Long Island by Colm Toibin #AudiobookReview #ReadingIrelandMonth25

Book 2 of 2: Ellis Lacey

Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Historical Fiction (2024)

Book Blurb:

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “Stunning.” —People * “Dazzling yet devastating…Tóibín is simply one of the world’s best living literary writers.” —The Boston Globe * “Momentous and hugely affecting.” —The Wall Street Journal *

From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work in twenty years.

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.

One day, when Tony is at work, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.

My Review:

No, I never saw the movie Brooklyn, but did read the novel and while I found it rather profound, the ending left me empty. I suppose we are to expect conflict—is that what drives a literary fiction plot? But must it always be crushing?

Book 1 sends Eilis back to Tony Fiorello, the plumber she met and was coerced into marrying in the US without the time to thoroughly examine her motives. His large Italian family settled in a cul-de-sac houses from each other so that she is heavily immersed in Italians contributing a son and daughter to the growing dynasty.

The hook at the beginning of the narrative sets the tone for the book, as she is confronted by the irate husband of the woman Tony has impregnated. His family rallies and decides what would be done without her input or agreement—and she won’t have it.

Her mother nearing her eightieth birthday, Eilish decides on going back to Ireland to celebrate that milestone. There’s been a twenty-year absence, much to be caught up, and she’ll decide what to do while in Ireland. Her kids will join her later and get to know their Irish relatives. That they hadn’t an interest before is something I couldn’t fathom—their mother’s family. Were they so heavily involved in the dad’s side, not even curious about the other half of their heritage left in Ireland?

If I had a small problem investing in Eilish before, I now found her cold and flat. She is one of three POVs in this installment, one of the two others being Jim, the man she really loved and left without explanation, and the woman, Nancy, who is now quietly betrothed to Jim. Nancy was a best friend of Eilish; not any more.

Once again, Jim takes a back seat to the strings being yanked around him and I tend to find the conniving onerous. Must women always be painted this way? Eilish’s mother is horrible, another support character I found a bit loathsome, while her brothers, particularly one, an understanding saint to her situation. And it’s he who would finally find a resolution to the problem. A man to the rescue.

So, no, once again, I found the ending lacking in satisfaction. Is there no happy ever after from his author? The book leaves me sad and gloomy. It’s been a struggle and there is no resolution for the reader.

Of course, Toibin was on my list of Irish authors for this year’s Reading Ireland Month, the #Begorrathon25, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books having already read and reviewed Brooklyn. This one finishes the short series.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

 

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Urban Fiction, City Life Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0CLHGRG3K
Listening Length: 9 hrs 40 mins
Narrator: Jessie Buckley
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:   

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Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary, and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and has been named as the laureate for Irish fiction for 2022-2025 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Toibin lives in Dublin and New York.

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