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Title: Less than impressed. Weak compared to his other works.
Review: While Joyce's Ulysses demonstrates his monstrous success with literary experimentation styles, FW does not. I find it poor by his standards. In academics (and among pseudo-intellectuals) the book is quite fashionable, and understably so - the style is unique. Its almost comical to listen to my fellow Joyce fans rave about it. But whenever I corner them, and beg them to dissect the work for me, the responses are as incoherent as the book itself. Perhaps it inspires creative thinking/translation from its readers, but nothing of the sort on my part, despite my repeated efforts to sincerely read it.I've read far worse, that's for sure, but someone thinking of dabbling with Joyce for the first time should seriously consider selecting one of his more substantial earlier works, or the frustration with FW may alienate them forever from an otherwise brilliant and often very powerful author.
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