Dubliners (Blackstone Edition)

By: James Joyce

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

In his first published work in prose, James Joyce paints vivid portraits of the people of Dublin, his city of birth, in a collection of stories whose larger purpose, he said, was to depict a "moral history of Ireland". From the first story, in which a young boy encounters death, to the haunting final story involving the middle-aged Gabriel, the book gives an unflinching and realistic portrayal of "dear, dirty Dublin" in the early 20th-century. This brilliant study is by turns bawdy and witty, but always darkened by a paralysis of spirit and emotions.(P)1992 Blackstone Audiobooks

Sometimes Davidson works, sometimes not

As I've said elsewhere, Frederick Davidson is an acquired taste. Frederick Davidson doing "Irish" is beyond my capabilities at the moment. It's a spirited reading, as his usually are, but there are better readings of this book available on Audible. (The one by Jim Norton is one; the one that uses a different Irish author or actor for each story is another.)