LA reading group finishes James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" after 28 years

A Los Angeles book club has finally finished James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" 28 years after starting the iconic novel.

The Finnegan's Wake reading club, which was founded by Gerry Fialka in 1995, made its way through the novel by reading one page every month for the last 28 years. 

The novel is notoriously difficult to read and is regarded as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language due to its experimental style and lack of a coherent plot. 

The famous novel doesn't follow normal storytelling conventions and features a variety of made-up words and disjointed passages, making it an incredibly difficult book to finish. 

Fialka told local radio station KCRW that he formed the Finnegan's Wake reading club to aid him in his quest to finish the book, acknowledging that he never would have finished the novel by himself. 

"It's almost like tripping on acid," Fialka told KCRW. 

Fialka added that the reading club has not only allowed him to finish the book, but it has also helped him form lifelong friendships. 

"I've gotten to encounter a lot of people who become my friends," he said. 

Steven Kedrowski, who has been a member of the reading club since 2005, told KCRW that he can't remember much of the novel's plot and said the monthly readings were about "diving into the details of that specific moment". 

Fialka revealed that the club has started the book all over again, despite taking 28 years to finish it the first time around. 

The LA-based filmmaker said the book's circular structure means that it never truly ends, with readers dissecting each page to help each other understand the meanings and broader themes of Joyce's complex novel. 

"In the midst of something that seems complex if it flips in the a-ha moment, you're like, wow. You'll have a revelation or what Joyce called - so appropriately - epiphanies in everydayness," Fialka told KCRW.