Thank you Net Galley, Scribner Books and Colm Toibin for the wonderful opportunity to read an advanced copy of Long Island.
I love stories about Ireland and Irish people. I have been to Ireland many times and always feel so welcomed and able to fit right in. I felt the same way reading this novel.
Colm Toibin is a great writer and develops his characters thoroughly. I felt like I was one of the neighbors watching the story unfold. This novel is filled with in depth emotions, and moving plot line of secrecy, miscommunication and love. So many of the emotions were kept hidden which caused conflict. Many of the women stayed in the background without opinions. Our main character, Eilis,, tries to control her situation but family and responsibility always comes first.
I need this story to continue. There is plenty left for these families to go through and I want to be part of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this read. All opinions are my own.
Having previously read and enjoyed Brooklyn, I was excited to read this sequel. Eilis is not the same girl who navigated creating a new life in Brooklyn. Married to Tony, mother to 2 children, her life suddenly turns upside down with the revelation that Tony will become a father by the married women he's sleeping with. This signifies the breakdown of her relationship to Tony, and precipitates her traveling home to Ireland for an indefinite stay. This parallels Brooklyn - Eilis visits Ireland and makes a decision about her relationship then too. We meet some of the same characters (Jim Farrell) and some new. Overall, the intersection of lives, desires, and future expectations was woven so carefully. I found myself yearning for resolution; the way the story ended was satisfying, while still leaving loose ends.

It was a real treat to get to revisit Elis and continue her story. I emigrated to the US as a twenty year old so I feel like I have a special bond with her! This was definitely the case in Brooklyn but not so much in this novel. This was a highly enjoyable read, if you're able to suspend your belief a bit. As an Irish woman, I'm not sure I'd be so easy on my cheating husband and I don't know too many Irish men who'd take back a woman who left them decades before. In other ways, the book is SO Irish! I think Elis's mom is the exact same person as my own and I could totally relate to their "battles" upon Elis's return and also to her interactions with the grandchildren, I didn't really enjoy the sense of dread I experienced once the two timing started but it definitely kept me reading. Honestly, I enjoyed Brooklyn more than this book as the characters seemed a bit abstract for me, Jim especially. What was he thinking?! There's a touch of magical thinking/escapism in this book that I haven't seen in early novels and I'll definitly go along for the ride. Overall, it was a very fast and pleasurable read and I look forward to the next installment. Thanks to the author and the publisher and to Net Galley for the ARC.

This was a really good read. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Brooklyn. It's beautifully written.

FABULOUS! I loved every word of this wonderful saga! It was relatable in so many ways. Eillis' struggles broke my heart--once again. And oh those nasty secrets and rampant small town gossip! So many "if onlys"...

The way Toibin portrays women's thoughts is spot on! And the omniscience of the narrator throughout really added to the dramatic irony. It was so well done overall that I even enjoyed getting "Soprano-ed" on the very last page!

Brilliant!

(Anxiously anticipating the return trip to America!)

I didn't know that I needed to find out what happened to Eilis Lacey until I downloaded this ARC, and just like with her first story I was captivated by her. The author's language is both spare and lush, communicating deep unspoken feelings in just a few words. I will definitely purchase this title for my library and for my personal collection.

A wee bit of the Irish, the zestiness of Italy, and the bangin' drums American style.

That's what Colm Toibin has delivered in the second book of his Eilis Lacey Series. Toibin introduced us to the fair Eilis in his first book, Brooklyn. It's since become a movie of the same name on HBO. Perhaps you're already familiar with our heroine who left Enniscorthy, Ireland as a young woman barely out of her teens. She found a life for herself in Brooklyn and eventually married Tony Fiorello who pursued her after their first dance.

Eilis is now in her 40's in 1976 with two teenage children, Rosella and Larry. They live across the lawn from Tony's parents and the onslaught of the in-laws and the out-laws. Eilis has no peace from the invasion of family. She works at a local auto repair shop where she does the books for the owner. But everything is about to change for this family.

A ton of bricks and a sliding avalanche would have done less harm. A man shows up at Eilis' door with shocking news. He says that Tony is the father of his wife's expected baby. He'll leave the baby on her doorstep as soon as it is born. No illegitimate child will reside in his home. Tony (horror upon horror) admits to it. Life is forever changed.

Eilis will not accept the child under any circumstances. She plans to fly to Ireland for her mother's 80th birthday. Eventually, Rosella and Larry decide to visit their Irish grandmother whom they have never met.

Eilis is bogged down with decisions to make in the aftermath. She wants what is best for Rosella and Larry in the end, but she also has been devastated by this news. Colm Toibin arranges the folding chairs of life in Ireland in a haphazard formation for Eilis. Nothing is the same or will be the same on both shores. Toibin injects some sizzlin' events for Eilis while in her homeland. As readers, we will be takin' sides and makin' fists over all of this.

Long Island is quite the read. Colm Toibin sees to that with his lively style of writing. Long Island reads as a standalone, but it's best to grab Brooklyn to set a firm foundation. Get in on the ground floor.........guaranteed fire and lightning torchin' the horizon in the next one.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Simon & Schuster and to the talented Colm Toibin for the opportunity.

I'm a huge Colm Toibin fan and so it didn't surprise me that I loved this book. The opening pages were absolutely compelling and I was in then, along for wherever he wanted to go. As in his previous novels, the sense of homecoming in Ireland and also the dislocation of being from a place but not living there any longer is superb. I felt for all of the characters in this novel, even when they were behaving in ways that weren't admirable. A powerful story.

In this sequel yet standalone novel, Toibin returns to his beloved character Eilis Lacey from his twenty-year-old novel BROOKLYN. Eilis finds herself at a crossroads in her life and marriage, and returns from Long Island to her home in the small Irish town of Enniscorthy to contemplate her future. Complications ensue. Beautifully written and oh-so-discussable: a perfect choice for book clubs.

I really enjoyed being back with Eilis again and spending time with her and the other characters in Ireland. Another beautifully written book by Colm Toibin. Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for the advance copy.

Toibin is a master at characterization. In this sequel to Brooklyn, A strange man appears at Eilis Lacey’s home in Long Island and tells her that Tony has fathered a baby by his wife and that he will be depositing the baby on her doorstep as soon as it is born. Eilis, whose children are in their teens and not wishing to raise another woman’s child, decides to return to Ireland to celebrate her mother’s 80th birthday. There she reconnects with Jim Farrell, who she had deserted 20 years before, and Nancy Sheridan, her onetime best friend.
A story of love, regret, lies, and longings complicated by current and past relationships make this a most compelling read. Toibin writes with incredible understanding and his descriptions of neighborhoods are masterful as he juxtaposes the culture of Irish and American lifestyles.
A masterpiece of thought, emotion, and insight.
Highly recommend. Would give it 10 stars if I could.

Tóibín's return to Eilis Lacey about a quarter century later, once she's a well-settled Long Island homemaker, is less cinematically romantic than Brooklyn, but it still reflects that novel's characterization of Eilis as a thoughtful and ultimately hard-to-read character caught betwixt and between. Tóibín's spare dialogue and unsentimental rendering of Eilis' return to her hometown (as gossipy and judgy as the world she is running from) keeps the book from putting its thumb on the scale. As he builds toward a surprisingly dramatic conclusion, Tóibín leaves it to the reader how they will feel about the impossible choices three characters need to make.

Fans of Brooklyn, rejoice. Eilis Lacey is back, as are Tony and his family, Eilis's mother and brothers, Nancy, and Jim. Twenty years late, Eilis is still a bookkeeper and now a mother to two teenagers, living in a small neighborhood comprised of Tony's family. Our story kicks off with the news that Tony is expecting a child with another woman, and that woman's husband intends to drop the baby off on Eilis's doorstep once they're born. Based on the description of the book, I expected the baby to play more of a role in the book, but really, this plot point was the catalyst for change in Eilis's life. For the first time in twenty years, she plans a trip back home to Ireland, and her children come along to meet their Irish family. This is where the bulk of our story takes place.

OK first of all, let me just say that this sequel is not for Tony fans. We get very little of him, and he's obviously done something terrible to upend his family's life. I found it striking (but believable) how little everyone held Tony accountable for his actions. This really emphasizes the isolation of Ellis's life in Long Island.

I loved being back in Ireland with Eilis. Chapters are told in third person but through the lens of different characters, mostly Eilis, Jim, and Nancy. I really enjoyed this style of getting different perspectives. As always, Toibin's writing is gorgeous.

I won't say too much about the plot, except that much of the story happens internally for our main characters as they grapple with their problems without voicing much of what's going on. And we end on quite a cliffhanger. I'm okay with that cliffhanger, but I expect it will be polarizing. I've seen some speculation that this could be a trilogy, and I don't know if that's true, but I'd welcome the chance to spend time with Eilis again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fifteen years ago, Colm Toibin gifted his readers with Eilis Lacey’s stunning story in Brooklyn, subsequently adapted into a spectacular film starring Saoirse Ronan. Now the author returns to Eilis in Long Island, exploring what happened next to Eilis and, most importantly, her family. Toibin’s prose is meticulously crafted, each word carefully selected as he must have gone to battle with the blank page, because ultimately, that is what this book is about — battles. It is a battle of wills, a battle of the sexes, a battle between older and younger generations, a battle between cultures, a battle between tradition and becoming more modern . . . And in the background of all this is the aftermath of what happened in Vietnam. And in the not so distant future, 2018, there will be a new Ireland. Toibin hints at historical events taking place in order to set the story, but they do influence themes and provide the reader with a fuller understanding of what’s really taking place when it comes to the plot. Long Island improves upon Brooklyn when the writer opens up the story to follow not just Eilis, but also Jim and Nancy, her friends in Ireland first introduced in Brooklyn. There is a bigger world in this story, and Eilis, once again, is struggling to find her own place within it, just as she had done in Brooklyn. Her struggle will feel real and all-too familiar to many readers, almost tragic but intensely poetic. I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot because I do not want to risk spoiling anything for the reader. Rest assured, Toibin no longer needs to write about The Master (2004); he has become the Master with his latest.

A fantastic sequel. Eilis, Tony, and Jim are characters who have swirled around my head since I was a teenager, so I was deeply excited and nervous to return to them in this book. It did not disappoint. Tóibín's voice is poignant and as clear as ever, and the plot (with echoes of Edith Wharton...) is as tense as literary fiction gets. Eilis, her chronic indecision, and her strength continue to be some of the chewiest subjects in my literary life. I can't get this book out of my head! If anything in LONG ISLAND let me down, it's the ending. It just isn't one. Either this is the second book of a trilogy, or I've really gotten my feelings hurt.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this title. This is a sequel to the book Brooklyn. It continues the story of Eilis, an Irish immigrant to USA in the mid-20th century who marries into a big Italian family. The story picks up in the 1970s; some shocking news about her husband causes Eilis to return to Ireland for the first time in 20 years. Eilis arranges for her teenage children to meet her mid-trip, and meet their Irish grandmother for the first time. Eilis reconnects with her old friend, as well as Jim, with whom she had a brief romance when she returned to Ireland alone shortly after her marriage. Toibin's writing is lovely, but I felt annoyed with Eilis, and somewhat disliked her character in this sequel. I also thought the ending arrived rather abruptly; I would have like the conclusion to be more fleshed out. I'm hoping that this story will eventually be a trilogy to give the reader more closure on these characters. Still a SOLID 4 stars.

Before reading this I re-read Brooklyn and looked forward to seeing what has happened to Eilas 20 years later. Unfortunately, I was disappointed, especially at the ending. In the future, will we be seeing a continuation of her story? I love the author's writing but this one just seemed more of the same. Nevertheless, an interesting read.

Long Island is a follow-up to Colin Tobin’s beautiful novel Brooklyn. I loved visiting with Eilis and the other characters ,this is an emotional moving story that drew me right in and kept me involved.#netgalley #scribner

Written in Colm Toibin's masterful prose, this is a sequel which answers as many questions as it asks and leaves readers wanting more. It's the literary response to asking after an old friend or acquaintance.. "I wonder what ever happened to ..." This novel explores parent/child relationships and husband/wife relationships and relationship to place as it redefines home. The characters are strong and real, with cameos from other Toibin works.
I look forward to returning to this story again.

THank you for an advance copy of this book by an author I have enjoyed in the past. This is a follow up to Brooklyn, a book and movie I enjoyed in the past. We meet Ellis again 20 years later..she is married to Tony with kids and hasn't been back to Ireland in years and years. When she is faced with a large dilemma, she questions everything. This is a sweet, moving character driven story that wrapped up their story beautifully. Very well written.