Brooklyn : Novel Review

Brooklyn by Colm Tolbin
My Rating: 3.9 of 5 stars

 Goodreads Summary: Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.

 First, I must admit this is the first immigration story I have read, I believe the (if not one of the) first post-World War II novels I have read, and the first Irish character I have ever read about. 

 Thus, this was an overall new experience for me. Of course I am accustomed to World War II novels as well as plenty of historical fiction novels, but this was the first of it's kind to fall into my lap. 

 Eilis Lacey, an interesting twenty-something year old, is practically forced to leave her town in Ireland in order to find work and send money home. Her older sister, while she holds a grudge that she is able to move, encourages her to take the opportunity of this promising future.

 While leaving home and becoming acclimated to Brooklyn, Eilis manages to fall in love with Tony, a boy with an Italian family and the charm that would make any young girl swoon. 

 A truly new take on an endearing coming-of-age novel, trying to make a life after World War Two in the United States. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamlet Accountable Talk

1.Did Hamlet really go crazy? How does this connect to his wavering between action and inaction? Why doesn’t Hamlet just kill Claudius? Is he just a man who needs assurance beyond a doubt of Claudius’ guilt? Is he unable to take action because the opportunity never presents itself? Is he simply a coward? What are Hamlet’s true motivations for even pursuing the murder of Claudius? Is it Fear? Revenge? Love? Loyalty/Obligation? I’m not entirely sure if Hamlet was necessarily crazy rather than experiencing a devastating tragedy at such a young age. His reaction to “play crazy” was that of a child’s; playing make-believe is very much a child’s way of dealing with such dramatic events. “To put an antic disposition on, That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encum’red thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase” (lines 172-174) is how he tells Horatio and Marcellus his plan. In a very child-like game, he tells them he will play pretend and they mus...
Read more

Chapters 14-16 (Creature's POV) - Entry #4

After Frankenstein abandons the creature, other than our short encounter in the woods when Victor is returning from Geneva, we are not exposed to him again until Victor’s retreat to the mountains. In chapter eleven, the creature opens his tale saying he is not quite sure of the beginning of his being; his initial memories and sensations began with his retreat to the woods after Frankenstein’s apartment. Living off berries and nuts, the creature was confused but learning survival skills along the way, including how to set and maintain a fire. I found this lonely encounter may have been initially good for the creature because it allowed him to figure out his surroundings of this new life he was brought into; however, keeping in mind while he is the great, big creature, he is very much in the dark about life and society itself, and without Victor to help him, he was completely and utterly alone. Agreed - the reflection gives the reader time to know the character rather than meet who Vict...
Read more