Book Reviews

The book that I chose to read was Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. 
I chose to read this book because it had been recommended to me and because it is on the Leaving Certificate English course. 

At the centre of the story is a girl named Eilís Lacey who is in her early twenties when the book opens. She lives with her widowed mother and older sister Rose in Enniscorthy in Ireland. Eilís is studying bookkeeping and searching for a job. She believes that she will continue to live the traditional "Irish-life" of the time. When the unexpected happens!

A priest visiting from the United States, Father Flood offers to sponsor Eilís in Booklyn, finding her a job and arranging for her to stay at a boarding house. Although Eilís is nervous her sister Rose encourages her to take this opportunity.  She is reluctant at first to leave home and to put the pressure on Rose to care for their mother by herself but much to Rose's sacrifice to improve her own prospects Eilís boards a ferry in Liverpool for New York.

Eilís is put into a cabin on the  ferry with a no-nonsense Englishwoman. The trip to New York is awful but the woman makes it bearable for Eilís. Toibin's use of imagery in this chapter is very effective and helps you to imagine the trip to New York very well.

As the novel progresses, Eilís is now working at a department store and she is off to a good start, but when she later receives a batch of letters from home she suddenly becomes homesick. Father Flood is worried about her and signs her up for a bookkeeping class at Brooklyn college which, he hopes, will take her mind off home.

An great moment occurs for Eilís when she meets Tony at the local dance sponsored by Father Flood at the parish hall. She is entranced by him and begins to envision a future with him. 
Just as Eilís is settling in to her life in Brooklyn and is starting to fall in love with Tony, terrible news arrives from Ireland she has no other choice but to return, leaving her new American life behind her and settling back into her life in the small village of Enniscorthy. Resulting in heartbreak and pain.

The way Toibin portrays life in Ireland and New York in the '50's through different characters is very clever. He shows his characters in a believable and interesting way. 
I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend Brooklyn to everyone.  

Ciara :)