[BOOK] Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce (1916)

I asked two of my colleagues who read (strangely there are quite many people who do not read!) if they had read Joyce. Both said they had tried but given up. "Ah, so you started with Ulysses!" was then my reaction because I had been adviced by another bookworm friend not to start my literary trip with Joyce on Ulysses but Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. That experience made me a very happy bookworm for the duration of reading this book.
The slightly peculiar writing style of Joyce (They say that Ulysses, his best known work, is beyond peculiar) is captivating, mixed with the humorous bashing of religiosity and teenage angst and horniness it is a joy to read. The novel also gave me a bit of insight into the depth of religious hatred that seems to still be poisoning parts of Ireland.
I am now continuing my Joyce literary trip with Dubliners. The first novel in my 3 pound collected novels from Wordsworth Editions.
- Sigurður Harðarsson