Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS




James Joyce


Cover art for JAMES JOYCE
NONFICTION
Released: June 12, 2012

"The narrative path is sometimes obscured by a lush undergrowth of detail, but our guide is wise and the journey is wondrous."
The biographer of Orwell, Lowry and Durrell returns with a massively detailed narrative of the life of the author of Ulysses. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE TWILIGHT YEARS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2000

"If Paris is a moveable feast, Wiser provides the menu for its wonder years before the darkness of its WWII fall."
Wiser (The Crazy Years, 1985, etc.) captures the hustle and bustle of 1930s Paris through a quick catalogue of famous names and striking anecdotes. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE YEARS OF BLOOM
NONFICTION
Released: July 1, 2000

"Escaping the lure of hagiography, McCourt's clear vision allows both the specialist and the general reader to learn from his insights in an engaging and inviting fashion. "
In this leisurely and engrossing study of the connections between geography and genius, McCourt (Literature/Univ. of Trieste) traces the influence of Trieste upon James Joyce's imagination and literature. Read full book review >
Cover art for JOHN STANISLAUS JOYCE
NONFICTION
Released: June 1, 1998

"A readable biography, undeniably a useful contribution to Joyce studies, though overlong and over-detailed for most casual fans. (16 pages b&w photos)"
In this exhaustive work, Dubliners and Joyce scholars Jackson and Costello (the latter the author of James Joyce, 1993) portray the Joyces' paterfamilias as a colorful figure from a fading world, and his orbit as a priceless source for much of James's fiction. Read full book review >
Cover art for JAMES JOYCE
NONFICTION
Released: April 1, 1993

"Of interest, then, though Richard Ellmann's James Joyce remains the definitive life. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs.)"
 Assimilating masses of published and unpublished sources and hearsay, this ``popular'' biography, according to Costello (The Real World of Sherlock Holmes, 1991, etc.), is ``radically new'' in reconstructing Joyce's early years—the social, political, cultural, and domestic life; the family, friends, education, and economic circumstances that provided the prototypes and themes of his fiction. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE SCANDAL OF ULYSSES
NONFICTION
Released: July 1, 1992

"Essential."
 The amazing printing history of James Joyce's Ulysses and its editorial disasters. Read full book review >