A review by booksjessreads
Dubliners by James Joyce

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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