BROOKLYN

TITLE: BROOKLYN

AUTHOR: COLM TOIBIN
Pages: 352
Date: 05/11/2009
Grade: 3.5
Library

I read in a review by somebody who's name I can't remember that if this book had been written by a woman it would be classed as Chick-lit, and whoever it was, I think they were right. And not very good Chick-lit at that.
This is the story of Eilis, a girl living in Enniscorthy in the south of Ireland with her mother and sister in the 1950's.
Because there is no work to be had for her, it is decided that Eilis will move to Brooklyn, where she finds a job and a room in a boarding house.
Initially she is very lonely and home sick, but eventually she finds her place starts a course and starts dating.
Just when her new life is starting to take shape, disaster strikes back home in Enniscorthy sending Eilis on a trip back home. And while there Eilis has to try and make sense of what she wants with her life and where she wants it to be, only for her to realize that she doesn't really have any choices.
I really didn't like this book very much. It was written in such a distant and analytical way that I never got to feel close to the main character or to care about her. Maybe Toibin should refrain from writing from the female perspective. In this book at least, it wasn't working for me.