Brooklyn by Colm Toibin follows a young woman, Eilis Lacey, as she immigrates from a small village in Ireland to Brooklyn in the years following World War Two. The novel is successful on many levels. Toibin’s straightforward prose is beautiful, and he presents the loneliness and uncertainty of the immigrant experience in a way that feels true. Post-WWII Brooklyn is fully fleshed out, and I enjoyed comparing the areas described with their contemporary states.
The book’s main flaw lies in the characterization of Eilis. For the protagonist of a coming-of-age, coming-to-America story, she is disconcertingly passive. She does not decide to leave Ireland; her brave sister Rose enlists the help of a priest, Father Flood, to find work for Eilis in New York. Eilis does not want to leave, but she follows along with her sister and mother’s plans for her without voicing her concern. Once arrived in Brooklyn, she works at the store where Father Flood arranged for her to work and lives where he arranged for her to live. She takes a passive-aggressive role with her housemates and landlady, constantly second guessing their motives but never voicing her feelings outright. When a young man takes a liking to her at the parish dance, she goes along with his affections, which rapidly grow until he’s speaking of their future children. Only then does she react, feeling that the relationship is moving too fast but ultimately deciding that she loves him because, well, he’s nice enough. She never seems to make a decision that is purely her own, which I found frustrating, especially at the end of the book. Her passiveness at that point just comes across as cruelty.
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While I did not read the book, I don't think the character of Eilis is a flaw in the book. I relate to her on so many levels. The immigrant experience can be very daunting. When I first came to the US I was overwhelmed by even a simple trip to the grocery store. They had a cereal isle - AN ISLE JUST FOR CEREAL! The choices and the freedoms were overwhelming. A lot of my choices at the time were made by others for me, because I could not discern what was true and what was illusion in my new reality.
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