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Dubliners (Dover Thrift Editions) by James Joyce
Book Summary InformationAuthor: James Joyce Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 1991-05-01 ISBN: 0486268705 Number of pages: 152 Publisher: Dover Publications
Book Reviews of Dubliners (Dover Thrift Editions)Book Review: A Voice to the Voiceless Summary: 5 Stars
James Joyce's Dubliners is a fantastic novel. Not only is his mastery of the English language amazing but his subtle tone and format create an evoking suspense. I found my self pulled into the twisted and emotional world of Dublin and its people. Once I started one of the short stories I couldn't put it down. Each story gave great detail about it characters and its setting. Amazingly enough Joyce never left out a detail. I found myself transported to Dublin in the early 1900s. I became an intimate observer of the people and their actions. I came to know them and their thoughts or at least I thought I did. At the very end of each short story Joyce and his characters seemed to turn on me. They weren't who I thought they were and they revealed a side I didn't know existed. This side was awkward and scary but familiar. These twists gave me a brief insight into the true character of these people. I saw their human qualities; all of them especially the ones we don't want to see. The qualities even we hide from others. Each character in this novel introduces us or reminds us of unique human experiences. From the young to the old each one a new experience that evoke such emotion that its hard for even the strongest of hearts not to be effected. These experiences may not have been all that pleasant but neither was the life in Dublin. Joyce certainly shows that in his stories. But one must remember that the bad experiences are part of life. How are we to know the good unless we experience the bad? In the end some still might find this book to be dull and boring. I know a few and I can only tell them they need to look at it in another light. James Joyce himself said one of the purposes of this novel was to give the Dubliners "one good look at themselves." So in essence Joyce was not only writing a story for entertainment but a documentary for education. All documentaries have three main purposes. The first is to seek to exalt ordinary people in their ordinary experiences. Joyce showed us they were ordinary and sometimes less. Yet he brought them our level or us to theirs' and showed us their human experiences. By doing this we see how they truly are and they also give us insight into our own lives. The second purpose is to give a voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless. Joyce gave the people of Dublin power by giving them a voice. Through this novel the people of Dublin were able to speak out to the world and to show them how life really is for them and perhaps how to avoid such drama in our own lives. The third and final objective of documentaries is more of an idea. The idea that through tribulation we receive transcendence. The characters of this novel certainly did go through tribulation and now that we have record of it and of their humanistic experiences they will never die. We will forever have a record of these people and what they went through. This novel was a masterpiece not only for its writing but also for its insight. I found it to be provocative and suspenseful. I would suggest reading and keeping such a novel forever. So if anyone out there is looking for enlightenment Dubliners is your vessel.
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