This is a re-read, although in this case it was also a first listen. Not only have I read this novel before, I’ve also read the sequel, Long Island, which came out last year. Without spoiling that book, I will say that the foreknowledge gained from it did cast a pall over this reading of Brooklyn. Another thing hanging over the novel was the film adaptation, which is one of my favorite movies of recent years. That movie, of course, starred Saoirse Ronan, who serves as the narrator of this audiobook. I will freely admit that having Ronan’s voice in my head for an extended time period was the principle draw of the audiobook.
For those who haven’t read it, listened to it, or seen it, Brooklyn is the story of Eilis Lacey, who leaves her small town in Ireland because of a lack of opportunities and moves to Brooklyn in 1952. She gets a job in a fancy store, moves into a boarding house full of other young women of Irish descent, and spends her nights studying to become a bookkeeper. But she is terribly homesick and misses her mother and her sister, Rose. At least, she is until she meets Tony, an Italian plumber who sweeps her off her feet, even if he does spend too much time talking about the Dodgers.
Despite settling into a nice life for herself, Eilis still finds herself torn between America and Ireland. When circumstances force her to go back to Ireland for a visit, the temptation to stay is overwhelming.
Toibin writes Brooklyn the way a pointillist paints a portrait. Each moment or incident seems small in itself at first, but as he adds more and more to the story a larger picture emerges. Brooklyn devastated me on my first read, and the film did it to me all over again. If the novel’s impact was slightly less on a third go-around with the story, I don’t think Toibin can be blamed.