Book Review: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

 

Another adventure in listening to books in the car as opposed to listening to the radio..and this adventure was:

 

Courtesy of Goodreads.com:

"Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America -- to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood "just like Ireland" -- she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.

Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love with Tony, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future."

  

I wrote "sweet, uncertain, and beautifully (yet simply) written. I loved it." as my Goodreads review, and it's true. That's exactly what I thought of it. I've heard many people talk about it's simple nature. It's "cardboard cut out characters" and it's lack of a fast pace.

And I don't necessarily disagree with them.

Most of the time though, when I listen to a book as opposed to reading it, I'm drawn into it. It all becomes more alive, more real as I'm being lulled into the story. 

I like a good "coming of age" story - I've always been drawn to them. I guess that's why I'm still reading YA Fiction instead of moving onto classics (that's what you're supposed to be reading at my age apparently..)

It was sweet, but slow.

It was uncertain, but there was hope.

It was simple, but you had the desire to finish it.

And it was beautifully written. 

That's all. The end.

 

“In this waking time his presence, once so solid, lacked any substance or form; it was merely a shadow at the edge of every moment of the day and night.” 

It just reminds me of people that have come in and out of your life. They were once such a part, but now it almost feels like phantom limb. They don't help you anymore. They start to not matter as much. Life goes on. On and on. 

“In the morning, she was not sure that she had slept as much as lived a set of vivid dreams, letting them linger so that she would not have to open her eyes and see the room.” 

I think we've all had that moment. Regardless of circumstances.

 “She has gone back to Brooklyn,' her mother would say. And, as the train rolled past Macmire Bridge on its way towards Wexford, Eilis imagined the years already when these words would come to mean less and less to the man who heard them and would come to mean more and more to herself. She almost smiled at the thought of it, then closed her eyes and tried to imagine nothing more.”

SPOILER ALERT: this is the last sentence of the story. And it didn't exactly end like I thought it would - but I think the beautiful part of it was that after all she had been through, she was able to make a decision and go when she needed to. 

I'm thinking of getting rid of this part of my review..because it's not like I have real reasons every time. You just should. I think I'd stick with the audio book for this one though. And I'm looking forward to seeing the movie finally too! I'll let you know what I think of it too :)

C