Brooklyn: A Novel
by Colm Toibin
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Book Reviews of Brooklyn: A Novel
Book Review: A Monotonous Waste of Time
Summary: 2 Stars
This is the simply written story of a young Irish woman named Eilis Lacey, who leaves Ireland for Brooklyn in the 1950s, for more economic opportunity.
An Irish priest in Brooklyn secures a saleslady position for her in a Downtown Brooklyn department store. He finds a room for her with an older Irish lady who takes in young lady borders. He enrolls her in Brooklyn College night school so she can get a certificate in bookkeeping and eventually secure a higher paying position. She will meet and be courted by a young Italian man. When things seem to be falling into place for Eilis a tragedy recalls her to Ireland where a series of events occur forcing her to make an important decision.
The atmospherics here are handled well. I was born and raised in Brooklyn during the 50s and 60s, and the novel brought back memories despite some errors made in Brooklyn geography. It was this connection to my Brooklyn childhood that drew my attention to this novel in the first place. However, the simplicity of the telling of the story quickly became monotonous and then began grating on my nerves as did Eilis' curious impassivity which leads to her problems. She seems to be moved along in life by other people's decisions, not her own.
Despite the fact that the book jacket promised a surprising denouement, I found it a big disappointment. It is all much ado about nothing. It is difficult for me to believe that the same author who wrote the superb novel, 'The Master' penned this dreary book. What is even more surprising are the laudatory reviews here.
Book Review: Transatlantic read
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
In the immigrant novel there are certain expected devices, and going back and forth is not usually one of them. Not when they are set in the 50's anyway. In this tale the immigrant, a young Irish woman, Eilis Lacey, does go back, and forth. Living out other people's dreams for her, the disjointed nature of Eilis's life is painfully felt both in both places.
She has beaux in America and Ireland, and while much of the plot involves her relationships with these men, I found her relationship to her own life more interesting, her inability to claim authority and responsibility for her own life from the church, the mother, the charming older sister. She allowed herself, her desires, and her place on earth to be perpetually defined by others.
I found myself shouting at the book toward the end, I was so upset with Eilis's lack of willingness to disrupt the flow of events... it rarely happens that I find myself irritated with a character to the point of yelling at a book. Hence the 5 stars; any book that gets me raving is doing its job.
Having been married to an Irish person I know how strong and overbearing social pressure and expectation can be. I am glad that the life I lead avoids much of it, but this novel gave me some empathy for those who live under it.
Book Review: Toibin. He's still got it.
Summary: 4 Stars
Just finished, tonight, a terrific book.
Colm Toibin's latest novel, Brooklyn.
My fourth-read Toibin book, and I have loved them all, including this one.
However... this one was different.
For a while I felt as though I was watching Little House on the Prairie! He is so laid back in this thing. I mean... Toibin is a dynamic writer, and it just seems that he is ski-ing down the hill sideways on this one.
UNTIL YOU GET TO ABOUT PAGE 180 [of a possible 262].
Eilis [' love that name] is this Melissa Gilbert-type character that moves from Ireland to America.
It's the 1950's [or thereabouts].
It's not only that nothing eventful seems to happen, but it's the style that seems to be so [deliberately?] downplayed.
Toibin is one of my favorite writers, really he is. I know that he can be as deep and elaborate as Ian McEwan. It seems that here in Brooklyn, though, he adopted a real down-played style of writing. And yet, it kept me interested.
At times, it was like he was reporting. It was downright Hemingway-esque in its unpretensious journalistic factitiousness. [' Does that even make sense?]
Tolstoyan reality, with Ernest at the keyboard.
But see. I LIKE reality. [And Hemingway, for that matter].
So I liked this book.
And as I say, from page 180 onward, it really picks up.
Several times I had to put the book down, think about my own life.
Wipe my eyes.
To me, that's always a sign of a good book!
Book Review: An emotionally rich story about leaving home and starting over
Summary: 4 Stars
In Colm Toibin's latest novel, Brooklyn, young Eilis Lacey leaves the struggling economy of her small hometown in southeast Ireland to forge a new life in Brooklyn, New York. In unadorned prose, Toibin describes the daily struggles and triumphs of Eilis's life in the unfamiliar, and often inhospitable, urban environment of her new home. In many ways, Eilis's story is a small, insignificant one, but it's one that was repeated thousands of times in the 1940s and 50s. The backdrop of these repetitions, coupled with Toibin's deft use of just the right amount of historical detail, lends resonance to Eilis's journey. The question at the root of Brooklyn, and the one that drives much of the action, is whether it's possible to truly leave home.
This is not a book filled with impressive literary effects. The chronology is simple and the story is familiar. Nevertheless, Toibin's gift for storytelling maintains the momentum, particularly in the last third of the book when Eilis is faced with a difficult decision. Eilis rarely takes initiative, instead merely reacting to what happens around her, including the overtly manipulative actions of stronger characters. Some readers will find Eilis's passivity annoying, but this trait seems a natural result of her sheltered upbringing. A more hard-charging personality wouldn't ring as true. Overall, Brooklyn is an emotionally rich story about leaving home and starting over.
Book Review: Brooklyn, a maturing experience...
Summary: 2 Stars
Colm Toibin's Brooklyn tells the story of Eilis, a young woman who escapes a provincial 1950s Irish upbringing and matures in a Brooklyn rooming house. Having grown up during the 50s a half mile from Ebbet's Field, shopping in the Fulton Street area, and attending Brooklyn College, I enjoyed the nostalgic walk around the block. Oddly, the novel felt 100-200 years older than the 50s, almost a manners tale, not Austen or Dickens in quality of character or plot, but somehow reaching for a little of each. Sensible expectations. The novel ambles along as if World War II never happened, with an ocean crossing depiction reminiscent of turn of the previous century nightmares followed by surprisingly little observation of the post-war Brooklyn environment. It is tempting to say that the novel would have made a better short story, or a better longer novel, but my disappointment is probably not related to the length, but to the lack of theme and focus in the narrative. There are no subplots, and fundamentally Eilis' story seems more suitable to 1st person narration. Was the story about breaking away from confining family or place, immigration, evolving realizations, obeying/breaking the rules, betrayal, achieving aspirations, first love, sexual awakening, cultural/religious differences? All of the above, and unfortunately, none of the above.