Book Review: Brooklyn

04.17.2016

All I knew when I picked this book up was that it was made into a movie, and had something to do with a young woman, the early 20th century, and probably Brooklyn, NY. Honestly, even that was too much: I spent much of my time reading it trying to figure out why someone would choose to turn this book into a film and came away disappointed. It was blasé, and while I don't want to diminish the experience of immigrants to NY in the early 1900s there was nothing unique, clever, eye-opening, or otherwise remarkable about the novel. I liked the main character well enough, but found that in the end I didn't care what happened to her or any of the other characters. The main character Eilis and her sister Rose feel very much like female characters written by a man. You can very clearly see the lens through which he views them, the brush strokes he uses to create them, and that makes them seem very unreal. They feel more like what you would get if you asked your well-meaning grandfather to describe his first love interest than real women, and without the connection to the characters I found myself struggling to hold on to anything in the novel. I appreciate that Tóibín wrote a novel that centered on strong female characters, and that such a novel could be turned into an award-winning film. But before we congratulate ourselves on appreciating a novel about a woman who travels alone to America, goes to college and works, and chats with her sister and female roommates, let's consider that Eilis probably experienced a lot of fear, racism, sexism, uncertainty, and hardship that is generally glossed over. Overall I was underwhelmed, and wouldn't recommend it if you've got other books on your list to read.