portrait of an artist as a young man

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (Penguin Classics Deluxe [!] Edition, 2016)

An unpleasant, unengaging, and frustrating book.  Stephen Dedalus, the young man and artist, is shrouded by Joyce in prose that is abstract, cliched, impenetrable, and boring (often all these qualities are present simultaneously).  Consequently he’s an indistinct and uncompelling character, and the reader neither cares for him or understands him.  It’s a shame this book is considered a classic bildungsroman and forced upon so many young readers — it’s a book to labor and suffer through, not love, not enjoy.