Hooked on Books discussion

😵 Ulysses Episode 15 – Circe (Did we just mainline absinthe and fear?)

I don’t know why, but this line got me:

Paddy Leonard: “What am I to do about my rates and taxes?”
Bloom: “Pay them, my friend.”

I laughed WAY too hard, for WAY too long.

Beyond that? WHAT is going on!?

• Are we in an acid trip?
• Did someone spike the Guinness?
• Is this a weird, masochistic Bloom kink-spiral or just a psychological freefall?

And wow… this chapter is SO long. Long enough that I started wondering if I was hallucinating along with Bloom and Stephen.

This might be the most bizarre episode so far. It’s chaotic, exhausting, disturbing, and funny all at once, and I kind of respect Joyce for going full subconscious meltdown here.

But also: Joyce, my guy, what are you even on!?

As I said, the real fever dream was still to come.

Also I choose to believe the costume change Bloom underwent was an actual thing, not a hallucination, so the clammy wet shirt is gone! 😆

Sammy wrote: "As I said, the real fever dream was still to come.

Also I choose to believe the costume change Bloom underwent was an actual thing, not a hallucination, so the clammy wet shirt is gone! 😆"

Oh good. I will also adopt this view.

😩 Ulysses Episodes 16 & 17 – Hungover & Hyperverbal

So I’m combining these because… honestly? They felt like one very long comedown.

➡️ Episode 16 (Eumaeus): we’re at the cabman’s shelter, hungover, exhausted, listening to meandering tall tales and half-truths. Bloom’s in full Dad Mode. I was in full please let me nap mode.

➡️ Episode 17 (Ithaca): suddenly it’s the Inquisition. Endless questions. Endless answers. Many of them inane. One “not-question” literally said “Condense Stephen’s commentary,” and all I could think was: Can we condense this entire episode, please?
Oh, and when we were reciting where the members of their party (during some event....) were and Paddy Dignam is listed as being "in the grave"? 🪦💀 I was jealous. 😐

I know the style is intentional (sluggish, then hyper-detailed), but these two were probably the hardest for me so far. Well, maybe the last three.....

🎉 Ulysses Episode 18 – Penelope

I made it! I crawled through maternity wards, interrogations, and every soap-related trauma Joyce could throw at me, and now here I am, closing the book with Molly Bloom.

And wow. This was such a shift in energy. After all those structured, stylized episodes, we get Molly: unfiltered. It was funny, bitter, sensual, sharp, contradictory, and deeply human.

I can’t decide exactly how I feel about Molly now, but I think I like her a lot. She’s flawed, magnetic, unapologetically herself, and I loved finally hearing her without Bloom’s filter.

And that ending:

“yes I said yes I will Yes”

After more than 800 pages, it feels like a heartbeat. Like life itself.

I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m feeling SUPER emotional right now. Like I just crossed a finish line I didn't know I was reaching for.

YES. I FINISHED. YES!
Would I do it again? …Ask me in a year. Or three.

Ulysses: James Joyce's Groundbreaking Modernist Epic by James Joyce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Reading Ulysses felt like being dropped in the middle of someone else’s brain and told, “good luck, kid.” It’s messy, brilliant, frustrating, funny, and gross. Sometimes all in the same paragraph.

Stephen Dedalus broods. Leopold Bloom buys kidneys, carries soap forever, and quietly aches his way through Dublin. Molly Bloom gets the last word, and it’s glorious. In between, there are pints, puns, death, lust, racism, nationalism, boogers, birth, absurdity, and about a million narrative experiments that either left me in awe or completely lost.

Joyce can make you laugh at the bleakest things, cringe at how human his characters are, and then, in one unexpected line, punch you straight in the soul. He’s unapologetic in how much he demands of you as a reader. I hated it. I loved it. I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

The final pages... Molly’s voice, her contradictions, her yes.... made all the slogging, the stylistic whiplash, the endless tall tales and detours worth it.

To answer the only questions that matter at the end... Did I make it? Did I like it? Will I read it again (one day)?

“yes I said yes I will Yes”

Sammy wrote: "My creative post. under a spoiler tag because there are some minor story spoilers and I guess major stylistic ones 😆


Sammy's Ulysses experience #5 in the style of Molly Bloom's soliloquy:"

Sammy! I waited to finish the book before reading this, since Molly is last, and I didn't want to spoil it for myself. This is so funny!

Judith wrote: "Here's my creative post. A pictorial trip through Ulysses by James Joyce"

This is perfect. It should be included in the kindle version, honestly.

Sorry guys, I am a mood reader, and either this was the wrong time for me to be reading this book (could very well be since I have had a horrible month) or this book just wasn't for me. Either way, I pushed through it and finished it last night. I doubt that I will be doing a re-read. I struggled a lot with it, but I was also reading mostly at night when I would fall asleep exhausted while reading. I am quite lucky that I didn't knock myself out with my Kindle (or break another tooth- I have done that).

I'm amazed you got through it at all (or any books for that matter!) with the month you've had! I doubt I could have if I'd been dealing with all that.

Donna wrote: "Sorry guys, I am a mood reader, and either this was the wrong time for me to be reading this book (could very well be since I have had a horrible month) or this book just wasn't for me. Either way,..."

Oh no - I always fear I will drop things on my head falling asleep, so I turn on my side to read and then IMMEDIATELY fall asleep...

Reasons I read beside the bed, not in it 😆

Ashley wrote: "Judith wrote: "Here's my creative post. A pictorial trip through Ulysses by James Joyce"

This is perfect. It should be included in the kindle version, honestly."

LOL, I'm glad you all like it. I was struggling with what to do for the creative post

I'm sorry but I didn't finish. I didn't even get to the 20% mark, even while listening to the audio. I was generally not reading a lot this month and I couldn't read anything to complex and soft dnf'ed a lot of books. I did read Ulysses last year, so it would've been a reread but I couldn't do it. Absolutely no brain power. I'm guessing that it will stay like that for August too, because the reason I'm like those will still be there for a bit, but Ulysess will always be waiting for me in my audio library lol. The bit I managed to listen to I understood the same like my first read- almost nothing 🤣

And you can perfectly understand how scrambled my brain is currently by reading my message right there lol my english went flying this month too

I haven't finished my creative post! Yikes!

Ashley - Do I have until midnight or a bit after, pretty please??

Angie ☯ wrote: "I haven't finished my creative post! Yikes!

Ashley - Do I have until midnight or a bit after, pretty please??"

Sure!

Thank you! I will try to finish it tonight, but it may be morning.

My Creative Post - because I was running out of time!

I sort of went down a crazy rabbit hole, when Jenny said, just write a limerick.... I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it!

There once was a book called Ulysses,
That pulsed with galactic abysses.
It rambled and swayed;
Followed a man while he played.
And ended with Molly's "YES" kisses.

But then I wanted to be more weird...so I went with a Backwards Limerick (Final line to first)

Then wrote it all out in ellipses.
On dreaming and dancing with blisses,
It wobbled through space,
In a madman's embrace,
There once was a book called Ulysses.

I may still finish my original idea, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be! It was a slacker's cliff notes version, with a twist!

Holy hell, that was fun!!!

I still want the Cliff's Notes version, but don't hurry. A surprise during some later discussion of an unrelated book would be funny too!

This is cute! If you do finish the other, I'll be excited to see it!

Thanks Angie, I needed a chuckle! 😆

I was disappointed that I couldn't fit the soap in there!!