Long Island by Colm Toibin

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Twenty or so years have passed (since Brooklyn), and we find Eilis still married to Tony, with two lovely teenaged children, sharing a tiny cul-de-sac on Long Island with Tony’s parents and his brothers and their families. This excessive closeness might not be so terrible if it weren’t for the sudden, unexpected visitor that appears at Eilis’s door one day, bringing with him a threat that upends her entire life. With this startling news and its implications, Eilis gradually learns two things: one, that there are no secrets in Tony’s family ever, and two, that she has no true allies among them. As she realizes that she must take matters into her own hands, she slowly tries to plot how she will cope. How she manages and her next steps will change her life and the lives of her whole family.

In this installment of the series, we see Eilis finally taking a stand, finding her red line. She has matured and grown stronger, even as she is treated so poorly by the family around her, including her husband. They lie to her, disrespect her, and treat her as an outsider. She learns the hard way that she cannot trust any of them. But she perseveres, trying to maintain some degree of sanity in order to hold on to her status as the mother of her children, knowing that if she deserts them, she will lose them (that she has few rights in the eyes of the law, especially at that time). And that the family will double-cross her, even though she is the one who has been wronged. So she is stealthy, strategic, smart.

The plot is also more intriguing, taking us back to Ireland, winding us back in time, as her old flame is reignited. But it’s much more complicated now. Lives have moved on, relationships have formed and Eilis is walking into a web of complex emotional ties. How she balances her own desires with her children’s welfare and her family’s internal drama keeps the story moving and the reader engaged.

I definitely found this one to be more engaging and less frustrating. Worth the work!

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Eilis is frustrated. She is smart, ambitious, and hard-working, just like her older sister, but she cannot find a suitable job here in her small, Irish town. Although she can ignore the remarks from even her closest friends about her part-time job bagging groceries for an ornery, miserly, even patronizing local shopkeeper, her sister cannot. And before she knows it, Eilis is being sent overseas to America to start a new life for herself in New York. What she encounters there – the challenges, the excitement, the novelties, and the growth – will change the course of her life forever. And it will also forever change the way she sees the small Irish town she has called home.

This is one of those books that was built up for me ahead of time, so my expectations were high and unfortunately not entirely met. This book was compelling and fairly well-written, but I found myself not overwhelmingly fond of the main character, Eilis. While I felt compassion for her, her disorientation and frustration with being thrust into this new world, I also felt she was frequently passive, dishonest, and condescending toward those around her. She was not someone I’d actually want to hang out with… So it was with a bit of detachment that I read her otherwise interesting journey through the streets of Brooklyn.

I am not giving up on her, though! My next read is Long Island, as you might have noticed, which is the next in this series by Colm Toibin. I am hoping it gets better and that I come to like her more. Let’s see what happens…

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Eilis, a young woman who lives with her mother and sister, has a good head for math and dreams of being a bookkeeper, but cannot seem to find a job in her home town in Ireland.  When an Irish priest from Brooklyn, NY comes to visit the town, he notices Eilis and promises to take her under his wing and help her get to Brooklyn where there are more opportunities.  Eilis struggles with the different culture and the absence of her family, but in many ways she is very successful.  When she is confronted with a serious trauma in her family, her newfound confidence is tested and she must prove herself once again.

The beauty of this book is the writing, which is uniquely simple, calm and straight-forward.  There is little description, but everything is depicted clearly enough to visualize it all.  There are certainly facts to the story but it is also filled with the thoughts and conjecture that Eilis has.  It is a pure and intelligent writing style that is easy to read and flows smoothly.

The story is also valuable as a history lesson.  It is the immigrant experience of a lone newcomer to a foreign land where everything is different, from the foods to the clothing styles, to the basic customs and it is an adjustment at each and every step.  Even as Eilis has support from the priest who sponsored her, she still has to cope with the judgement of those around her and she struggles with this.  It is really the story of all Americans, as most of us have been or come from immigrants, no matter how many generations ago.