My girlfriend and I have been arguing over Joyce for the passed few days now. I read the first 30 pages of A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man, and the first page of Finnegan's Wake. My girlfriend insists the writing is genius, yet, I strongly disagree.
First of all, we have A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man. I'm not totally sure of the plot, it has some of the most simplistic dialogue I have ever read. It's all "noun verb, noun verb" through-out most of the narrative, with some poetry thrown in occasionally.
Then, Finnegan's Wake is from the exact opposite spectrum. I can't definitively say this is a bad book, because I don't understand a word of it, but I can definitely make thoughts to that conclusion. I don't feel bad at all for not understanding it, because I doubt many people do.
I do love the thought of a recursive novel, though.