Dubliners

It feels a little silly to give a rating to one of the masters of 20th century literature, but that's exactly what I'm here to do. Dubliners is 15 short stories portraying life in Dublin around the turn of the century. Joyce uses his slight, mundane portraits of everyday people to reveal deeper insights about his country and the spirit of the time. They all leave you thinking rather than provide answers, and the simplicity of the prose belies a mastery of language. Reading this, I got the sense that Joyce placed every sentence, maybe every word, with great consideration and intentionality. It does kind of feel like it exists to be analyzed in English classes, which speaks to its enduring influence on literature. I also didn't fully relate to/understand some of its Irishisms. That said, neither of these are faults of the book. This is clearly a masterpiece. I'll get around to reading Ulysses someday.