This was way WAY easier to read than Finnegans Wake. I read the first 100 pages solo, and then downloaded a copy of Spark Notes Ulysses to help me catch the story underneath the surface. Unlike the massive Reader’s Guide I needed for Finnegans, the Sparks Notes was only about 100 pages and broke things down easily for me. I would then reference back as I went along to verify what I was reading.

It was a simple story, really, so if you want to read a Joyce novel – this would be the one I’d recommend.

This is a hard book to read, but well worth it. Halfway through, I still didn’t really know what was going on. The further I got in the book, the more stuff made sense. I enjoyed it so much that I bought the Cliffnotes for it so I can understand it better. I want to read it again, but it will be some time before I get around to it again.

This book was totally baffling the first time I tried to read it, so when I was in graduate school and had the opportunity to read Ulysses under the tutelage of a professor, I jumped at the chance.

With some help, the novel really opens up and becomes a whole lot less cryptic, and much more satisfying. Otherwise, it’s like trying to make sense of a story spelled out by your Alphabits.