This is the Corrected Text version! Be careful, as it created controversy when published in the 1980s and may not be the edition you will want to read.

Can't honestly give this book a rating as I had to throw in the towel after 20 pages...I really gave it a good try but found it unreadable. Joyce's "stream of consciousness" style makes for an confusing, jolting, unenjoyable experience. It seems you have to know your latin and turn-of-the-century Irish jargon to have any chance to know what's going on. It's not the time period that makes this book exclusive - Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby" is written was written within the same decade and is infinitely more accessable...and enjoyable!

The greatest novel in modern English literature? ...hmm?

Easily one of the most influential and challenging novels of the 20th Century. It really helps to have a guide to understand what's going on, and to provide access points (for instance, the amount of music theory in this book is enough for a symphony, and look for the repeated mention of various organs of the body). I've heard mixed reviews of audio versions of (parts of) this novel, but listening might help the reader approach it from another angle: as music, and as poetry. Reading Ulysses is a challenge, but it should be remembered that it is supposed to be a fun challenge, and a real adventure for the characters and the reader.

One of the greatest works of English Literature as well as one of its most difficult. Joyce's experimentation with the novel, with the written word, with language, and with the human mind was monumental and defined the Modernist movement and all that has followed. If you give the time that this lengthy and complex book asks of you it will likely reward you with one of the greatest experiences in reading you have ever had or, possibly, one of the worst. Take the chance. For a good introduction to Joyce read "James Joyce" by Richard Ellmann. If you liked Ulysses, try Finnegans Wake. If you didn't, try Dubliners.