Wednesday, April 7, 2010

25. Brooklyn

By: Colm Toibin
Rated 3.5 Stars
From Library

This book was a very quick read - took me less than a day. :-0 It was OK, It was very well written but there wasn't a lot of story to it and what there was was superficial. I had the niggling feeling that Ellis was so uptight and locked into doing what was expected of her that she would never have had the courage to give Tony the time of day had his hair been dark and his eyes blue no matter how much she was attracted to him.

And then the way it ended was pretty much a moral lesson "see what happens if you dare to step outside the nice safe little box."

PUBLISHERS SUMMARY:

Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at bookkeeping, she cannot find a job in the miserable Irish economy. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn to sponsor Eilis in America -- to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood "just like Ireland" -- she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, a blond Italian from a big family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. He takes Eilis to Coney Island and Ebbets Field, and home to dinner in the two-room apartment he shares with his brothers and parents. He talks of having children who are Dodgers fans. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love with Tony, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.

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