Book Trauma

It's been many years since I last read Joyce and I realized I had been remiss in not reading this one sooner. Now that I have read it I am trying to figure out why it's considered his best. This books seem to have polarized readers but I don't feel like I strongly love this book,yet .It begins with Joyce relating life at school in Ireland through his oddly named character Stephen Dedalus and continues with Dedalus' self discovery. The flow of the work was fine until he began to drone on about Catholicism like the type of Sunday sermon that puts you to sleep. Fortunately it veered back to the story and Joyce's more familiar style of writing. Despite the stream of consciousness form is it odd that I find this his most accessible work? I'll have to admit that I need to reread his others but I remember struggling with Ulysses. I think what I do love in this story are his sudden flashes of insight that quickly move him beyond his Catholic guilt and pubescent angst.I'm glad I read this now as it's forcing me to go back and reread his other books and maybe this go round I'll have an easier time of it.