Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, published October 2015 by Penguin Books.
Read: January 2018
Genre: Historical/Romance
Source: Purchased
#Pages: 252
Get It Now: Wordery | Amazon
Goodreads Synopsis: It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.
Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home – and homesick. And just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland. There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma – a devastating choice between two worlds.
The Book Review
I’ve heard a lot of reviewers recommending Toibin’s books (and Brooklyn in particular), so as someone who has never read his work before, I was excited to start this. A novel featuring 1950s Ireland, immigration to America, and a bit of romance thrown in? Yes, please!
I enjoyed the tone of the novel, and the Irish setting with the occasionally stereotypical Irish villagers. There were some good characters, along with a surprising and heart-breaking plot twist, and overall it was a decent coming-of-age tale that might not have been earth-shattering, but it was quietly confident in its own story.
While the blurb wasn’t misleading in content, I did feel overall that the book was largely quite underwhelming, and I’m undecided as to whether its simplicity is intentional and striking, or unintentional and lacking. Proudly proclaimed on the cover as the winner of the Costa Novel Award, I think I was expecting something more from this book.
It was an inoffensive and reasonably enjoyable read (as well as a quick one at only 252 pages), but I did feel that the last few chapters were rushed in comparison to the rest of the novel, and the ending was left far too open-ended for my personal preferences. It’s a book that I’m glad to have read, but one I don’t think I’ll be returning to.
Making the most of my time off over Christmas, I decided to watch the movie adaptation as soon as I finished the book. The movie is a very close adaptation, with the only noticeable change being a shorter changing room scene, and a more defined ending. If you don’t want to read the book, the movie is a great alternative.
The Rating
3.5/5
Have you read Brooklyn, or seen the movie? What did you think? Would you recommend other Toibin novels? Let me know in the comments!
Confessions of a Book Geek 
This is literally my best friend’s favourite book! For me it was 3/5
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I am taking the easy way out and plan to watch the film at some point. It does sound like an interesting read but one I might struggle through and a two-hour film is just an easier commitment to make than a book sometimes.
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I think you should, you’d really enjoy it! It’s a short book, but the movie is such a close adaptation that I think it would be fine to skip it on this occasion!! 🙂 R xx
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Interesting. I enjoyed the movie, but felt on a total downer after it as it was so sad. Don’t think I’ll be reading the book, but it was good to hear your thoughts on it. And happy new year!
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I enjoyed the movie too, though would you have called it a “quiet” movie? That’s all I kept thinking at the end. It wasn’t mind-blowing, or something that made me think instantly, but it quietly just got into my subconscious and chilled out there for a while. It was very “Irish”, if there is such a thing. The movie was a very close and well-done adaptation, the only marked differences for me were the swimsuit try-on scene, which was much extended in the book, and I felt that the struggle of deciding whether to stay in Ireland or return to Brooklyn was better explained in the book, in the movie it felt a little rushed to me. But by not reading it, I don’t think you are missing out on a lot.
The difficulty I have now is, because it was a “quiet” book too, I can’t decide if I will read it again and get more out of it later, or if I should move it on and get it off my shelves. It’s one of THOSE books – not disliked or average enough to be donated right away, but not adored enough to know that it is a keeper. I’m clearly having an existential crisis this Friday evening… Lol R xx
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[…] great storytelling. When you want a quick fix, a great way to get it is by going to the cinema, or watching a movie adaptation of a book you’ve read. With new movies being released regularly in a wide variety of genres, […]
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[…] Instead of going month by month, I’ll just wrap-up everything on the blog since November! I reviewed Big Little Lies (3.5/5*), This Song Will Save Your Life (4/5*), The Thirty List (4/5*), and Brooklyn (3.5/5*). […]
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