ever read! I'm not even sure James Joyce new what he wrote!

[soultrot]

Well if u think this is complex..u need to read Virginia woolf's "To the light house".. You wont understand till you do about 20 readings of the novel..you just keep going back to page one..

[alexandra_ktie]

i must admit that this book is awful, at least for me...i didn't understand it when i first read it...i don't understand it now..you're right!
it's impossible to follow and without any clear messege to be sent...so i totally agree your opinion...

[coreyg37]

basically the book is about stephen dedalus's search for truth and his overcoming of the factors that limit his potential as an artist. He goes through three levels of search (sensory as a child, religious, and scholarly) to eventually have an epiphany during which he realizes his call to art and his duty to define beauty and its significance to him. The limiting factors in his life are religion, country, and family. Pay attention to the references to the Dedalus myth and Parnell. Watch how the style and depth of thought heightens as stephen matures. And definitely read it twice.