The Dead

by

James JOYCE

80 pages

Published in 1914 / 2004,
by Melville House

Read for

Excited to be part of this Reading Challenge on The Art of the Novella, and to be able to post 1 review on Day1! I’m shooting for either 6 or 9 novels, we’ll see how things go.

Not too late to join the Challenge – click on the banner to do so.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

I read parts of Ulysses decades ago, and seeing this novella on the list for this Reading Challenge, I thought that would be a great way of getting reconnected with James Joyce.
I read a lot of positive things about this work, but alas, I have to say my mind must be too obtuse to evaluate what’s great about it. Actually, I read it in June, and instead of writing my review right away and save it as draft to publish it during the Challenge period, which would have been the smartest way of doing it, I waited.
End of July, I had absolutely NO memory what this was about, so I reread it a second time! – so ashamed I will only count it for 1 book though!

After my second reading, I read some literary analysis of the work, to see what I missed, but nothing actually proved me that it was indeed such a great novella.

I did not like the characters at all, and didn’t find their description astounding either.

Well, that’s not a good start for this Challenge, but more and better is coming! Stay tune

WHAT IS IT ABOUT

Here is the description found in Goodreads; no need to say that it is extremely overstated, according to my opinion. I found it neither evocative nor beautiful, I did not feel any emotion nor experienced any epiphany:

“Often cited as the best work of short fiction ever written, Joyce’s elegant story details a New Year’s Eve gathering in Dublin that is so evocative and beautiful that it prompts the protagonist’s wife to make a shocking revelation to her husband, closing the story with an emotionally powerful epiphany that is unsurpassed in modern literature”. [Goodreads]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Do we still need to present James Joyce? If yes, the link should give you some good background information.

I HOPE YOU READ THIS BOOK
AND YOU CAN TELL ME WHAT YOU GOT OUT OF IT,
I AM HONESTLY CURIOUS TO KNOW.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE