Booktalk

Summary:
I read James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. This novel chronicles the life of a boy named Stephen. Joyce's life is freakishly similar to Stephen's life in the novel, and although it was meant to be fiction, this novel is said to be heavily autobiographical. Stephen has a tough childhood of being bullied at the Jesuit schools he attends, and the world around him reflects the same type of troubles he personally endures. This novel takes place during the Irish Revolution in Ireland, and the adults in Stephen's life are constantly arguing about Catholicism, the role of the government, and the brewing rebellion. As Stephen gets older, he sins by seeing prostitutes, and his guilt eventually leads him to pursue religion to the point where he is seriously considering priesthood. After seeing a beautiful girl on the beach, though, Stephen abandons his desire for priesthood and instead begins pursing the academics and arts. He begins writing his own poetry, and decides to isolate himself from everybody he knows and loves in order to become a true artist.
My Opinion:
Although this book was extremely challenging to read, I thought it was worthwhile. Joyce's style of writing is difficult to understand, because it's stream of consciouses, which means he wrote whatever popped up in the character's head next, even if it didn't make sense. Think about all the random thoughts you have throughout the day, and then try stringing them together into a coherent story. Actually reading the book was challenging enough, but analyzing and interpreting it was the fun part. This book's main themes are definitely themes of independence and the phases of life. Some parts stretch on way too long, though, like a section where a priest's sermon about the details of hell lasted about 50 pages. Overall, though, if you want a good challenge then I would highly suggest reading this book.