Rating: Summary: One of the Best Books You'll Ever Get Your Hands On Review: At first skeptical, after reading this I realize how important this book is to the history of literature. Subtle, yet deep and descriptive, it manages to describe with great accurracy the different types of people that make up Dublin during Joyce's time. It illustrates the themes of paralysis in different forms, from religion in Grace to apathy and politics in Ivy Day in the Committee Room. What made this book so great for me was that some of these themes could be generalised to all people as it dealt with human nature, and not just Dubliners, even if this was not Joyce's intention. An excellent book, Thank you Judith for making me read it!
Rating: Summary: Astonishing! Review: Although I'd read 'The Dead' a few times before, I only recently read the rest of "Dubliners." The beauty of its language is indescribable and a very good reason for reading it. But what really captivates and astonishes is the way in which each story, though having little plot in the conventional sense, draws you into its world, making you feel that its people and places are as real and as significant as your own life. I still cannot get over Eveline's decision or Greta's long-ago heartbreak. The only other book I've encountered that is even comparable to "Dubliners" is "Winesburg, Ohio," which I also unreservedly recommend.
Rating: Summary: The Best (but Chekov is pretty darn good too...) Review: I can't add much to what the other reviewers have said about the stories. Dubliners is the place to start if you want to read Joyce. If he had written only this (which he did by age 26!) he'd still be the greatest writer of the 20th century in my opinion. One reviewer had a gentle criticism of the first line of The Dead. Since I think the story might be the most perfect thing ever written, I'll try to defend it. This is an early example of Joyce waving his stylistic wand - something he would do with ever increasing gusto throughout his later work. "Lily, the caretaker's daughter, was literally run off her feet." The line, while probably not factually accurate, is written in a style that fits the character and the action. The "voice" of the first paragraph might be called Lilly-esque - hurried, flushed, hyperbolic - just as the voice in the last paragraph is Gabriel-esque - sophisticated, poetic, melancholy. Read the story carefully and you'll see (or maybe hear is the better word) these shifts in tone throughout. Joyce's literary breakthrough was in fusing form and content, style and substance. The Dead is the best early example of this breakthrough. Some critics have said that Joyce was a fine writer but he didn't have much to say. I disagree. I think he had a lot to say, and I think he said it brilliantly - he just didn't say it in a way we're used to hearing. I think he said more in the 2300 or so words in Araby than most writers, even very good writers, could ever hope to.
Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: Everyone should read Dubliners. It is one of the most insightful books I have ever read. This book has so many levels to it that one could read it over and over again and always discover something new. It depicts the paralysis of modern society in a fashion that I feel has few counterparts.
Rating: Summary: Oh yeah Review: Excellent. My favorite short stories...so far
Rating: Summary: Nice, difficult and surprising Review: I had to read this book for my Exams Literature English and I have to say you read the book in one time without breathing... In case of all that short stories you get an idea of the feelings and thinkings of the Dubliner people, and that's the thing I liked of this book. I hope: so do you!
Rating: Summary: Rewarding for those willing to tackle it Review: Having grown up in a small town much like Joyce's Dublin, this book has a special significance for me. I've seen so many people from my town graduating from high school without really understanding that there is an entire world outside the place they grew up and lacking the ambition to go explore it. I fear many of them will spend their lives "getting by" in a job they hate, raising children who will inevitably do the same thing. Joyce's "Dubliners" depicts this cycle with as much complexity and compassion as any author I've read. In an age where the most publicized fiction tends to be simple-minded and genre-bound, it's refreshing to come across a writer with Joyce's complexity. "Dubliners" is so rich in its intellectual and symbolic atmosphere that many readers may be put off by the overall weight of the prose. The writing is so thick with metaphorical contexts that the literal content of the story occasionally becomes obscured, which can be frustrating for those not used to reading Joyce. Yet, while difficult, "Dubliners" is far from impossible to decipher, and although these stories function well as a whole, they are also more or less self-contained, which makes "Dubliners" easier to get through than Joyce's other works(it's a lot easier to take on a ten page short story than a 600+ page novel like "Ulysses" or "Finnegan's Wake"). For readers who are new to Joyce, this would be a good place to start. A final note: since this book is old enough to be considered a "classic," there are a plethora of editions available from various publishers. I own the Vintage edition (ISBN: 0679739904). Not only is it a quality printing (not that cheap newspaper ink that rubs off on your fingers), it also contains about a hundred pages of criticism at the end that help shed light on Joyce's often illusive themes. Normally I shun forewards and afterwards (I like to think I've read enough to discover a story's theme on my own), but in the case of Joyce I found that a push in right direction can mean the difference between enjoyment and frustration.
Rating: Summary: Absolutely beautiful. Review: These short stories are amazing. The imagery and symbolism throughout the stories is lovely and haunting. The Dead is really the best short story ever written in English.
Rating: Summary: A most excellent turn of the century review of Joyce's home. Review: Dubliners is a collection of short stories ranging through chidhood, adolescence and adulthood ending with three public life stories and the grand finale "The Dead" Critics have associated many of the stories to Joyce's personal life as he to became dissillusioned with his home city of Dublin. In each story we find a struggle for escapement from each character with the ever burdening features of alcohol and religion amongst other things trapping the protaganists from breaking out of the Dublin mould. Hopes are often dashed such as those of Eveline and Duffy. Joyce intelligently creates an interplay of senses towards the end of each story which creates an epiphany and a defining moment in the life of each character. Throughout the book the characthers start in the middle of nowhere and end up in the middle of nowhere. The text starts with the phrase: "There was no hope for him this time", which symbolises the book perfectly with paralysis being a continuing theme throughout the text ending in the final component: "The Dead". Overall this is a fascinating insite into how Joyce viewed his birth place. Joyce himself can be viewed in many of the characters including Duffy who found love with Sinico in: "A Painful Case" and felt awkward at her death as he had let her go. A thoroughly enjoyable book where nothing actually happens!
Rating: Summary: Sweet Jesus, the man can write! Review: That pretty much says it all. The Best stories in English, though Carver & Hemingway both pull a close second.
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