Book Review: Long Island by Colm Tóibín (Eilis Lacey #2)

 

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Long Island by Colm Tóibín continues with the story of Eilis Lacey, our protagonist from Brooklyn . Set twenty years after the events of the first novel, Eilis, now in her forties, is the wife of Italian plumber Tony Fiorelli, whom we met in the first book. Parents to two teenagers, daughter Rossella and sixteen-year-old son Larry they have settled in Long Island in a cul-de-sac with Tony’s parents and two of her husband’s three brothers and their families as neighbors. Despite being a close-knit family and Eilis sharing a good relationship with everybody, she is conscious of how different she is from her close-knit extended family. The differences become more pronounced when Tony’s actions push their marriage into a downward spiral, and she feels his family isn’t supportive of her or her wishes.

Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland in twenty years, but feeling the need to distance herself from Tony and his family, decides to visit her mother who will soon turn eighty, with her children to join her later. As the narrative progresses, this time we follow Eilis as she revisits her hometown and those she had left behind when she chose to return to Tony all those years ago. Conflicted over her feelings for Tony, her responsibilities to children and the future she desires for herself, she is compelled to take stock of her life and reflect on her regrets and the consequences of her life choices. Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and complexities that arise when confronted with her past, she finds herself once again at a crossroads in life.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín is an exquisitely penned novel that had me hooked until the very last page. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Eilis and two other characters from her past in Ireland- her best friend Nancy and Jim Farrell with whom she once shared a romantic relationship, both of whom we had met in the previous book. Compared to the first book this is a more complex and layered novel and the author seamlessly weaves the three perspectives into an immersive, consistently paced narrative that revolves around love, family, secrets, choices and consequences. Not only do we get to follow Eilis’s journey we are also provided insight into how her mother, brothers and friends have fared in the last twenty years and how her presence impacts them in the present day. The strength of this novel lies in its mature and realistic depiction of complex human emotions and relationships with minimal melodrama and concise yet elegant prose – be it the tensions between Eilis and Tony or Eilis and her mother, the complexities that arise between Nancy, Jim and Eilis or how Eilis’s children react to their troubled marriage. Though her children had never shown any interest in their Irish heritage, it was endearing to see them absorb as much as they could in the course of their visit and bond with their grandmother whom they were meeting for the first time and who welcomed them with open arms. I particularly liked how the author addresses the cracks in the relationship between Eilis and her mother. The Eilis we meet in this book is mature and complex. Though I could sympathize with her predicament with Tony and admired her inner strength and resolve, I couldn’t help but question some of her actions in the latter half of the story. The ending leaves us with more than a few unanswered questions and leaves me eager to explore Eilis's motivations further.

I would recommend reading the previous novel before picking up the sequel for a better understanding of Eilis’s journey and the events referenced in this novel.

To be honest, I did not think that Brooklyn needed a sequel, but the ending of Long Island has me eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Eilis’s life.

Many thanks to Scribner for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.