The Online Book Club is a monthly feature for San Jose Public Library readers who want to share their thoughts on a chosen book. The books are picked for their local interest and parallels to life in San Jose today. Questions about the book are asked on a weekly basis and we encourage you to post your responses.

For April 2012, Dubliners by James Joyce was decided upon because one of San Jose's sister cities, Dublin, Ireland, presented the book through their library's online book club. Dublin is a large city like San Jose that has undergone constant change, leaving some of the residents bewildered with the choices of life foisted upon them.

Question for Week 1: Who is the most sympathetic and least sympathetic character in Dubliners?

In reading Dubliners, I found no characters without faults, and none that were totally evil. Eveline is very sympathetic, with her trapped life and father taking her hard earned money and spending it in the pubs. Then she meets a man, Frank, who treats her well, but can she break the promise to her deceased mother, to keep the house together? On the dock, preparing to board the boat to Buenos Ayres, (Joyce's spelling), she reaches a painful decision.

There are a number of nominations for the least sympathetic character in Dubliners. In The Two Gallants, Lenehan watches Corley plot to manipulate a young woman into 'borrowing' money, probably from an older relative. Jimmy, in an early auto race story, After the Race, blows some of his parents money showing off to the car owners, but hopefully is wiser after his losing card game. A Painful Case features a rigid Mr. Duffy denying the company of widowed Mrs. Sinico, but then feeling the loneliness of his decision. All of the characters are swept along by their choices; hoping they will change is part of the beauty of Dubliners.

See our Online Book Club page for more information about this book and to preview upcoming questions