In Brooklyn, author Colm Toibin tells the story of Eilis, and Irish gal who moves to Brooklyn during the early ’50s, when Ireland is in the midst of a struggling economy. It’s a coming-of-age story, where Eilis discovers boys, education, diversity and independence. Toibin beautifully captures Brooklyn during this period, when it was mostly Italian and Irish immigrant families, the Dodgers still played at Ebbets field and Coney Island was a thriving novelty. He also nails the difficulty of being a people pleaser, and how if you just said yes or no a little more often, you wouldn’t feel as beholden to everyone.

Brooklyn is a fast read and makes you yearn for the days of being young and experiencing the world and independence, love and different cultures for the first time — but also makes you so glad those anxious times are over. I also appreciate the profile of Brooklyn — as someone who lived there, I know a bit of its rich history (Winston Churchill’s mother lived in Cobble Hill; the borough’s transformation in the ’50s when families moved to the suburbs and ghettos sprung up with drugs following shortly thereafter; today Brooklyn would be the fourth most populated city in the U.S. if the boroughs of New York were broken up.)

I also enjoy books about a female lead written from a man’s perspective (like Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha). Toibin wrote Eilis beautifully, if a bit simply. After all, I’m not sure a man can ever grasp quite how complicated we women are. But perhaps that’s what makes Eilis appealing — she’s simple, yet deep-down has a lot going on. Without giving the end away, I’ll just say that you’re left thinking about Eilis and what will happen next. I’ll gladly read a sequel.

Brooklyn is available to buy here.

Tags: Books

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 11:38 am and is filed under art&music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.