Brooklyn

a novel

by

English language

Published Dec. 29, 2009 by Scribner.

ISBN:
978-1-4391-3831-1
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(2 reviews)

In Ireland in the early 1950s, Eilis Lacey is one of many who cannot find work at home. Thus when a job is offered in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving behind her family and country, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady's intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation. Slowly, the pain of parting is buried beneath the rhythms of her new life -- and finally, she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness. As she falls in love, news comes from home that forces her back to Enniscorthy -- not to the constrictions of her old life, but to new possibilities which conflict deeply with the life she has left behind in Brooklyn.

10 editions

reviewed Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Review of 'Brooklyn' on 'Goodreads'

When I first picked up this book, I wasn't so impressed. It was a gift, and the language seemed so simple, perhaps even badly written. I'd seen the movie 3 times. Did I really need to read the book?

Yes! It quickly grew on me. The (beautiful, amazing) movie only captured some surface level of the book. The language is simple, and that's why it's powerful. It's a tremendously moving, emotional, interior book of a young woman coming of age, grappling with who she is and where she comes from, and who she wants to be. It was a beautiful book I couldn't put down.

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Subjects

  • Irish -- United States -- Fiction
  • Women immigrants -- Fiction
  • Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction
  • Ireland -- History -- 20th century -- Fiction