Comments on: Colm Tóibín: Brooklyn

By: … the kindness of strangers | Pechorin’s Journal

… the kindness of strangers | Pechorin’s Journal — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:59:42 +0000

[...] heavily reviewed already of course. Here’s some takes on it by Kevinfromcanada, The Asylum, Themookseandthegripes and Hungry Like the Woolf. Kerry’s review at that last link knowingly contains spoilers on [...]

By: diane

diane — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:28:52 +0000

I’ve heard so many great things about this book. I’m waiting for the audio version from the library! Great review.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:02:54 +0000

I think it’s a good bet for the Booker prize. But I was a bit ambivalent towards it. It’s pleasant enough, but Eilis felt strangely distant from the reader. At times she’s like a puppet, pushed and pulled around by external pressures, showing very little ability to think for herself. I thought the ending was… well, very awkward reading. How could she not tell anyone? Eilis’s passive attitude in the face of anything gets frustrating at times.

Anyway, I recently posted my comments here so I’ll stop for now.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:59:33 +0000

“Other peoples’ kindness and sacrifice can be a burden.”

I’d say that sentence pretty much captures this book. And I think, as legitimate as the comparison to James’ works and The Master are, it also captures what makes this book worthwhile and very different from those comparisons.

I too expect to see it on the Booker shorlist. And am very much looking forward to reading it again.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:17:44 +0000

After reading several other reviews of this book, I was planning to make The Master my first Toibin. However, you have convinced me I should start here. Excellent review. Because it is Booker-relevant, I will read it soon. Thank you.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:50:35 +0000

Simon mentions some things I didn’t bring up in my post, and there’s one more that Isabel reminded me of that I was going to mention: he certainly captured Brooklyn (and many other things as well). I particularly liked the subtle ways he brought up discrimination against Irish and against blacks. He does it in such a way that is not distracting but rather that creates a very tangible and realistic atmosphere. It serves the story in that way, without adding any didactic themes to be brought up time and again. It was brilliantly rendered.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:44:41 +0000

I am curious about the descriptions of Brooklyn. Did he capture the Brooklyn of the era?

I know that it’s a very popular place to be living in right now.

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:35:59 +0000

Trevor, I agree with your anaysis of Eilys’s character, and how the decision-making process is one that involves more than one person;, here, I think, there’s also an uderlying drive (the unconscious) that “fate” helps along the way.

But there are a couple of aspects of this novel you’ve not mentioned, though no doubt not overlooked. One is that this is a seriously funny book (and although Eilys is not the narrator, perhaps suggests an ironic cast to Eilys’s state of mind). And the other is that it’s a rather sexy novel; Eilys is very attractive to men, and attracted to them.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:33:17 +0000

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have a few Henry James novels and stories to read and then I think I’ll go for The Master. I’m not sure that is the best way to do it or not, but I’m certainly looking forward to the project.

John, I actually liked that the book remained in a minor key. In that way it sort of reminded me of A Month in the Country, though they are very different in many ways. I was surprised at how well Tóibín managed to sustain the narrative while keeping it relatively quiet. I’m sure I read this one in the right frame of mind because I went in expecting little and came out of it finding it a minor masterpiece. Not sure how I would have responded back in May when the hype was higher.

By: John Self

John Self — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:00:21 +0000

I read Brooklyn about eight months ago so it’s pretty well faded in my memory and there’s a risk that what I wrote in my review will become my only memories of it. However I do remember liking it very much until at least halfway through – particularly Tóibín’s ability to tell so much and move the story on so efficiently in each individual page. It was only when I realised that the book was going to remain in a minor key that I began to feel disappointment with it. I agree that anyone reading it without prior knowledge of Tóibín, and The Master in particular, will rate it very highly. I certainly think it’s a shoo-in for the Booker shortlist, and possibly even – because of its moderate appeal to many people – to become a compromise winner.