Minutes June book: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Brooklyn

by Colm Toibin

(chosen by LC)











LC was browsing in her local bookstore for a book to take away on holiday to Thailand - not too long, something enjoyable. The ever-helpful assistant recommended Brooklyn. A few pages into the book, already in Thailand, LC had a small panic as she realised she *loved* this book and it wasn't going to last the whole holiday. When she returned, she immediately emailed your No.1 Melbourne Ladies' Bookclub Administrator and nominated it as her book choice before anyone else could get in first.

Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford in 1955 and educated at University College Dublin. He is the author of five novels. The Blackwater Lightship (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and The Master was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2004 and was the winner of the Los Angeles Times Novel of the Year and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France. Tóibín’s books have been translated into twenty-five languages.

(biographical details from the reader's guide at  www.themanbookerprize.com )

What the publisher says about the book:

It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.

Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. And just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland. There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma - a devastating choice between duty and one great love.

What we discussed about the book:

• Some of us attended the session with Colm Toibin at The Wheeler Centre (and one of us saw him again at the Sydney Writers Festival). How did hearing his voice influence how we read (heard) the narrator's voice?
• What did the book reveal about the nature of being an "Irish" women - in light of how Toibin described firefighters at 9/11 as having Irish faces, and had to explain  that he meant: 'A man whose eyes are soft but his mouth is stubborn. A man who loves and hates with seriousness but doesn't talk about them. A man who's bad at working for himself but good at working for others. A man who's better with his daughters than with his sons.' (see SMH interview)
• Is a character's inner life more interesting than an exterior life? How does an inner life get revealed? What devices are used to do so?
• Was this a melancholic book?
• How did we feel reading the swimsuit shopping scenes? What did this scene reveal about Eilis? Did we empathise with her vulnerability?
• How were notions of racism, elitism and class explored within the plot. Were big issues illuminated through small stories?
• The concept of migrants 'missing two countries' - the one they have left, and not fully experiencing the one they have arrived in.
• Did we expect Father Flood's character to be disreputable? Why or why not? What was the effect of him being a benign character?
• What is the role of a 2nd daughter? Did we think Rose already knew about her illness before sending Eilis to Brooklyn and saw it as a way of getting her away from the carer situation? 
• Were we satisfied with the ending? Who wanted her to stay, who wanted her to return to Brooklyn? Why?
• Did Brooklyn offer a 'better life'? What is the definition of better? How did the Italian ideal of a better life fit with the Irish?
• Did we think Tony was 'one great love' as described in the blurb of the book? Was it truly a choice between duty and love?
• How did we feel about the sex scene between Eilis and Tony?
• What did we think of Eilis as a character? Did she exercise her own free will? Did she make something of herself? What motivated her?

And then we were sidetracked into:

• In what ways does this book reflect elements of Pride and Prejudice?
• The issues of caring for elderly family when families are geographically disparate.
• All the paths in life are choices, and how we will never know the alternate reality - the 'Sliding Doors' view of life. How would it affect us to have a glimpse at the alternate reality?
• The role of education in getting 'a better life'. 
• Catholic concepts of divorce/annulment.
• Can you ever go back once you have left your childhood home?

In other news:

• We discussed Robert Drewe's article in Saturday's Age about brides from Belarus.
• Why are people interested in the private goings on in public figures' lives (Tiger Woods, Ernie Dingo...)? Is it only of interest when the reality contradicts the constructed image which has been sold to the public?
• Facebook - how are children using it? is it appropriate? what is the role of a school in policing 'under-age' use of Facebook?

Ratings
Ratings range:  5 to 10
Ratings average:  7.55

Next book: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf (chosen by Domestic Goddess)