Review: Dubliners

Dubliners by James Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the perfect book for me to read soon after my sojourn to Dublin, Ireland, for a conference presentation combined with a mother-daughter vacation with my mom. I learned a lot about Irish culture, religion, and politics both from watching the play Ulysses at The Abbey Theatre and from reading these short stories. Believe it or not, I had not read or experienced Joyce's work in the past. But now, I am excited to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which I know will be more of a challenge, but worthwhile, as I'll read it over a longer span of time. First of all, Ireland is very much worth experiencing as a country and as a culture. The people were very nice, and the country itself is beautiful. 99% of the people there speak English, and only 36% speak Irish, although many school districts are now requiring students to learn Irish. Between reading Joyce and Louise O'Neill this spring and summer, I feel that I have made a dent in Irish literature, although I realize there's so much more to experience. Dubliners is worth a read right now because it was written during an era of nationalism in Ireland, which is, I believe, what we are currently experiencing in the US.

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