Dubliners (original 1914; edition 1914)

This isn't a cheery selection of stories, it's not displaying the famous Irish craig in any way. instead it has tales of death, disgrace, drunkenness, violence, danger, sacrifice of happiness and hope to duty and responsibility and other fun stuff like that. I sense that Joyce despaired of the inhabitants of the city, and was, possibly, trying to chock them into seeing themselves as he saw them, trapped in repetitive downwards spirals.
That's not to say that the stories themselves aren't worth reading but don't expect to be uplifted by the story, although the way he can capture a mood in a few short pages is something to behold. ( )

I enjoyed this collection because I doubt anyone writes short stories like this anymore. Dubliners is composed of vignettes looking into the lives of ordinary people and does not aspire to show extraordinary moments but rather the small ones that happen everyday. Although many of the stories feature epiphanies rendered from these small moments, others simply depict in realistic fashion an experience that could happen to anyone with no reflection by the character whatsoever. My favorites from the collection are Araby, Eveline, Two Gallants, The Boarding House, A Little Cloud, Clay, A Painful Case, A Mother, Grace, and of course, The Dead. One may notice I have listed there 10 of the 15 stories, and I suppose that is a reflection of how much I loved the book. It did take me over a year to complete, if only because I kept putting off reading The Dead because I wanted a suitable moment to give it its due consideration. ( )

I chose "really liked it" because there were some stories that I really loved. There were others that were interesting but didn't grab my attention as much.

The stories I loved were: A Little Cloud, The Dead, and A Mother.

( )

Read the first several stories ("The Sisters," "An Encounter," "Araby," "Eveline," "After the Race," and "Two Gallants"), and the last, "The Dead." Then I ran out of time and had to return it to the library.

The Dead was totally worth the wait! ( )