second only to A Portrait of the Artist... to me. ( )

second only to A Portrait of the Artist... to me. ( )

This is a brilliant collection of fifteen short stories through which Joyce limned the moral, social, political worlds of Dublin in the early 1900s. But it is more than that: Joyce explores the universalities of human nature and human relationships; the hopes, the fears, the desires, the accommodations, the lives wasted by “duty” and the pressure of conventions. Every character rings true, each one is drawn in his/her individuality. And as with the best of short stories, there are no final, neat resolutions, there are only the tendrils of the present weaving uncertain and unforeseeable futures.

I have feeling that you can monitor your progress through life by noticing which story in Dubliners you most strongly identify with. The fact that my favorite is "A Little Cloud" and has been since about 1990 or so I take as indication that I am still trapped in adolescence. All things in due time I guess.

Great Vignettes Of Dublin Life and A Great way to introduce yourself to James Joyce : Admittedly Joyce's better known works can seem quite daunting to the uninitiated but here in these short character sketches a reader can begin to understand what all fuss is about and enjoy some wonderfully written short stories in the bargain.

The stories are consistently good and from the very first where a young boy encounters the death of someone he knows for the first time the tales and the characters are engaging. Highly recommended !

A fresh and true portrait of lives. It seems to me though, that all the characters are pretty sad in this book. That is a little bit annoying. However, they are many kinds of sad, and sad in a really authentic way, so I am forgiving Joyce today.
It is sad though, to see Joyce's descent into incomprehensibility. I think his other books, by being so hard to understand except by very very educated people with the time to figure them out, reduce the scope and power of the novel. Nowadays, people associate high literature with thick language and other blocks towards understanding. How can a novel really say what it has to say though, if it can't speak to most people? Compare Joyce to Voltaire, who wrote very clearly but with much depth, and then compare the impact they each had on society. So you see, this is what I mean.

Joyce's other books are difficult (Portrait of an Artist) to impossible (Finnegans Wake). This one reminds me of Chekhov. Closely observed lives. . . no sentimentality, no phony psychology. I found it wonderful and wish that Joyce hadn't become such a pedant. Had he used his incredible talent to write more books people actually read, the world of literature would be the better. Instead he chose to write pedantic books for pedants. ( )

Enjoyed all but a couple of these stories. Dublin, the time and the characters come through fully formed. Apart from a couple - 'Ivy Day in the Committee Room' for example, though that was partly because I don't know enough the history of Irish politics. 'The Dead' is celebrated according to my edition, and it's easy to see why, though not by describing its plot. That's the strength though - it's a dinner party with dancing, nothing more dramatic than that on the surface, but there are many more stories subsumed within, and you can't help but share some of Gabriel's feelings as time goes on. ( )

I ended up liking this book by the end, despite hating it in the beginning. Joyce writes a series of short stories about the characters of Dublin - some of which feel like the end of the story was chopped off. Until I got used to the rhythm and the structure, it was hard to enjoy this book. I enjoyed some of the portraits more than others. Although it has the setting of a historical fiction, this is not the type of book I would typically like. Recommended with reservations. I read this book using DailyLit's email service. ( )

A fabulous collection of short stories by a truly great author. It was published in 1914 when Joyce (1882-1941) was 32.

It very effectively invokes life in Dublin at the turn of the century. It's about people; it's about place.

Each story is a vivid portrayal of the important things in life - and yet it does so by bringing together the small things.

This the Joyce book to read if you have ever struggled with Joyce.

It lives on in my memory many, many years after it was first read. ( )

A collection of short story gems from James Joyce. 'The Dead' is a remarkable story
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He wrote this at 25! Wow! I'm jealous. Learned a little about music, little about green eyes, little about galoshes, little about the social realm, little about love, little about carving turkeys, little about symbols, little about being a kid, little about sisters. And there is tons more. This is like a mine where the gold grows rather than gets used up. ( )

I have always advocated realistic endings, upset by the happily-ever-afters that always appear in stories, but is sure to never be true in life. I have changed my mind.

It took me two months to finish reading this small book of short stories because I had to take a break from it everytime I finished a story. They all end very realistically, it is a bit of a downer.

Regardless of my newly changed feelings on happy endings, I love James Joyce. The Dubliners has been a magnificent look into the lives of fifteen people. The stories range from a small boy skipping school to a political party's meeting and they cover such a wide range of experiences, from a mother’s love to a husband's heartbreak. Except for the occasional mention of the world of Dublin in the early 1900s it is easy to relate with the characters in the stories, since at the end of the day they are living through the same emotions and needs as people today. Reading their most intimate thoughts and dreams you almost feel like a voyeur, I think that's the most wonderful thing about this book, the intimate look James Joyce has allowed

James Joyce is a man of immense intrigue to myself. His sense of nonconformity, rebellion, writing style--the shear depth of it, his genius! I believe him to have been some sort of Jesuit mystic. "Ulysses in Dublin" was his choice of title for this book, yet the stories were expanded and the title shortened. Joyce's disciples hail from a wide spectrum--Joseph Campbell, Robert Anton Wilson, Jorge Louis Borges--his magick has spread far. The stories he presents us with here are deceptively straightforward. Complexity is just under the surface. They progress in an order: Childhood, Adolescence, Maturity, and Public Life. There are many green-eyed characters. Each one contains a small epiphany that is not obvious in many cases; in fact, quite subjective. I admit I do not fully understand "The Sisters"; but am quite haunted by the child's dream of the dead old Rev., his friend, with gray face, perpetual smile and spittle moistened lips. Skipping to the last story, "The Dead", I will say that it's imagery is stunningly real and that it holds within it the greatest epiphany contained within the book--I was reminded a bit of Dickens' tale of the drunk in the graveyard with the hobgoblin, for some strange reason. I highly recommend "Dubliners" as a doorway to Joyce, and many other strange places. ( )

When he wanted to, he could really write conventional fiction, with plot and characterisation and all that. Great stuff. ( )

A book filled with 12 short stories about people. The Irish people in Dublin in the late 1800's. You get a glimpse into the lives of the young, the old, the poor and the well-to-do. No one is exempt from Joyce's words. Each story, whether it be about a boy's day spent skipping school, or a young girl trying to choose whether or not to sail away to Buenos Aires with her beau, is beautifully written and rich with atmosphere. Each character comes alive on the page and is given just enough words to make you want to know more about them when it is time to move on to the next story.

I am so happy I picked up this book to read, finally, having purchased it back in March. It amazes me how simply language can be used perfectly to tell a story. I kept wondering to myself if these were actual people he knew or saw in the streets around him, making up stories about the men walking down the street, or the kids on the ferry during school hours, or the lady at the quay staring at a ship setting sail. ( )

Dubliners is comprised of 15 short and simple stories all centered around the people of Dublin. To sum up the collection it is a portrait of a city as seen from the eyes of the people living there. The very first story, The Sisters, is nothing more than a family's reaction to a priest's death. While the characters are not connected, their stories are. Life and death, love and loss, youth and aging, poverty and wealth. Joyce does a remarkable job capturing the spirit of the Irish while revealing universal truths about mankind as a whole. It is as if we, as readers, get to peek into the character's lives and are witness to moments of our own circumstance. ( )

In Dubliners, his collection of short stories, James Joyce captures Irish life, specifically the lives of Dubliners. Each story is a magnificent sketch of the people, setting, and situations; the entire collection presents a variety of such sketches. At the end of each sketch, I felt the despair that I believe Joyce intended to impart in each normal life situation. While each story captures different characters in a various stages of life, similar despair pervades each of their lives in related settings.

Joyce’s ability to capture the world through his words greatly impressed me. Each story is incredibly realistic and amazingly readable. However, I was not impressed with the plots behind each story; Joyce seems to hint at the issues and sometimes I felt too much was left for me to guess at. But while I didn’t love the stories themselves, I would highly recommend reading Joyce’s stories solely for the beautiful writing and careful character development. Reading the stories in Dubliners is an example to me that plot doesn’t necessarily make something I read “great”; good writing makes it great.

more thoughts on my blog

This was my first taste of James Joyce's work, and while I can see the good writing and characterizations that have made him famous, I don't think it's really my cup of tea. The stories seem so chopped off and I found myself feeling nervous while I was reading them. The characters all do stupid things and it was this unpredictability that me feel so unsettled as I read. I was just waiting for the ax to fall every time, and usually it did, with a clang of hopeless finality. Joyce seems to be saying that life is futile, and while there are snatches of beauty, most of the time it's just brutality and shame. This may be a realistic picture of life in Dublin when Joyce was writing, but I don't find reading these stories pleasurable.

I think I'll pass on the rest of Joyce's books. Many readers love him and that's great — just not my thing. ( )

The Dead is quite the most moving love story I've ever read. For anyone who's lost someone. ( )

5 stars because of The Dead, perhaps the single most powerful short story I have read. If you haven't read this book, just skip to The Dead and then go back for the others. This is a nice edition with period photographs. ( )

i like short stories. but these i found it hard to focus on. i listened on cd and because i found it so hard to focus i read them. no better. couldn't tell you one thing about this book and i just finished it 30 minutes ago. ( )

One of my favorite things about these stories is the Olympian view of mankind. Joyce makes no moral judgements. He gets up close and dispassionately lays out some of the most shameful behavior with the same detail he describes food, drink and clothing.
Deeper reading is rewarded. The Sisters closely read transports the reader to the temples of ancient Egypt. And invites reflections on the varying position of religion in society through history. ( )

The Dead, in particular ( )