I came to this story with no background which would help me understand it. I'm not a literature major, nor an Irish language enthusiast, nor an Irish history enthusiast. I like good writing, and good stories. This is both, but if you are looking for a plot, or completion with a wrapped up ending, it is not that. It is a book of conversations. Conversations of the dead who are in the cemetery.

This book was depressing in some ways for me. Imagine having to spend eternity listening to trivialities of all those in the graveyard; never do they grow or learn, it is a closed, endless, loop, like a cocktail party in Hell. It was very interesting however, to watch the writer develop the personalities of each resident to the point where the reader knew who was speaking simply by what they said. Their words defined them. There are no descriptive passages, only dialogue. One gets an idea of their lives through what they say and what their neighbors say in response.

I puzzled to find meaning in the story. What I came up with is this: It is a treatise on the ridiculous nature of humankind. It was interesting for culture, history and the craft of the writer. I won't read it again, but I'm not sorry I've read it because I find that it sticks with me and causes me to ponder about Life, the Universe and Everything.

I read the version with the title "Graveyard Clay" translated by Liam Mac Con Iomaire and Tim Robinson. Great introductory material. ( )

I really wanted to like this book...and really struggled to finish it. I love the premise: that the dead continue to talk (and bitch and moan) just like they did before is hilarious. And that the main character does not have a gravestone and they keep dumping more bodies on top of her unmarked grave is even better.

The unidentified speakers didn’t bother me as much as it appears to have bothered other reviewers. But I did get to a point where there was just a certain sameness to what was being presented; while I wasn’t expecting “action” some manner of variation would have been nice. Or maybe it needed to be shorter...?
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The Dirty Dust is a book set in the West of Ireland in the 1940s. World War II is going on but more important for the characters are the goings on in their small town. Through the book the individuals discuss what is happening and gossip about their friends, neighbours and enemies. The twist is that all this takes place in the graveyard as the protagonists are all dead!
The concept of the Dirty Dust is unusual and works well. The author is able to give each of the characters their own individual voice which works well. All in all an enjoyable book. ( )

I was utterly uninterested in this when I started it. Eventually, I was almost engaged but the idea of just the mainly unidentified voices talking in the graveyard did nothing for me. I would have preferred just a tiny bit of plot line to actually figure out a bit who everyone was.

A brutally boring read. The only possible payoff for such a sustained meandering chorus of pissing and moaning would be a heavy dose of Irish humor. It is either missing or has been far lost in translation. ( )