Colm Toibin - ‘Brooklyn’

Review by Peter Lawrence on show 24th September 2009
Colm Toibin’s previous two novels, The Blackwater Lightship and The Master, a brilliant fictionalised account of the life of Henry James, have both been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. This current book, Brooklyn, was included on the longlist but, to great consternation and amazement, did not make it to the final six.

It is a beautifully crafted and sensitive portrayal of the life of an Irish girl and her family in the 1950s. Eilis, the main character is persuaded by her local priest to seek out a new life in America. The book starts with a powerful and very uncomfortable description of her transatlantic voyage through a storm to begin her new life. We really feel as if we are there sharing the discomfort and the fear with her and Toibin, whom I would guess has never actually experienced what he is writing about, describes it with such grace and perfection that it would seem as if it is part of his daily life.

Life in New York is not easy. This is not the suave and sophisticated Manhattan but the far less upmarket Brooklyn, and area of cheap boarding houses and factories. Eilis is painfully young, has never been anywhere before, has been protected by her mother, older sister and the Church, and is suddenly thrown into a lonely and difficult life with only the Church and its representatives remaining to dictate her course.

She finds a room with the redoubtable Mrs Kehoe, herself of Irish descent and closely linked with Father Flood, the priest who seems to control just about every aspect of her life. The boarding house is a place of strict discipline and control where the somewhat suffocating rules of Mrs Kehoe hold sway and create a climate of fear and suspicion. Set piece events like daily mealtimes and other similarly mundane activities are beautifully described, utterly convincing in every detail. They reveal the petty jealousies that strongly connect the women of the house and show a competitiveness that lies at the heart of most human beings.

Very soon after arriving in New York Eilis is determined to better herself. She enrols in a bookkeeping course whilst working for a family of Italian business men in their clothing store where her every movement is watched and evaluated. We feel for her as she slaves at Bartocci’s under the constant scrutiny of the cold and calculating Miss Fortini but are pleased to see her making progress towards her goal.

Inspite of herself and her wish to remain single she forges a strong relationship with Tony, her young man, whom we come to have great respect for as he treats Eilis with such kindness and gentleness. As her relationship with Tony deepens and moves towards long term commitment, we sense trouble ahead. When Eilis’s sister Rose back in Ireland dies and shortly afterwards Eilis makes a trip home to see her mother we really struggle to see how it could work out well. The novel is poised on a knife edge. It resolves itself with a very satisfactory conclusion that brings all the strands together.

For me the mark of a good novel is when I am sorry I’ve finished reading it. That is certainly true here. This book is relatively brief, only 252 pages. I could very easily have taken a 100 more.

Peter Lawrence September 2009