Brooklyn: A Novel
by Colm Toibin
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Book Reviews of Brooklyn: A Novel
Book Review: Not prize-worthy
Summary: 2 Stars
I would have enjoyed this novel when I was 12 or 13 years old, but was disappointed by its endless stream of short declarative sentences and its lack of authentic character development. The story could have been interesting if any of the plot points had been developed; for example, a woman who wants to work rather than marry; an Irish woman learning about the Holocaust for the first time; the tension between Irish and Italian Catholics despite their shared religion; or the difficulty in making a choice between one's family obligations and personal fulfillment.
"Brooklyn" also fails to capture the feeling of either rural Ireland or urban Brooklyn in the 1950's. I would have liked a more thorough exploration of Nelly Kelly's grocery store, or either of the Catholic churches, and what they meant to the characters. The department store was interesting as an early site of African-American economic importance, but the description lacked the vitality that a truly great novelist can convey. I am thinking of the scene in "Middlesex" when Jeffrey Eugenides describes the factory floor in Detroit, and the words have the rhythm of the assembly line. Colm Toibin is no Jeffrey Eugenides!
This might be a good book to read aloud to a pre-teen or young teenager, and then have in-depth discussions about the issues that are raised. I can imagine listening to it during a long car trip with my teenage sons, when it would give us the basis for discussions about history, culture, religion, and feminism.
If you're looking for a book that will engage you and change your life, I recommend "Sacred Hunger", "Middlesex", or even "The Pursuit of Love." In each of these cases, there is more substance, and the writing is superior to that of "Brooklyn".
Book Review: A minor addition to Toibin's work
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Colm Toibin, most famous for his Booker Prize shortlist and LA Times Book Prize winning novel The Master, has set his latest novel in both Ireland and New York in the years following World War II. Eilis is a young, passive Irish woman whose older sister and widowed mother to arrange for her to emigrate to the United States so she'll have a chance at making a decent living away from the crushed, postwar UK economy. She arrives alone in Brooklyn, with a job and a room secured for her by a priest. There, on her own and finding love with an unlikely suitor, Eilis begins a transformation into a more independent-minded woman.
This novel is a breezy, quick read, and some of the historical details are interesting. Unfortunately, the substance of this novel is thin, without complex characterization and issues. Toibin uses a broad brush to portray the New York of the time and often fails to bring the setting alive. Because of the simple prose and the basic, not-very-compelling plot, it reads as a Nancy Drew novel without the mystery. I found it difficult to care what happened to Eilis because she never felt real; Toibin seems to have used her as a device for exploring a particular time and setting. More memorable are Eilis's brothers, particularly Jack, who deserves a novel of his own.
This novel will likely disappoint Toibin fans and readers who like denser fiction, but its accessible prose and love-interest plot will be appreciated by some.
Book Review: Beautifully Written..
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Brooklyn" A young Irish woman named Eilis Lacey receives the chance of a lifetime-to live and work in Brooklyn,a borough of NYC. She is reluctant at first but with unmeployment being rampant in her town & urgued on by both her glamourous,older sister,Rose & Father Flood,the Parish Priest visting from Brooklyn, who provides her with the chance to go to America ,Eilis decides to take an ocean liner for life in a strange new country. The trip itself is no picnic,with Elilis coming down with major sea-sickness in her small third-class cabin,but her more worldly but kindhearted bunkmate gives her advice about how to over-come it(as well as fashion advice for when she lands) & soon she soon finds herself docking at New York's Harbor. Once there,she has to deal with the other girls in her rooming house,the nosy land-lady & tedious job at department store selling stockings to equally bored women as well as the new "Colored" customers who turn out to be much nicer (as well as better dressed) than first expected. When Eilis becomes homesick,Father Flood aranges for her to take book-keeping classes and she gradually finds her place,as well as a boyfriend,an Italian-American named Tony whom shes meets at a neighborhood dance. Then she gets some shocking news from home Ok,it doesn't sound like much,but through the author's spare but effective writing,I found myself getting completely caught up in this story. Small,telling details are interspersed through-out the book and the ending had me in suspense. No,this is not a big,sweeping tale,but a realistic,hearfelt one that,if you give it a chance,will stay with you after you've finished it and want to share it with others,and would make a fine Book Club Selection.Book Review: The Loneliness of Being Far From Home
Summary: 4 Stars
Colm Toibin writes about people who are displaced, whether from their inner lives, society or by physical distance. In Brooklyn, he captures what must have been the experience for literally millions of Irish-Americans, when he tells the story of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish girl whose family sends her to America because they believe she will have a better life. I read the book in one day, and found it to be achingly poignant. Anyone who is Irish will recognize the stories in this book; anyone whose grandparents or ancestors were immigrants will finally understand exactly what they went through.
I have a couple of criticisms of the book. Any male author who writes about a woman cannot truly capture her innermost thoughts, nor could a female author really know what men believe. In this sense, Brooklyn suffered from a sense of dispassion. Things are happening to Eilis that would be earth shattering for many women, especially after WWII, when it was still very unusual for women to travel so far alone. Likewise, the growth that Eilis experiences after she arrives in America would prompt a woman to react more emotionally than Eilis does in these pages. She struck me as slightly more analytical and unfeeling than woman in her situation might be.
Also, I would have loved the book to have been longer. There's so much to know about Ireland at the time, Brooklyn at the time, America at the time. Toibin puts a lot into the book and leaves it to the reader to do their own exploration. But these shortcomings do not detract from beautiful writing, a lovely story and a character that I could see and touch in my mind's eye. Another well-done book by an author who easily rivals Ian McEwan.
Book Review: A quiet pleasure
Summary: 4 Stars
Brooklyn is the story of an Irish girl called Eilis who moves from Ireland to Brooklyn in the 1950s in search of work. When she arrives in Brooklyn she's homesick at first, but gradually she finds her feet. She gets a job working in a department store, studies bookkeeping in the evenings and starts a relationship with a man she meets at a dance. Then things come to a head and she needs to make a decision whether her future lies in the US or Ireland.
Eilis is a very passive character. If there's a way to avoid making decisions or taking action, that's what she'll do. Almost everything that she does is arranged for her: moving to America, where she lives, where she works, what she studies. Again and again she finds people to take care or her or make decisions for her, although interestingly she simultaneously holds them at arm's length. She can be irritatingly reserved. For example, early in the novel she goes to a dance with a friend. A man doesn't talk to her and she thinks he's rude. So rather than making the effort to strike up a conversation, she leaves.
So it's slow and there's no major action. Despite this, I found the book quite compelling and hard to put down, although I can also see why someone may not like it. It slowed me down and drew me in. I felt like I was seeing life through her eyes. The people she met all felt real, the situations all felt true. It's a short book but it feels totally satisfying. Like eating a meal slowly and really thinking about the tastes and textures in your mouth. It's a simple story, but it gets under your skin and stays with you.