Ulysses

By: James Joyce

Narrated by: Donal Donnelly

Length: 42 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

The first authorized, unabridged release of this timeless classic and exclusively available from Recorded Books. Ulysses records the events of a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin, Ireland.

Public Domain (P)1995 Recorded Books

A marathon stream of consciousness

The book seemed to me to be an enjoyable stream of consciousness. It was very well read but hard to follow. This would be better read than listened to. Seemed hard to follow and I ended up backing up to figure out the current setting several times. In the end I resigned myself to not closely following the story and just enjoying the dialog.

Brilliantly performed but pompous and turgid prose

If you love 19th and early 20th century purple prose then this is for you. Hailed as one of the greatest classics in the whole cannon of Irish literature, the concept is brilliant and the linguistic fireworks are impressive. Nevertheless Joyce is clearly on a mission to catalog and exhibit every word in his vocabulary whether it adds to the prose or not. I found it to be a monumentally pompous exhibition of his undeniable erudition and with scant thought given to whether the over-use of flowery language would add anything to the enjoyment of the reader, save a smug few who might enjoy the opportunity to congratulate themselves on the richness of their own vocabularies. Sitting through 40 hours of this was an effort of will power and unrewardedhope that it might turn out to be something interesting. Given the status of the work my views may be considered by many to be little but crass philistinism, but I believe this work to be little more than a literary version of “The king’s new clothes”. I suspect more readers or listeners will buy in to it simply because it is such a great classic. Personally I found it dull as dishwater, save for a few very enjoyable dialogues. None of this detracts from the performance of the narrators, however, which was a simply stunning tour de force.

Maybe I need to work up to it...

Any additional comments?

I started out enjoying this book. It was funny and interesting but the further I went the less I liked it. It was like a bad acid trip. I closed the book when he got into extended bathroom talk. I get the idea of stream of consciousness and this is an important book. At the suggestion of a friend I'm going to read some early Joyce and see what I think of that. My friend thinks reading Ulysses as a first time of reading Joyce is "a bit too much for almost anyone". We'll see

Early 20th Century Seinfeld

"This is the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friend."

Its not quite that bad. Its obviously an important novel from the viewpoint of the changes it instituted. Its obvious why it is a favorite in education. A lot of obscure references, multiple languages, and other points that allow one to demonstrate erudition. Even better there are so many points that allow for the writing of papers, thesis and dissertations that can't really be demonstrated as wrong.

The story itself? There are plenty of "erudite" reviews available to give you more detail but to my mind this day in Dublin is like Seinfeld. The book about nothing.

BTW the performance was great.

Narration performances are spot-on

Fantastic! — narration performances are spot-on. I've listened to this grand little nugget time and time again. Characters you think you've known from previous delightful (if not laborious) readings of this weighty text are here beautifully animated by Donal Donnelly & Miriam Healy-Louie. If you've read it before, you'll find new life in this performance — if not, congratulations, you've just stumbled upon the easiest way in which to digest this spectacular bit of fiction. Bravo!

Exhausting

Joyce is brilliant, and that’s clear if you are able to finish the book. But it is exhausting trying to finish. I recommend the Great Courses lecture series on the book to listen to alongside it. You’ll get a lot more out of it that way.

I had to go through it twice but I loved it.

Would you consider the audio edition of Ulysses to be better than the print version?

Don't know. I never would have stuck with it if I had to read it on paper.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ulysses?

Molly Bloom at the end. If I wasn't married...

Have you listened to any of Donal Donnelly’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First time but I immediately downloaded 'A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. He's terrific.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Fear and Loathing in 1904 Dublin. (with sex)

Any additional comments?

Reading all the stuff I should have read in college. Well most of it anyway. This was quite an experience.

infuriatingly beautiful

Joyce is trying and exhausting. Suffice it to say, Joyce plays with language and verbal interplay and internal monologue and demands you pay attention or completely miss the point. While I enjoyed Donal's narration, Miriam's reading of Penelope: Episode 18, was purely captivating. I listened twice. Smiling broadly!

The Narrator makes this the best Audible book ever

The first three short chapters are filled with history and an introduction to the characters. I did not have much history background, so it was a little hard to understand at the beginning. Then WOW, the rest of the book is easy to understand and so great!!! You never know when the performance will hit you with something so funny you can't stop laughing, and you learn so much history. That narrator is so super great and can do any voice. I love listening to him so much.

Masterful performance. Forty hours of poetry.

I tried (and failed) several times to comprehend what was touted as perhaps the finest novel in the English language. I had given up until I heard, rather than tried to read Ulysses. Now I understand: the epic courage it takes to survive the death of a child (Bloom's and Molly's son Rudy) played out iin a single Dublin day. Beyond moving.. Everyone who has given up on Ulysses deserves a chance to get it. Thanks to the Joyce family, the narrator and Recorded Books.