Brooklyn

by Colm Tóibín

Eilis Lacey is a young woman in Ireland with bookkeeping skills, but no job. Her brothers have already left home for work reasons; only Eilis and her sister, Rose, remain in their small Irish town.

Concerned for Eilis, Rose arranges for Eilis to travel to America. With an Irish priest in Brooklyn as her sponsor, Eilis embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. A stormy boat ride to America, a tense boarding house, and a job as a shop girl are only part of Eilis’s story.

I have really mixed feelings about this novel. The beginning of the novel is slow. Additionally, the characters aren’t really well developed, the setting is almost non-existent, and the plot is almost too simple and contains lots of loose ends. On the other hand, I did want to know what happened to Eilis.

4/5/10