Summary of the Summary of the Summary:
A beautifully calm story about love, loss, and identity.
Summary of the Summary:
There are no cliffhangers or any suspense, and it certainly isn't a cliffhanger, but there is something so beautifully calm about Colm Tóibín's writing, it just flows off the page and into your mind like a classical song. Reading his book Brooklyn was like eating a bowl of velvety ice cream, it all just went down so smoothly. His writing is a great advantage to the story, as it is fairly uneventful. The story trucks along well enough and there are plot points, but it is not a thriller and the plot is essentially a following a girl as she adjusts to a new life in America. Overall, the novel does carry some interesting themes of love and identity, and how the two can
be intertwined. There is love of home, love of family, love of work, love of experience, and of course romantic love; and they all shape one's identity in their own ways.
be intertwined. There is love of home, love of family, love of work, love of experience, and of course romantic love; and they all shape one's identity in their own ways.
Summary:
(light spoilers)
(light spoilers)
I thoroughly enjoyed Colm Tóibín's historic novel. It was quiet, smooth, and luxurious. A nice book to read before bed as it didn't get my heart racing or my pulse increasing. It didn't make me want to sleep with the light on or question everyone I know. It was a nice lullaby that still kept my interest. Brooklyn follows the story of Eilis, a girl from a small Irish town who is sent to America by her mother and sister, with the help of a priest, to find better opportunities and make a life for herself. Eilis at first wavers between wanting to be on her own and wanting to go back home to the familiar, but eventually settles in. She holds a steady job, gets a degree in bookkeeping, and finds a nice boy who wants to marry her, seemingly succeeding in her quest for opportunity. But then tragedy strikes, and she returns home to Ireland, only to find everything is different. She again wavers between wanting to return to her new home in America and wanting to be home for her family, and once again settles into a routine she finds hard to leave.
At it's core, Brooklyn is all about love and identity. Eilis appears to love her town in Ireland and reluctantly leaves, thinking she'll lose part of herself and miss her family. While she does miss her family, she makes do without and instead of losing her identity, she gains one outside the shadow of her sister, a popular girl about their Irish town, and her mother. Her American identity is shaped from her Irish roots, her manners, and eventually her relationship with an Italian boy. And when Eilis returns to Ireland, there is suddenly much greater interest in her now that she is exotic and foreign, wearing American clothes and a confident demeanor.
But in Ireland, she begins to lose her American identity, getting swept up in Ireland again, but with a new identity than when she left. She discovers her relationship with her mother was always tense, and now instead of being in the shadow of her sister, she is replacing her. She becomes a ghost of Rose, as people expect the same things of her as they did of Rose and they treat her as if she was Rose, instead of her kid sister. In all this she gets swept up with an Irish boy, who embodies Ireland itself, and she imagines herself staying, leaving the American life behind.
Eilis' love helps shape her identity. She loves Ireland, as it is her home, but loves Brooklyn too for the opportunities it provides. She loves Tony, her American boy, but is scared of the corner he could box her into, and she also loves Jim, her Irish lad, without realizing he is doing the same thing. As Eilis bounces between her love of places, her love of family, and her love of boys, her identity and how she views herself fluctuates, morphing with her views on love.
Ultimately, Eilis must make a choice, and it comes down to identity. As her mother points out to her, she has created (perhaps reluctantly) a permanent identity that cannot be changed, and it is that identity she must embrace and move forward with. She has no other choice.
The novel does pick up a bit when Eilis returns to Ireland, as she makes decisions that actually have stakes and her behavior makes her a bit more controversial and possibly unlikable. This is not a negative, as the book needs, at some point, a little more liveliness to not be a snooze. This third act makes the story less fairy tale and more reality. Additionally, through much of the book Eilis comes across as frigid and unemotional, but she gradually gains warmth as she develops her identity. It is a beautiful story, beautifully told in a beautiful way. It is calm, quiet, and composed. A lovely read I would highly recommend.
Did I convince you? Get it here.
Disclosure: The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase, Amazon sends a couple coins my way. It won't pay the bills, but it may help me purchase my next book to review. Thank you for your support!
At it's core, Brooklyn is all about love and identity. Eilis appears to love her town in Ireland and reluctantly leaves, thinking she'll lose part of herself and miss her family. While she does miss her family, she makes do without and instead of losing her identity, she gains one outside the shadow of her sister, a popular girl about their Irish town, and her mother. Her American identity is shaped from her Irish roots, her manners, and eventually her relationship with an Italian boy. And when Eilis returns to Ireland, there is suddenly much greater interest in her now that she is exotic and foreign, wearing American clothes and a confident demeanor.
But in Ireland, she begins to lose her American identity, getting swept up in Ireland again, but with a new identity than when she left. She discovers her relationship with her mother was always tense, and now instead of being in the shadow of her sister, she is replacing her. She becomes a ghost of Rose, as people expect the same things of her as they did of Rose and they treat her as if she was Rose, instead of her kid sister. In all this she gets swept up with an Irish boy, who embodies Ireland itself, and she imagines herself staying, leaving the American life behind.
Eilis' love helps shape her identity. She loves Ireland, as it is her home, but loves Brooklyn too for the opportunities it provides. She loves Tony, her American boy, but is scared of the corner he could box her into, and she also loves Jim, her Irish lad, without realizing he is doing the same thing. As Eilis bounces between her love of places, her love of family, and her love of boys, her identity and how she views herself fluctuates, morphing with her views on love.
Ultimately, Eilis must make a choice, and it comes down to identity. As her mother points out to her, she has created (perhaps reluctantly) a permanent identity that cannot be changed, and it is that identity she must embrace and move forward with. She has no other choice.
The novel does pick up a bit when Eilis returns to Ireland, as she makes decisions that actually have stakes and her behavior makes her a bit more controversial and possibly unlikable. This is not a negative, as the book needs, at some point, a little more liveliness to not be a snooze. This third act makes the story less fairy tale and more reality. Additionally, through much of the book Eilis comes across as frigid and unemotional, but she gradually gains warmth as she develops her identity. It is a beautiful story, beautifully told in a beautiful way. It is calm, quiet, and composed. A lovely read I would highly recommend.
Did I convince you? Get it here.
Disclosure: The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase, Amazon sends a couple coins my way. It won't pay the bills, but it may help me purchase my next book to review. Thank you for your support!
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