Book Review: Brooklyn (Eilis Lacey #1)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Set in the 1950s, Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín follows Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant, as she adjusts to a new life in Brooklyn, New York.

As the novel begins, we meet Eilis, a young woman in her twenties in Enniscorthy, Ireland, where she lives with her elder sister Rose and their mother. Her brother had emigrated to England in search of better work opportunities and Rose, a vibrant and ambitious young woman, is gainfully employed. However, opportunities are limited in her hometown and Eilis, despite training to be a bookkeeper, is only able to find a part-time position at a local grocery store. With the help of a local parish priest settled in New York, Rose arranges for Eilis to emigrate to Brooklyn, hoping to secure a better future for her sister.

After a turbulent journey by sea, Eilis lands in Brooklyn, finds work in a department store and is set up in a boarding house owned by Mrs. Kehoe, a widowed Irishwoman. Eilis, in a new culture surrounded by strangers and on her own for the first time in her life, initially finds it difficult to adjust. As the narrative progresses, we follow Eilis for over two years as she gradually opens up to new experiences, navigates familial expectations, homesickness, loneliness, her hopes and dreams, first love and much more. But when a tragedy calls her back home, she is compelled to confront her own reality - how her experiences have changed her and how her definition of home has changed over time- and choose between her new life in Brooklyn and the life she had left behind.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and was invested in Eilis’s journey. The immigrant experience and the trials and tribulations associated with assimilation are themes that resonate with me on a personal level. The characters are well thought out and I loved how the author depicts Eilis’s bond with her family, especially Rose, and her relationship with Tony. The author’s portrayal of Eilis’s struggles and her reactions are realistic and relatable and I especially liked how the author captures how Eilis grows as a person, the contrast between Eilis’s life before and after her emigration and how her experiences change her, evident in the choices she makes in the second half of the novel culminating in a life-altering decision she is compelled to make at the very end.

The author’s prose is sparse but elegant and the narrative, which is presented from Eilis’s perspective, flows well. This is a slow-moving novel, the pace suiting the nature of the story. Despite being a short, deceptively simple and seemingly predictable story, this is a thought-provoking read that will have you thinking about Eilis after you have turned the last page.

I’d been meaning to read this novel for years (having put off watching the movie adaptation until I did) and the release of the sequel Long Island pushed me to pick this one up and I’m glad to have finally read it.

I paired my reading with the audiobook, beautifully narrated by Kirsten Potter, which made for an engaging immersion reading experience.