Reviews

Brooklyn, by Colm Tóibín

carolynf's review

3.0

An enjoyable read, without much of a story arc. The whole book begins with a young woman in her 20s in Ireland, living with her sister and mother, until she is pushed to move to America for better employment opportunities. The rest of the book takes place over a span of two years, just her living and working and studying in Brooklyn and trying to figure out herself and the people she meets. It is set in the 1950s, but you don't really get a lot of 1950s references, other than bullet bras and people freaking out about nylons going on sale. Really nothing much happens, although things do get complicated once she gets a boyfriend. But in spite of the slow pace it is still an interesting read due to how introspective the main character is.

christiek's review

3.0

I thought this was fairly ho-hum enjoyable tale until about the last 75 pages and then I saw where it was going. The tension became so high for me I had to read that last page before I could go back and finish. I've never done that before. That this character dragged me through so much worry and tension, was a whole new experience and colored the rest of the book for me. I think I enjoyed it.

annahelmig's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

brinastewart's review against another edition

3.0

So, This was a book club pick and I would not have read it if it wasn't. It didn't take long to get me interested in Eilis' life and where the story was going to take me. However, there are a couple of things: 1) it is short, 2) the author began a couple of side story lines that he didn't expand on you use for anything, it became pointless to even mention it, and 3) the blurbs mislead me such as the one that said it was a good story of Eilis maturing and finding herself..., I did not think she matured at all. The last part if the book had her being naive, immature, and inconsistent.

I had hope up until the last part. I don't necessarily regret reading it, I just expected more.

schylermartin's review

5.0

This book left me feeling melancholy and optimistic and mournful and inspired and above all, conflicted, and I liked that about it, because that's how life is, I think. It's never just one feeling. It's all about the multitudes. The highs and lows rarely exist independently. They blur together, the lines running so closely beside each other that they merge into one beautiful, consuming, confusing emotion. I'll revisit this book a lot when I need to remember that often it isn't about making the right choice, because sometimes there isn't a right choice or a wrong choice; there's just a choice, and what's important is making it and doing your best to move forward from there.

ktcarlston's review

3.0

I haven't seen the movie but I want to- but I thought I would read the book first. I can't help but think that the movie is so well acclaimed that they must have done some plot twists because we it all lays out in the book- the protagonist seemed like a sort of selfish twit in a lot of ways.

marieweitzel77's review

4.0

I read this book over a couple of days over winter break and it just feels really nice to do that with a fictional non-textbook book. Towards the middle and the end of the book I was really captivated by the story, especially the romance between the Irish girl and the Italian boy and found it believable and sweet. The ending was suspenseful and due to the plot twist I don’t think the author gave enough time to adequately tie up the ends and give a satisfying ending to Ellis returning to America somewhat more because she was found out rather than she truly loved Tony. As others said the movie handled that a lot better than the book in that case.

lazygal's review

4.0

Every year I vow I'm going to read more of the Booker short list and every year I fail to do so: here's one reason why everyone should be reading from that list.

Toibin's portrait of Eilis, an Irish girl in a small town with few prospects (for her or the town) is one of those quiet books - no great action sequences, just an ordinary person going about her ordinary life. Her sister arranges for her to go to America, to Brooklyn, and Eilis rather meekly goes; when her sister dies, Eilis goes back to Ireland. It was surprising to me that she actually does return to Brooklyn and her life in America, because she really is a very passive person.

The part of Brooklyn she lives and works in is the area I lived in, and the changes from the 50s (Irish) through the early 90s (still rather Italian, but more yuppies moving in) were interesting. I also liked the way the integration of the Fulton Mall area was handled.

aurawn's review

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

wlpadilla's review

3.0

I enjoyed reading this book but kept expecting a conflict or some sort of significant issue to arise. Besides the tragic death of her sister the book was pretty even keel- with not a lot of high or low emotional points. The main character's lack of a personality, ability to make her own choices, and reactive instead of proactive actions are infuriating. There were a lot of things that bothered me about this character and even though the book wasn't fantastic I do think it would be interesting to read as a book club. If only to discuss Eilis and her decisions (or lack thereof)