Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Dubliners

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Dubliners by James Joyce

16 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is the first book that I've ever read by James Joyce. I have the honor of being able to study in Ireland soon and wanted to read a little to prepare. Wow, what a great read! These stories are so casually devastating. The characters are all living in suspended animation, some with limited self-awareness and, even sadder, some keenly aware of what they're missing. James Joyce has really crafted some real, sad characters. The depictions of the pitfalls of chauvinism and toxic masculinity are interesting as well. Favorite stories: "Araby", "Eveline", "The Boarding House", "A Little Cloud", "A Painful Case", "A Mother", and "The Dead."

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duarshe's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

never before had some short stories felt so LOOOOOOOOOONG

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akirma's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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diana_raquel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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idesofmarch's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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leeyongjin's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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booksjessreads's review against another edition

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challenging sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I was sceptical of this because I am not always a huge fan of short stories but I wanted to give some Irish literature a go. I did really like some short stories over overs, Clay I think was my particular favourite. However, I did feel underwhelmed with others. Furthermore, I was also using the short story summaries on Wikipedia to help me get through some of them and I did really struggle with the novella at the end.

I think for me, I rated it this because I felt the style worked really well, but I just didn't understand the stories that well. I do think that this needs several reads in order to feel more informed about what is happening with each story. I am going to come back to this and re-read after some time so I can annotate and understand the deeper meaning of the stories more. I think I did appreciate the way in which Joyce was trying to convey the mundanity of Irish life in Dublin and I think the snapshots of different lives that were provided through the short stories demonstrated the variety of lives people led. I think I just need to get my head around the text more in order for me to rate this higher.

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