Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Ulysses

  • By: James Joyce
  • Narrated by: Jim Norton
  • Length: 27 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (941 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Ulysses

By: James Joyce
Narrated by: Jim Norton
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £29.99

Buy Now for £29.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Ulysses is regarded by many as the single most important novel of the 20th century. It tells the story of one day in Dublin, June 16th 1904, largely through the eyes of Stephen Dedalus (Joyce's alter ego from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman. Both begin a normal day, and both set off on a journey around the streets of Dublin, which eventually brings them into contact with one another.

While Bloom's passionate wife, Molly, conducts yet another illicit liasion (with her concert manager), Bloom finds himself getting into arguments with drunken nationalists and wild carousing with excitable medical students, before rescuing Stephen Dedalus from a brawl and returning with him to his own basement kitchen.

In the hands of Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan, experienced and stimulating Joycean readers, and carefully directed by Roger Marsh, Ulysses becomes accessible as never before. It is entertaining, immediate, funny, and rich in classical, philosophical, and musical allusion.

(P)2004 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Finnegans Wake cover art
Dubliners cover art
The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses cover art
The James Joyce BBC Radio Collection cover art
Dubliners cover art
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man cover art
Paradise Lost cover art
Mrs. Dalloway cover art
The Unnamable cover art
To the Lighthouse cover art
Anna of the Five Towns cover art
The Third Policeman cover art
The Good Soldier cover art
Swann's Way (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
The Sound and the Fury cover art
James Joyce cover art

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award Finalist, Classics, 2005

"As ambitious and rewarding an audio production as any that exists, an audio experience that truly deserves to be cherished....Readers of Ulysses have long been encouraged to read out loud the more difficult sections for added comprehension and enjoyment of the language. Now, thanks to Naxos, the entire book is available in a performance to savor. It is safe to say that anyone wanting to experience the preeminent work of modern fiction has in this package the perfect audio companion." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Ulysses

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    567
  • 4 Stars
    150
  • 3 Stars
    90
  • 2 Stars
    59
  • 1 Stars
    75
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    586
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    36
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    424
  • 4 Stars
    114
  • 3 Stars
    86
  • 2 Stars
    50
  • 1 Stars
    65

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

spellbinding

How does Jim Norton do this ? so many voices all ex actly how you would imagine the characters talking.
Nuance, there should be a better word for what this man has done. Read it again. This is a lifetimes work and a joy forever. Please, listen to this incredible thing. The only problem is that little else is worth listening to afterwards. Apart from Eliot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The rational and, Irrational Conscience at work

A great book, at times I lost meanings to the narrative consciences been explored due to my own deficits in knowledge. Theirs a lot of subjects been covered during conversations between characters that call on knowledge of the times. To me the locations and, personalities explored were brilliant.
It touches on Carl Jung and, Freud concepts as I interpreted at times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing narration

Jim Norton is great at reading this- quite impressive given the nature of the text. I don’t think Joyce could read it better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

So glad to have finished

I set myself the challenge to complete Ulysses and thanks to Jim Norton I have finished. I do not think I would have been able to read it but Jim Norton (and Marcella Riordan) really bring the book to life amd make it accessible.
Regarding the novel itself, I enjoyed the first and final parts far more than the latter part of the middle where it became very confusing but perseverance paid off.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Magical experience!!

Perfect narration! Will listen again and again and again. I can see, feel and smell Dublin and have 3 new friends in Molly, Poldy and Stephen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb

Brilliant book. “Not as much of a pancake as one might think” as Sgt Pluck said in an off duty moment. Best read and heard and heard and read. Can be listened to on a bicycle, pellucid in parts and over written in others. Without it Beckett would not exist neither would Flann O’Brien. Jim Norton handles is with aplomb. As woman who plays Nora Joyce in the last episode whose name I cannot check because I am tapping this out.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The performance of a lifetime.

It's impossible to overstate Norton's achievement. Adds another facet to Joyce's miraculous construction. A must have.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous

Worthy listen enhanced by the wonderful narrators,truly wonderful in all aspects,stick with it 💚

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Such a strange read

Beautiful & unique use of language & not a book you can read & follow like other books. This has to be absorbed & as long as you stay in the moment with it, you’ll be alright. Had to pause & take a breather through it but glad I read it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well worth the effort!

Would you consider the audio edition of Ulysses to be better than the print version?

The audio version makes this complex, many layered novel accessible and enjoyable.

What other book might you compare Ulysses to, and why?

This is incomparable to any book I have read to date.

What about Jim Norton’s performance did you like?

The ability ot the narator to create different voices, accents and sounds was brilliant.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book needs concentrated time to absorb, but I was always delighted to return to it and did so again and again and got more out of each reading.

Any additional comments?

I was surprised with how much enjoyed this book. Even after 3 readings, I feel there is still a rich vein to be excavated so I know I will return for more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful