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Dubliners Paperback

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 3,651 ratings

Kindle Storyteller Award 2024
Check out this year's winner: 'Stateside' by J.D KIRK. Read more

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0095GX15G
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0007449402
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007449408
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 3,651 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
3,651 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read with well-written stories and engaging characters. They appreciate the subtle storytelling that provides context for the tales. The book offers an insightful look into Dublin life in the late 19th/early 20th century. Many customers consider it a great value for money and the best work by Joyce. However, some readers find the annotations too many, making it difficult to read.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

73 customers mention ‘Readability’64 positive9 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They appreciate the well-written stories and characters. While some readers find the prose understated, they praise the excellent language and recall wonderful memories of reading it forty years ago.

"...The prose is somewhat understated, with Joyce relying more on the penetrating examination of character rather than any flamboyancy of language or..." Read more

"Joyce at his best and a joy to read. The book is neat and pocket-sized but to achieve this, the typeface is rather small for old eyes!" Read more

"...All is related in rich detail peppered with vernacular, Joyce showing an intimate knowledge of Dublin at the time even though by the time 'Dubliners..." Read more

"...The Dubliners is a worthwhile read if you are interested in the historical development of fiction, but not if you are looking for engaging plots or..." Read more

44 customers mention ‘Story quality’39 positive5 negative

Customers enjoy the stories' subtlety and find them easy to read. They appreciate the honest descriptions and intrigue in the short stories of Dublin life. The book is described as magical and skillfully written.

"...Overall, I found the fully developed stories excellent, while the ones that are primarily character sketches are interesting if not wholly satisfying..." Read more

"...stories and about the author himself, both of which helped to put the stories into context...." Read more

"...But what struck me personally were the parallels between the events Joyce describes and some my own past experiences - so for me these accounts have..." Read more

"...drawn characters, draw you into the streets of Dublin and show you glimpses of their lives. James Joyce tells a good story." Read more

16 customers mention ‘Character development’16 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development. They find the characters interesting and real, giving a great insight into Irish culture at the turn of the 20th century. The book provides realistic portrayals of Dublin that are worth reading.

"Well-drawn characters, draw you into the streets of Dublin and show you glimpses of their lives. James Joyce tells a good story." Read more

"...It is, of course, that characters that provide this vibrancy...." Read more

"...observations of the man who went on to write some of the finest works in Irish literature...." Read more

"...and you can sometimes feel you are actually immersed in the lives of the characters...." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Insight’7 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's insights into Dublin life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The characters are well-drawn, bringing readers into the streets of Dublin. The author understands how society intermixed at that time. Readers also appreciate the social commentary and insight into the minds of the characters.

"...each one has a sense of total authenticity, of a deep understanding of how this society intermixes...." Read more

"Well-drawn characters, draw you into the streets of Dublin and show you glimpses of their lives. James Joyce tells a good story." Read more

"...the short stories as it broke the book down nicely and gives you an insight into Dublin life in the late 19th/early 20th century...." Read more

"I liked the book because it gave me an excellent insight into live in Ireland towards the end of the nineetenth centuary and the beginning of the..." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Value for money’7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book offers good value for money. They say it's a nice edition and a good free version without critical referencing but very readable.

"...them to listen whilst doing other things, this is for you - an absolute bargain!" Read more

"...This is a lovely edition and great value for money" Read more

"...Great ending story of course. A good free version without any critical referencing but very readable." Read more

"Beautiful hardback edition at an incredibly low price. I really enjoyed reading this book." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Joyce’4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book. They say it's the best Joyce has written.

"Joyce at his best and a joy to read. The book is neat and pocket-sized but to achieve this, the typeface is rather small for old eyes!" Read more

"Joyce is a genius and he wrote Dubliners at the age of only 24 ! Each story a gem. However quality of binding for book could be better!" Read more

"Obviously Joyce is wonderful. However, this edition is not...." Read more

"A must-read for all bookworms. Best James Joyce of them all." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Read time’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read in about 15-20 minutes. They appreciate the relevant themes and fast service.

"...Taking about 15-20 minutes to read, each story deals with a theme that's relevant today and the majority of the stories are gripping - you want to..." Read more

"...Read slowly, a story at a time one can feel the Dublin drizzle on the face, hear the bar room gossip, smell the porter and be transported back to a..." Read more

"Great copy, very fast service! Thank you!" Read more

"Excellent service and product..." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Annotations’0 positive3 negative

Customers find the annotations in the book excessive and difficult to read. They mention that there are too many notes in the preface, which can make words difficult to understand.

"fast delivery. the product was all right, too many notes in the preface, some problems in reading words. the other part of the book was perfct." Read more

"Heavily annotated - wouldn’t consider this ‘good’ quality. (Review of seller not book itself)." Read more

"Item is heavily marked, much text underlined with multiple annotations making it hard to read. Was obviously used as a school text book. What a shame." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2016
    Joyce's collection of 15 stories takes the reader through the various strata of Dublin society of the early years of the twentieth century. The prose is of a uniformly high standard, though some of the pieces are too fragmentary and unresolved to be fully satisfying. When Joyce does tell a story, though, he tells it excellently, making me rather regret that he didn't use standard prose and story-telling techniques more often.

    The sum of the collection is greater than its individual parts, however, so that even the shorter character sketches add something to the reader's understanding of Dublin and its citizens. Despite the wide range of class and circumstance Joyce addresses, each one has a sense of total authenticity, of a deep understanding of how this society intermixes. There is a common theme running throughout, of people trapped, either by circumstance or because of decisions they have made, and many of the stories focus on a moment in the central characters' lives when they become aware of their trap. Drunkenness, violence and the stifling stranglehold of the Catholic church all play their part in showing a society where aspiration is a rare commodity, usually thwarted. I understand some of the stories were considered shocking at the time for their language and sexual content. Given the relative mildness of them to modern eyes, this fact in itself casts another light on how socially restricted the society was at the time of writing.

    The prose is somewhat understated, with Joyce relying more on the penetrating examination of character rather than any flamboyancy of language or stylistic quirks, and that works well for me. He achieves a depth of characterisation with few words, acknowledging his reader's ability to interpret and understand without the need to have everything spelled out. Just occasionally, this left me floundering a little in the couple of stories where he is addressing contemporary Irish politics or mores, but I accept that's my weakness rather than his. In the stories where he is addressing more fundamental aspects of human nature, I appreciated his rather sparing style greatly.

    Overall, I found the fully developed stories excellent, while the ones that are primarily character sketches are interesting if not wholly satisfying. However, as a collection, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, the weaker parts being more than compensated for by the stronger.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2024
    Joyce at his best and a joy to read. The book is neat and pocket-sized but to achieve this, the typeface is rather small for old eyes!
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2013
    I needed this book for part of a module I was studying for an OU English Literature degree, and this version of the book was part of the set text. This version of the book has an introduction that explains more about the background to the stories and about the author himself, both of which helped to put the stories into context.

    Many of these stories, set in Dublin, deal with poverty and social inertia in the early twentieth century; the social inertia and some of the causes for it is illustrated especially in 'The Boarding House' and 'Eveline'. Some deal with the way people use each other, again driven by inertia and desperation as in 'Two Gallants' or just out of greed as in 'After the Race'. There is both the unlovely face of humanity such as the man in 'An Encounter', and nostalgia in 'The Dead'. All is related in rich detail peppered with vernacular, Joyce showing an intimate knowledge of Dublin at the time even though by the time 'Dubliners' was written he no longer lived there. As social commentary on a certain time and place from a certain perspective, 'Dubliners' has passed into classical literature with it's mixture of bleakness and nostalgia for a time of depression in Ireland's history.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2013
    The Dubliners is a series of vignettes depicting ordinary life in Edwardian Dublin.

    Joyce is viewed as one of the pivotal authors of the twentieth century, at the vanguard of modernism. Ulysees is often quoted as the principal example of stream of consciousness. Modernism itself focused on what was going on in the inner world rather than the external. In many ways, therefore, The Dubliners is disappointing. With the exception of The Dead, the stories don't really examine motive or psychology, they are rather observational in style and leave the reader to guess at the inner lives of the characters involved. Whilst the dialogue is crisp and enviable the narrative borders on the expositional and in places this makes for dull reading.

    The Dead is the exception, a beautifully crafted and simple but moving story, different because one is very much in the head of Gabriel the main protagonist.

    The Dubliners is a worthwhile read if you are interested in the historical development of fiction, but not if you are looking for engaging plots or character analysis.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars Arrived damaged
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on 6 June 2024
    Book came covered in something sticky that can not be removed with water or degreaser
    Customer image
    Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars Arrived damaged
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on 6 June 2024
    Book came covered in something sticky that can not be removed with water or degreaser
    Images in this review
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  • Laura
    5.0 out of 5 stars Libro perfecto para B2 EOI
    Reviewed in Spain on 26 November 2023
    Libro con actividades en cada capítulo.
  • ecnrb
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dubliners
    Reviewed in Brazil on 25 November 2019
    James Joyce para ser apreciado. Detalhe para o conto "The Dead", mote para último grande filme de Jonh Huston, com sua filha Anjelica, em 1987.
  • N S
    5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
    Reviewed in Canada on 11 May 2019
    Used this for an English class.
  • Preeti
    5.0 out of 5 stars Travel friendly,pretty,little edition.
    Reviewed in India on 31 March 2020
    #macmillan Collector's Library Edition :
    Alike all Booklovers I have a common interest of exploring different kinds of edition.well,I found this 'Macmillan Collector's Library' edition a year ago and bought one for a mere experiment and oh my God ! it's a tiny little pastle-colored hardcover edition that's look really cute😍. Now I've two books of this edition(Dubliners by James Joyce & A Midsummer Night's Dream by william Shakespeare).All books of this edition come with this same kind of sky blue(as I don't know the exact name of this shade😝)and golden colored dust cover( and underneath the cover the same sky blue shade Clothbound, carved with some floral designs) .

    Now it's time to peek inside the book and as you open it you'll find two beautiful pastle-colored leafy printed pages before & after the text which I love the most 😍.The quality of the bright white pages with golden shiny edges are good enough and the glossy ribbon is an addition to the beauty of the book. You can carry books of this edition anytime anywhere.

    The only flaw of this edition is it's small fonts. But I can consider that, it's an adorable chhotu edition .❤ .#macmillancollectorslibrary