Dubliners (Tantor Edition) Audiobook (Unabridged)

" Best by Joyce that I have read. "

" I reread this book again, loved it as always. "

" I read this book after reading "Araby" and other Joyce short stories over the years. I appreciate the lack of sentimentality or commercialized "Irishdom" in these vignettes. Each chapter is a story of a different Dubliner, and , in whole, their lives, at the turn of the 20th century, are not easy. There is labor dispute. There is religion. There is poverty. There is alcohol. There is the fatigue of long marriage with many children. There is the ageless yearning of the heart even when its possesser cannot articulate what, exactly, it is that is yearned for. The stories are narrated in a dispassionate voice. They provide challenging reading in that often there is no firm "conclusion" to the story; the characters simply pause in a sort of literary freeze frame, and the reader is left to draw conclusions. Still, by the end, one feels as if she had touched the beating heart of the city through the strivings (and failures) of its residents. "

" It seems like books I had to read for school just aren't my favorite. I had to read this in college, and ugh....I just didn't like it. There were parts I did kind of like, but, some parts I just didn't get into. "

" James Joyce presents a compelling series of short stories that present an interesting picture of the city of Dublin. Many of the characters have fascinating personalities and the psychology behind their actions is compelling. When presented as a whole, however, the stories almost seem to detract from each other. As they don't have an evident common theme aside from the chronological movement through time with the characters, the audience is left trying to make sense of the plot and isn't able to enjoy what Joyce is presenting as easily. It also seemed as though Joyce dragged out situations that could have been summed up quite simply, with no evident benefits to the plot. While it was an interesting book, it simply isn't the writing style that I would choose to sit down and read for pleasure. "

" This is more a collection of short stories than a novel and each story is very episodic, capturing fleeting moments and experiences in the lives of various citizens of Dublin in the early 20th century. It is a detailed portrait of a time and a place long gone, described in Joyce's deceptively simple and understated style. The reader is greeted with many unexpected characters and scenarios, some of which are very moving to read in their own subtle way. The more memorable characters have their own hopes and dreams, many of which are unfulfilled, and out of the reserved description comes lines of poetry that shock you into emotion. Joyce is leaving more under the surface than he is showing and I'm sure this carefully crafted work would take several readings in order to appreciate and understand its scale. "

" My first James Joyce book... Maybe i would have loved it more if i were an Irish or had some knowledge about the Irish culture and history. However i am more than satisfied with Joyce's descriptions and his elaborate narration of the characters' epiphanies. Amazing writing, nice simple stories which begin from those of childhood to adolescence to maturity and climaxes with "The Dead"... :) "

" Enjoyed each successive story more than the last one...... "

" I love all the stories in this collection, but The Dead counts as my favorite short story ever. It starts off a bit slow and seems to not be about much until the end. It's amazingly written and haunting. "

" Just because it's brilliant doesn't mean it's fun to read. "

" HATED this book of pointless short stories! I am endlessly amazed that one of these 5 page stories - "The Dead" was actually turned into a nearly 2 hour long movie, because there really wasn't much to it. "

" I read a couple of the stories in this book for a class called "Point of View in the Novel," and they were alright. Kind of depressing. "

" Joyce jumps from character ti character within many of these stories, making it hard for the reader to connect to any one person. This is not to say that each story is about a different character, but that within those stories we get multiple point of view shifts. "

" My fave short story collection but understanding is hampered without a contextual understanding of ireland and catholicism, much like the rest of Joyce's work "

" Short interesting stories,which giving you a good first touch with James Joyce's writing "

" The fluidity of the prose throughout is stunning. "

" fictional short stories of 1904, with Irish accents. "

" A little slow...more a character study than an engaging story, but as a character study it was vivid with description. Joyce colored each person in an intriguing way so that, even if their appearance was brief and without completion, he drew you in and piqued your curiosity. "

" I like his clever assemblage of stories. "

" I've never not loved any Joyce I've read. No, I did not read Ulysses. But Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man was smashing. "

" I can't decide whether "Clay" or "The Dead" is my favorite entry in this fine selection of short stories. Well worth reading if you're not familiar with Joyce at all, and excellent preparation for some of his later works as well. "

" Nothing but great things to say about these little gems. They read fast, while simultaneously giving much in the way of detail. 10 different people reading these stories would have 10 different opinions on what the stories each mean. Great. "

" One of my best liked books. A classic. "

" Read for Irish Lit class and enjoyed, probably wouldn't have liked it much if I read on my own "

" It may have been my English teacher that ruined this book for me, but I can't make myself enjoy it. "

" A collection of tales including The Dead. Plainly Irish, plainly Joyce. "

" The absolute answer to 'if you only read one book in your life' "

" Beautifully written, if depressing, stories that ultimately paint a portrait of a section of Irish culture. "

" Some of the most beautiful and profound prose of the 20th century. "

" Nice how each story is short, easy to read them in one go. Lovely little poignant stories about life in Dublin. "