Ulysses - Joyce

Overall chapter impression:

Ahhh, it's a test - or maybe a puzzle.

And, in conclusion:

Usurper.

Closing the chapter with that word makes as much sense as anything else at this point.

Overall chapter impression:

Lost for a bit but this mostly made sense. I had a hunch about teaching.

And, in conclusion:

So Stephen has gone to the school house, picked up money for later and is out for a walk to deliver letters to be printed in the paper.

Overall chapter impression:

Long, dense and difficult. I think Stephen's losing it.

And, in conclusion:

Should I have spent half an hour on characters of an entirely ephemeral nature (Sally, Sarah, Uncle Si)? Stephen seems to be quite juvenile.

And so ends Part I.

Overall chapter impression:

I thought I'd worked out what was going on at the end of Chapter 3. Nope.

And, in conclusion:

So there's two main characters - at least until the next part. And they know (of) each other at least.

Overall chapter impression:

Bloom just getting through the morning

And, in conclusion:

Is the book getting easier or was this chapter less head-messing?

Overall chapter impression:

Heavy, dense. There was a coach ride, and a funeral.

And, in conclusion:

Getting a sense of the story, but I have no idea of the important bits.

Also Joyce likes lowbrow shocks.

Overall chapter impression:

Once again, what just happened, and why do we have chapterheadings all of a sudden?

And, in conclusion:

The story (at surface level) is mostly making sense now. I'm still giggling every couple paras or so as I realise I haven't a clue about what it was I've just read.

Overall chapter impression:

Very dense chapter. On the face of it, just a continuation of Bloom's journey after leaving the newspaper office, but on closer look, there's Stuff Going On. Also, gosh, wasn't the past a very strange place to live in? I get the impression they were far more licentious but far more circumspect about it.

And, in conclusion:

The plot's thickening. Bloom gets the first real character description I've seen, and it was the first time POV switched away from the protagonists. I sense an amount of ... I don't know ... forced joie de vivre while suffering - like stiff upper lip on steroids - but at the same time he's comfy with inflicting the same suffering.

Overall chapter impression:

The bard gets the Ulysses treatment. Stephen releases his Hamlet theory mentioned in Chapter 1. Poor Haines doesn't get to hear it because he's buying a book. Antisemitism is rife.
Oh, and Mulligan returns.

And, in conclusion:

So, we have some sense of a continuing story (at long last). Still not much idea why the story is being told. Also: oh, the smut. :-D

Overall chapter impression:

Looks like Joyce has gone to lunch and his editor came in to do a chapter.

And, in conclusion:

A bit puzzled about Stephen's brood of daughters. I thought a) he was a 20-something just back from his gap year (or three) b) he wouldn't know what to do with a woman, never mind three times.

As to the story, well we've got relationship dramas with the Blooms (and a host of other protagonists, apparently) and parenting dramas with multiple generations of Dedalus' fathers. Taking a step back there's the undercurrent of the troubles, though I can't tell of that is plot stuff, or just background info Joyce wants me to know. Stepping further back, it seems the world is going to hell in a handbasket (give it 10 years or so), and I had fears for the lieutenantgeneral of Ireland, half expecting an assassination attempt to end the chapter, not a bunch of saluting.

Overall chapter impression:

Story: it's on!

Style: The narrator is now not only where the protagonist's action is. Bloom is walking while events are happening in a pub and the reader sees both sides.

And, in conclusion:

All of a sudden, I get the impression that most of the town - and me - sees Bloom as pitiful at best, or an object of ridicule. Joyce is mixing the real and the niche and it's confusing.

I'm think I have to reread Chapter 4. There are a lot of references to this morning. Is it really 4 o'clock already?

Overall chapter impression:

Just finished Chapter 11. There seemed to be a lot of references back to the first Blloom chapter(s). Thought I'd revisit Chapter 4 first and then see whether to continue by revisiting Chapter 5 or jumping back on the main path and reading Chapter 12.

I cannot remember when I've done something like this before. This book.

Also, I erred with 'a bit peckish' first time 'round. "Bloom are with relish..." doesn't mean he just finished eating. F you Joyce.

And, in conclusion:

Oh my goodness! I missed so much of what's going on, because I was too busy looking up (only sometimes plot-related) references. There's a wood from the trees analogy here.

Didn't find what I was looking for, which was the reference to 4pm, but will proceed through Chapter 12 before I think whether to progress through Bloom's morning again, further.

Overall chapter impression:

And we're off with another 'WTF?'. Who is this guy ('I') and apart from his colloquialisms how come I can generally understand him and what's going on?

And, in conclusion:

Still convinced Joyce is playing Bloom as niche-cuck, not actual-cuck.

Seems early 20C Eire had a particularly anti-semitic feel about it.