Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

I just finished Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin last night. I believe that Brooklyn was selected for the Big Read of the Chicago Public Library last year, and was generally well regarded by critics. I believe that there was a blurb on my copy of the book that stated that Toibin had twice been short-listed for the Booker Prize.

I found Brooklyn to be compelling reading -- I read it in the space of two or three sittings and found that last night I just couldn't put it down. Toibin is a fine prose stylist and a good storyteller. When I finished the novel, I was really moved by it and perplexed. I so wished I had someone who'd also read the novel I could talk to about it. I wanted to know if the way that I perceived the story - and the writing, the construction of the story - was how others perceived it, too.

Eilis is a young girl living Enniscorthy, Ireland, in the '50's. She's finished with school but the only job she can find is working Sundays only at a high-end grocery. Her dynamic older sister arranges, through an Irish priest, to get her a job at a department store in Brooklyn. Eilis is reluctant to go but feels unable to protest.

A post-script: I find myself turning the events and characters of Brooklyn over and over in my mind; to me, that's generally a sign of a good book. Many of the books' reviewers, according to the blurbs published on the book's cover, compared Toibin to James. I see the relationship to James but after thought, the work that this novel reminds me most of is Elizabeth Bowen's Death of the Heart.

After I finished the novel, I puzzled over whether Eilis ever had a chance to escape her fate. I also wondered what was the best path for Eilis, and whether the folks in her life advised her well or not. I wondered how Eilis would feel about her choices in the years to come.