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Brooklyn
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Brooklyn (2009) (edit title/settings)

by Colm Tóibín (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking, Colm Tóibín's sixth novel, "Brooklyn," is set in Brooklyn and Ireland in the early 1950s, when one young woman crosses the ocean to make a new life for herself.

Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two.... read more

Summary edit see section history

Very thoughtful book on choices we make and how we are affected by them. I really liked this book and enjoyed reading about Eilis (Eye-Leash). The writing was descriptive and I could picture the various scenes. This is an emotional book. The reader may not choose what Eilis did, but we... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Very thoughtful book on choices we make and how we are affected by them. I really liked this book and enjoyed reading about Eilis (Eye-Leash). The writing was descriptive and I could picture the various scenes. This is an emotional book. The reader may not choose what Eilis did, but we have each had situations happen to us in life that speak to our loneliness, ache for love and growing up. I would definitely recommend this book to any book clubs out there. Lots to talk about and ponder.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Although Miss Kelly paid Eilis only seven and sixpence a week for working on Sundays, she often sent Mary to fetch her at other times - once when she wanted to get her hair done without closing the shop and once when she wanted all the tins on the shelves taken down and dusted and then replaced. Each time she gave Eilis two shillings but kept her for hours, complaining about Mary whenever she could. Each time also, as she left, Miss Kelly handed Eilis a loaf of bread, which Eilis new was stale, to give to her mother.”
  • “As soon as ten o'clock mass was over people began to call by. Father Flood had filled one of the tables with glasses and bottles of lemonade and sweets for the children. He made everyone who came in, including the women with fresh hairdos, put on a paper hat. Thus as the men began to arrive to spend all of Christmas Day in the hall they were barely noticed among the crowd. It was only later, after midday, when the visitors began to disperse, that they could be seen clearly, some of them sitting alone with a bottle of stout in front of them, others huddled in groups, many of them stubbornly still wearing cloth caps instead of paper hats.”
  • “She thought that he was going to cry; she felt almost guilty that she had handed some of her grief to him, and then she felt close to him for his willingness to take it and hold it, in all its rawness, all its dark confusion.”

First Sentence edit see section history

Eilis Lacey, sitting at the window of the upstairs living room in the house on Friary Street, noticed her sister walking briskly from work.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Rainy Day Books (Staff Picks for 2010). (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Colm Tóibín (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Scribner BookUS Company
Country: US
Publication Date: January 2009
ISBN: 9781439148952
Page Count: 272

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