Dubliners

From James Joyce, I had already read "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", of which I have not kept an imperishable memory. I've decided nonetheless upon reading Dubliners, a collection of short stories set in Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century.
Each story traces the steps of a child, a mother, a student or a man in some part of is life. It's often about a turning point in their lives, or about their awareness of their condition. The tone is always neutral, only stating facts, never taking sides, never caring to bring an explanation. Joyce also doesn't bother to answer all the questions he raises during the stories.
For all these reasons, I've not been able to be interested in more than three pages in a row, no more than in the Irish identity he keeps droning about. Well, I guess I'm not litterary enough to understand his works, and I'm now done with Joyce...