A review by marshmallowbooks
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
3.0
I liked this book and I am eager to see the movie. I love pretty much anything Ireland, and this is about an Irish girl embarking on her own from her hometown to find here way in Brooklyn in the 1950's.
While I did like the story, I kind of wish someone else would take a stab at writing it. This is the first I've read by Colm Toibin. I don't know if this is his style, or if the situation was specific to this book only. What I found was the prose was a bit jerky, with short, blunt sentences. It's written in a way that made me imagine the characters themselves moving jerkily, in an almost robotic fashion. That got in the way of my enjoying the book a little bit.
I also wish that more had been done with the ending. A lot happens at the end of the book with Eilis trying to figure out what to do with two options that are available to her. We read a lot about what goes on in her head and her dilemma of trying to choose and make the best choice. Of course the book ends with her making a selection, but the book ends basically with, "And that's what Eilis chose." It's not a cliffhanger for a sequel, but I really would have appreciated another chapter or two, or an epilogue at the very least, to wind things down a little more satisfactorily. It's like I was following Eilis closely around as she went through her experience, and all of a sudden, when I was still just one step behind her, she walked through a clearly marked door where I'm thinking we'll get to the conclusion of the story. however, instead of being able to cross the threshold into that last room myself, the door is closed behind Eilis, and I'm left there just to know the gist of the ending.
While I did like the story, I kind of wish someone else would take a stab at writing it. This is the first I've read by Colm Toibin. I don't know if this is his style, or if the situation was specific to this book only. What I found was the prose was a bit jerky, with short, blunt sentences. It's written in a way that made me imagine the characters themselves moving jerkily, in an almost robotic fashion. That got in the way of my enjoying the book a little bit.
I also wish that more had been done with the ending. A lot happens at the end of the book with Eilis trying to figure out what to do with two options that are available to her. We read a lot about what goes on in her head and her dilemma of trying to choose and make the best choice. Of course the book ends with her making a selection, but the book ends basically with, "And that's what Eilis chose." It's not a cliffhanger for a sequel, but I really would have appreciated another chapter or two, or an epilogue at the very least, to wind things down a little more satisfactorily. It's like I was following Eilis closely around as she went through her experience, and all of a sudden, when I was still just one step behind her, she walked through a clearly marked door where I'm thinking we'll get to the conclusion of the story. however, instead of being able to cross the threshold into that last room myself, the door is closed behind Eilis, and I'm left there just to know the gist of the ending.