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Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Review of The Boarding House by James Joyce

This book review was written by Eugene Kernes   

Book can be found in: 
Genre = Novel
Intriguing Connections = Get To Know The Peoples Of The World (Ireland)


Watch Short Review

Review

Is This An Overview?

Mrs. Mooney leaves Mr. Mooney after Mr. Mooney threatened Mrs. Mooney.  Mrs. Mooney sets up a boarding house.  A boarding house which Mrs. Mooney’s daughter, Polly, works in.  Mrs. Mooney was respectful of Polly’s independence.  But flirtations between Polly and the guests leads to an affair, leading to Mrs. Mooney’s intervention.  Within their community, there would be problems with reputation should the affair become public, therefore the incident required reparations.  What were the reparations?

Questions to Consider while Reading the Book

•What is the raison d’etre of the book?  For what purpose did the author write the book?  Why do people read this book?
•What are some limitations of the book?
•To whom would you suggest this book?
•Who is Mrs. Mooney?
•What is a boarding house?
•Why does Polly work in the boarding house?
•How does Polly behave?
•What are the reparations for?
•What is the reparation?

Book Details
Publisher:               Bantam Dell [Random House]
Edition ISBN:         9780553213805
Pages to read:          209
Publication:             2005
1st Edition:              1914
Format:                    Paperback

Ratings out of 5:
Readability    2
Content          2
Overall          2