Dubliners

If you've been avoiding Joyce because of Ulysses, this book feels like a warm-up both for the reader and the author. There are beautiful phrases buried inside intriguing vignettes. Yes, the political and social commentary is there (and opaque for those of us without knowledge of the time period and history), but the stories are enjoyable independent of those allusions. (Except for Two Gallants. I felt like that one went right over my head, but I also noted the excessive walking similar to Ulysses.) I found a lot of pain in these stories, but I was also struck by the deep sense of community and family. Most of these "stories" don't have an ending as we think of story structure, but are open to interpretation and thought. Reminded me a bit of all those lessons in high school about the Lady and the Tiger by Stockton.

I wouldn't have read this book, or perhaps anything by Joyce, hadn't this been a gift from my partner. And am so glad I did! I liked the way the city is woven into the stories and becomes both a background and a character in each of them. The stories themselves are haunting, not just because of the plot or the myriad characters who hail from various classes, but because of the moments of reflection in them as well as the provocation to the reader to reflect by withholding judgment and even information. There is much to decode, and I am sure I missed a lot of the signs despite the useful notes, and there is much to think about.