Dubliners

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Summary: A mirror of society
Review: During a Simpsons, Maggie learned how to play "the blues," but, after doing so, didn't feel any better. That was when she learned that you play the blues, not to feel better, but to make everyone else feel as you do. The Dubliners was much the same way. It is a literary masterpiece the drags the reader into the darkest depths of Dublin society. James Joyce is not expecting sympathy or charity, he only wishes to show or express to the reader that part of society that few people have actually seen or experienced. Through a series of short stories showing different aspects of Dublin life, Joyce is able to open to the reader the way of life among the Dubliners. There is a carrying theme throughout of depression, hopelessness, and wasted time and life. Whether they are children, couples, or aged men, we are brought face to face with lost hopes and dreams, and above all, embitterment. What truly grabs the reader is a feeling of "stuckness." There seems to be no way out of their current situations, and although they try, in the end, nothing has changed. It could almost be considered a moral paralysis, an inability to act outside of tradition. Many characters are caught in a current that, though they fight, carries them mercilessly through events against their wishes. Another theme that goes in hand with the previous is one of escapism. Alcohol, dreams, fancies, all seem to make up a large portion of Dubliner society. As part of the hopelessness sinks into people, they search for ways to forget about their current situation. Alcohol, of course, plays an important role in this escapism. As life overwhelms people, they seek to forget about their problems, if only for a while, in the bottom of a bottle. It is interesting to see how the moral paralysis leads to action, in this case drinking, but not to an action that is productive. On the contrary, drinking actually worsens their original condition in a way that renders it almost impossible for them to create change in lives that deperately need changing. Society today is not much different than Dublin. Everyday we see the same reactions, if not so dramatic, as people find themselves trapped and seek to escape. Drinking is still a problem with many, although that is not the only way that escapism is expressed. Whether in the form of "road rage" or pornography, men and women alike find themselves striking out, acting, but in a negative way. Men, tired with their jobs, go home to beat their wives. Students, after years of ridicule, return to school one day with a loaded weapon and a need to "act." The Dubliners could be one of the greatest social commentaries to be written since "The Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. Joyce masterfully shows the reader the dark recesses of society and brings them to light, only to open him up to a part of our existing society to which he was previously unaware. It calls for serious reflection and thought as we are forced to come to grips with a reality we have hitherto ignored.

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Summary: Pain and Joy(ce)
Review: All days are the same, another day full of tests studying and work. I've finally come to accept the fact that there isn't enough time in the day to finish all of things I have to do. Rather than getting disturbed day after day you eventually shutdown and turn off your emotions, everything becomes routine and robotical. Never receiving satisfaction from knowing you are doing enough to actually accomplish anything. The lights of life start to dim and nothing is able to remind you that you are still a living, emotional entity. There is only one way to gain salvation once you start feeling like you are in that cold closed dark room with nothing except the incessant ticking of a clock to let you know that you are still alive. I pull out my favorite red, Swiss pocketknife. McGyver can use a knife like this 101 different ways to save his life. I can be McGyver. This knife can save my life, all I have to do is cut my hand until the viscous red life in my veins starts to warm the surface of my skin and brings that tingling sense which in turn jump starts the cockles of my heart and reminds me I'm living. Fortunately I've found a new instrument to replace this masochistic behavior. I just pull out my favorite book, Dubliners, by James Joyce. This book is a collection of emotionally tearing, seemingly unconnected scenes from individuals' lives. Each chapter introduces a new character that is in an inescapable, despair filled situation. The reader gets to taste the full spectrum of absurdly depressing stories. There are the failed romantic hopes of a young boy who works his hardest to please a girl who doesn't even seem to notice him. Then there is a girl, who is handed the love of her life, but she can't leave to join her lover for fear that her overly dependent and unappreciative family won't be able to get along without her. The heartbreaking reality of life is ever present as Joyce shares an account of a blue-collar worker who is so enslaved to his job that his only sense of control in life comes from alcohol and beating his child. After hearing about all of the Dubliners who have such a horrible life that their only joy in life comes through dreaming of escape, whether it be mental or physical through the ever present alcohol, life once again starts to feel like something. Emotion isn't a thing of the past anymore. So forget about McGyver, now when you are feeling emotionless and trapped in life's nuances, turn to your new friend, James

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Summary: Dubliners - The Dead
Review: The Dubliners is a collection of short stories which open the windows into the lives of the citizens of Dublin in the beginning of the twentieth century. The stories are depressing as well as uplifting. It just depends on the conclusions the reader draws from the open endings of the stories. The opportunity to finish the stories myself was actually one of the features I liked most about the entire book, but especially about the last and longest story-the Dead. The Dead sums up all the concerns and issues raised time and time again throughout the Dubliners - religion, alcohol addiction, immorality, and political instability of Ireland. In my opinion, The Dead is the key to the entire book. For me, the last sentence of The Dead as well as of the entire book, " His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow was falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead," was as much of a mystery as of a hint. It really got me thinking, because there so many ways to take it. First, did Gabriel die or not? Was just Joyce describing the last moments of Gabriel's life or was he describing the first moments of Gabriel's new life? I have always been an optimist, so many might consider my opinion biased, but I personally think that the sentence marks new beginning and new life for Gabriel. Of course, I have to admit that Gabriel had a good reason to commit suicide after realizing that his beloved wife had been in love with her dead lover for all this time, but, honestly, I do not see Gabriel as a hopeless man who would simply give up his life and future. I see him more as a man who was taught a hard lesson and learned it well. I see him more as a man whose eyes were open. I see new Gabriel as man who wants to do and not only talk about doing. Then there is the description of snow falling which is another important clue/mystery the Dead gives the reader to help him to figure out for himself if the book is truly uplifting or depressing. I personally the snow is a pointer that the ending is truly an optimistic one and that somewhere there is brighter future for everybody . Why do I think that? It is the gentle way the snow is described. It covers the world and all its problem like a white blanket. It makes everything seem so pure and clean. I cannot help thinking that Joyce used snow on purpose to help the reader draw such conclusion. But, I am sure that many other readers came to just an opposite conclusion that the snow represents a deep and abiding human truth: the essential loneliness of the soul. But that is just right because the diversity of the conclusions is the beauty of the book.

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Summary: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Review: THE GOOD: The Dubliners shows James Joyce's talent as a writer. The people of Dublin and their life come to life with Joyce's choice of words. Their lives and stories, though simple, have deep meaning behind them and show Joyce's outlook on life in Dublin, Ireland. I enjoyed the way Joyce constructs his sentences and his subtle imagery. My favorite story was Counterparts. Although it's a rather sad tale, I felt drawn to this story emotionally. I felt sorry for both the Farrington and his son whom he beats. This story reflects the general theme of the book: Average people struggling to progress in a tough Dublin life. Something Joyce does really well is he blends these characters from different stories together in this theme- from the political campaigners standing around the fire, to the pleasant Maria who keeps living in the past. THE BAD: Unless you are familiar with Irish culture and idioms, reading will be slow and confusing. I found myself stopping constantly to look up words in a dictionary. It's apparent that The Dubliners is a commentary on life in Dublin, but I found it difficult to connect with him. I struggled to get through this book and never got into a good flow THE BAD: Unless you are familiar with Irish culture and idioms, reading will be slow and confusing. I found myself stopping constantly to look up words in a dictionary. It's apparent that The Dubliners is a commentary on life in Dublin, but I found it difficult to connect with him. I struggled to get through this book and never got into a good flow with it. THE UGLY: I was hoping for at least one story where there is a nice, happy ending. Yes I know that happy stories don't reflect real life in Dublin, but come on, I got bored reading all these stories about people who never did anything with their lives. (Of they may of not of had a choice.) The last story, The Dead, had me fooled for a minute. Everything seemed to be going well at the party, but then it ends in sadness like most of the other stories. The most dynamic characters were dead. The living ones were always referring to them and things that they did while they were alive. Maybe I'm not cultured enough, but this book had no impact on my life. I was hoping for something a little more THE VERDICT: If you're looking for a well-written book with no surprises, then this book will suit you well. I'll give credit to Joyce for his writing ability, but I'll stick to the sports page while I'm in the bathroom.

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Summary: A peek into the human soul
Review: In his book Dubliners, James Joyce allows us to enter into the very soul of various characters that surface throughout the book. His masterful descriptions invite us to see life through their eyes and experience their feelings of discontent, frustration, jealousy, longing, pride. It gives us the ability to look outside ourselves and view the suffering of those around us. The book is divided into fifteen mini stories. Each one is distinct and each one allows us to glimpse another soul. We peer into the mind of young boy who has had his first brush with death when an elderly friend dies. We see a young man go in search of a gift to bring the girl that has caught his heart. We gaze into the frustrations of a man who feels trapped in his job and finds only momentary solace in his alcohol. And finally we view a wife who hears a song that brings back memories of a youth time lover she had who had died and cries as her husband wonders if he might ever have that same level of lover for her as did that young man years ago. Each of these characters teaches us something about ourselves. We laugh at the naivety of the young characters depicted at the beginning of the book and realize that we once had their innocence. We pity the other characters because of their entrapped existence. We mourn for their hopelessness and wish we could do something to rescue them from their plight. We wonder how they could be so filled with pride, anger, and misery and then are led to wonder if we suffer from similar maladies.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the time
Review: This isn't a book that you can sit down and fluff through on a plane ride. We were assigned to read this book for my intensive college writing class. I can't say that I was thrilled with the choice. This novel takes time, intelligence and consideration. Something that many books don't ask from the reader any more. The product is worth the price, though. The first few stories were hard for me to get through. This book was a different animal than what I'm used to. Most stories grab you and pull you into the story. This book is more like the different kid in high school, harder to get to know, not what you expect, but completely worth the effort. By the time that I got to "The Dead" I found myself wishing that each chapter was a novel itself. The characters don't beg you to get to know them. They are there, interesting, quirky and inviting in their own way. This novel is literature. I am amazed that the writer was merely twenty-two years old when he penned this. Even though each chapter is a different story, the characters are more than just flat players in a short story. Somehow he manages to give each life and dimension that takes other writers hundreds of pages to accomplish. They are also remarkably thought provoking. I found myself pondering on the man in "An Encounter" long after I had finished with that story. Maybe it was the time, but the characters seem far less complicated than the ones in novels I've read lately. They simply are what they are. They don't obsess over how many Snickers they've eaten that day, whether they'll fit into that dress at the end of the day, or how their parents put them into therapy. It was refreshing to read something so devoid of all the garbage that pervades literature today. I hated Scarlet Letter the first time I read that classic, too. It came to mind as I read the Dubliners because both require something of the reader. I had to read the Scarlet Letter three times before I felt like I really began to get it. That was also the point that I began to understand why it's a classic. Thankfully at twenty-one I have a better apprecaition for literature than I did at sixteen, but I think the same things hold true. The classics don't grab the reader and beat them over the head the with the message. They wait patiently for the reader to get the message out on his own accord. If I were to ever venture into the world of writing professionally, I would hope that I could craft stories that are half as intricate, intelligent, and often times humorous as James. Since time is money, I suggest investing some of each into a copy of the Dubliners. It is definately worth it.

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Summary: Bittersweet
Review: James Joyce is a talented writer. His discriptions of characters bring them alive, and through them I got a sense of everyday life in Dublin. The stories of these characters are deep, and Joyce also brings their problems and struggles to life. Joyce deserves credit for the his sentence structuring skills and his subtle imagery. However, I struggled reading this book. I'm not familiar with Irish culture, or with James Joyce's works. My reading pace was slow and I never really got into a good flow with The Dubliners. Although I enjoyed some of the stories, I got bored with the repetitive themes of them. Maybe I'm not cultured enough to fully enjoy classical books, but this just got boring after awhile. The good news the last story, The Dead, is a terrific piece of literature. I recommend this book if you are looking for well-written literature that doesn't have any surprises.

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Summary: Wonderful Reading of 8 Unabridged Dubliners' Stories
Review: Let me begin by making it clear that I am reviewing the abridged audio cassette version read by Mr. Gerard McSorley. Americans will know him best for his portrayal of Michael in the original Broadway production of Dancing at Laghnasa. For fans of Dubliners, the main disappointment will come in the absence of "The Dead" from this subset of the stories. Of the stories in this collection, "The Boarding House," "Eveline," and "Araby" will be the longest remembered. These stories of everyday life in Dublin focus on the moral lives of its citizens, as they deal with their poverty, urges, and loves.

For anyone who wants to know James Joyce, there is no better place to start than with Dubliners. These stories are totally clear, and poetic in their treatment of the subjects although nominally written in prose. Joyce had yet to lay on his advanced techniques of stream-of-consciousness in the way that he eventually did in Ulysses. These stories are also more censored and proper, so you will not be jolted by the surface crudity of his later works. But these stories do primarily explore the mental conversations and processes that the characters employ with themselves.

Each story ends in a powerful mentally-experienced epiphany that tells you more about the character than the rest of the story combined. Think of these epiphanies as being the purest and strongest form of O. Henry's wonderful last minute twists in his short stories. I cannot give you an example from Dubliners without seriously compromising your enjoyment. The best epiphany in this collection though comes in "The Boarding House."

Stories about Irish people and Ireland greatly benefit from being read aloud with the proper accents. Mr. McSorley is an inspired choice for this audio cassette version. He is able to shift from character to character extremely easily, and can do English accents just as well as Irish ones.

As as result, I felt like I was sitting around a warm fire with some Irish whiskey in my hand leaning forward with anticipation as the beautiful stories unwound from the reel into my ears and echoed into my soul.

Of all the ways I have enjoyed Dubliners, this was the greatest pleasure for me. I do suggest that you also read all of the stories on your own afterward. They are very rewarding as they build on interrelated themes of love, commitment, family, honor, and death. Perhaps, if you are like me, you will also hear Mr. McSorley's lovely voice in your mind when you read the other stories, as well. James Joyce would have approved, I'm sure.

The better the short story, the more it benefits from being read aloud. I suggest that you try other audio cassette recordings of Dubliners as well. There is a new version out that is unabridged that I have not yet heard. But you can also do this with other writers, as well. Further, you will benefit from reading them aloud in your own voice. And, when appropriate, read them to your children. "Araby" and "The Race" would be superb choices from this collection.

Enjoy great stories in as many ways as you can!

Rating:
Summary: You know how good he is?
Review: This guy's so good, that you can, much like with Ralph Wiggum on the Krusty Show, pinpoint the exact moment when a character's heart breaks. Try it! Works every time!

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Summary: Utterly Profound
Review: In the pages of "Dubliners", you will find the most poignant, insightful, and excellent short stories that the English Language has ever known, each of them full of interpretation, underlying meaning, and written with a superfluously elegant style that is truly humbling, no matter how many times you have read the stories.

Of the fifteen in this collection, which he wrote in his early twenties, my personal favourites were "The Sisters", "An Encounter", "A Mother", and, of course, "The Dead", with its tragic, haunting narrative.

"Dubliners" was my starting point for the enigmatic world of James Joyce's fiction, and even at fourteen years old, I found it accessible and incredibly enjoyable. Do not deny yourself the pleasure of his work; these powerful stories are a world of discovery, that will enchant and provoke you with each reading.

It is definitely the most amazing fiction I have ever read.