Brooklyn Novel Review

I have recently read "Brooklyn" by Colm Tóibín. It is the story of an Irish girl named Eilis Lacey who moves away from the small town of Enniscorthy to Brooklyn in order to have better opportunities and prospects in life.

There are many themes in this novel like love and poverty to name just a few.  But the one that I found most interesting is the theme of family. Eilis' mother is a widow. Her older brothers have moved to England for work. Her sister Rose has an office job which support the family. Rose meets a priest back from America who offers to arrange a job for Eilis. She soon finds herself crossing the Atlantic third-class, when it dawns on her that by organising this, Rose has sacrificed her own future so Eilis can have a better life. This has really shown me how strong love between family members can be. Rose will now have to stay at home and look after their mother while Eilis gets to start a new life in America. It is because of how selfless Rose was that I have loved the theme of family in this novel.

Eilis is a very brave, strong and interesting character in this novel. I have to admire how she leaves everyone and everything she knows for a new life she knows nothing about. She is a character that grows and develops as I by the end of the novel it was clear to me that she was less defenceless and more troubled than she initially seemed.

The novel is set in Brooklyn during the 1950's. It has thought me about the roles of men and women and the differences in social class during this time which I found very interesting. This was most clear to me when Eilis is traveling to Brooklyn after leaving home. The third class passengers have a lot lower standard of hygiene and accommodation than the first class passengers on board the ship. When the passengers were sea sick, the third class cabins were the last to be cleaned. 

From reading this novel, I feel Colm Tóibín's outlook on life is quiet negative. In my opinion, this novel is not a particularly happy one but I am feel Tóibín is perhaps a realist and I understand that not everything is always light and happy. 

I enjoyed how Tóibín depicted complicated feelings using simple everyday words in a way which is very effective. His writing is very descriptive and I liked his use of dialogue. 

If I was asked would I recommend this book and I am sorry to say that I don't think I would. I found it dull and slow moving at times and was tempted to give it up. However I persevered and finished it! While I am glad I did, In my opinion a truly good book should be hard to put down and sadly this book for me wasn't. But I do have a friend who read the book and loved it, so don't let me put you off to much! 

Thanks for reading!

:)