Critic, Sue Arnold, reviewed this collection of James Joyce's Dubliners stories as read by TP for The Guardian.
She was always a loyal admirer of TP's works and would flag up his name on even the briefest of recordings:
She was always a loyal admirer of TP's works and would flag up his name on even the briefest of recordings:
"Maybe I'm biased (I went to Trinity College Dublin), but if you're looking for the single short story collection that epitomises the skill, subtlety, diversity and sheer brilliance of the genre, this has to be it. Season the mix with the voice of one of the greatest Irish actors ever, and you're talking about a true classic. The 15 stories vary in length. "Eveline" is hardly more than a perfectly focused snapshot of a young woman's last-minute change of mind. "The Dead", almost a novella, describes with extraordinary clarity the relatively inconsequential events in a single evening leading to Mr Gabriel Conroy's epiphany that if you are without passion, as he is, you may as well be dead. Tourists to Dublin sign on for city tours to acquaint them with its sights and sounds; you'd do better listening to TP McKenna bringing to life Joyce's huge cast of widows, priests, con men, lovers, officials, schoolboys playing truant and impressively articulate tramps circa 1900. Here's Lily the housemaid's summary dismissal of a guest who has inquired about her love life. "The girl glanced back at him over her shoulder and said with great bitterness: 'The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you'." No change there, then. If Joyce's legendary difficulty has put you off reading him, this is a good one to start with."
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