✨️LONG ISLAND by Colm Toibin ✨️

➡️ Oprah's Book Club Pick. Named a Most Anticipated Book by The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Good Housekeeping, and more.

Having loved both the book and movie adaptation of "Brooklyn," this book was one of my MOST anticipated reads of the year. It absolutely lived up to my expectations.

While I suppose you don't need to read the first book to enjoy this one, I do think you'd be missing out on the full impact of the story without having read it.

Ellis is a character that continues to intrigue me. She's back in Ireland, twenty years after she married Tony. She has two almost full-grown children yet things are uncertain in her marriage. She still shows the same strength, bravery, independence and tendency to keep to herself, yet she grapples with the complexities of familial relationships and continues to make hard decisions.

Would I be able to put up with the things that she does in the story? Nope. But, I admired how she handles things. I loved reading about how the characters' lives evolved over the past twenty years —Tolbin offered the perfect amount of detail.  And the tension between Ellis and her old flame Jim, the friendship with her old friend Nancy and the strained relationship with her mom. My goodness. I loved all of it.

I can't say I was a fan of Jim or Tony in the sequel as I was in Brooklyn — their actions in the sequel irked me. I won't spoil anything; read it yourself and see if you agree or disagree.

Am I excited to tackle Tolbin's other books on my shelves now? Yes, I am! I think the next will be NORA WEBSTER as she was mentioned in this book.

Highly recommend. You can get your hands on this now!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to @penguinrandomhouseca  and @netgalley for the #gifted e-copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

This sequel to Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn is set twenty years later, in the 1970s.

Eilis Fiorello (nee Lacey) is now in her forties. She and her husband Tony and their children Rosella and Larry live on Long Island next to two of Tony’s brothers and his parents. Though sometimes feeling stifled by all her in-laws, she seems content until she learns something that shatters her life and threatens her marriage. Confused and unsettled, she decides to go to Ireland to visit her mother as her 80th birthday approaches. Once in her small hometown she inevitably encounters Jim Farrell, the man with whom she’d had a romantic relationship two decades earlier even though she was already secretly married to Tony at the time. Jim, a successful pub owner, has never married but has been meeting secretly with the widowed Nancy Sheridan, Eilis’s best friend at one time; the two plan to announce their engagement at the end of the summer. The lives of Eilis, Jim, and Nancy become entwined and complications arise.

This book will certainly appeal to lovers of Tóibín’s novels. I enjoyed meeting once again the characters of Brooklyn, and even Nora Webster makes a cameo appearance. Eilis’s mother is just as I remember her – feisty and cantankerous and unpredictable, a woman who reminds me of my own mother.

When I read Brooklyn, Eilis reminded me of the protagonist in the short story “Eveline” in James Joyce’s The Dubliners: a passive young woman living in a stifling environment who chooses duty above her personal desires. Her reaction to receiving stunning information about Tony suggests she is now more assertive, but her response is still rather muted. Her indecisiveness is certainly a factor in how events unfold both in the U.S. and Ireland. For me, in many ways, she remains an enigmatic character, but then I don’t think she fully understands herself either. She insists that she is innocent, didn’t cause and does not want to be blamed in any way for the situation at home, but her behaviour shows that she is either blind to her failings or being disingenuous.

I found my feelings about characters changed. Jim, for instance, I liked at first and found him a sympathetic character. He treats Nancy well and respects her wishes about the engagement announcement. But as the novel progresses, I found him fickle and weak. He describes himself like some of his customers “fully aware that they should go home or that they should not even consider having another drink. He watched them doing what made no sense, unwilling to listen to argument or reason. . . . Jim realized that he himself was like one of his worst customers, someone who knew what he should not do but was driven to do it regardless, no matter how much trouble it would cause.” By omission, he lies to both Eilis and Nancy and even plans to continue to be less than totally honest: “there was no reason why Eilis should ever know that he had had any relationship at all with Nancy. Even in the future, he thought, it was something he would never share with her.”

Of course that is the great strength of this novel; its characters are nuanced and authentic, reflecting the complexities of human nature. Everyone has disappointments and regrets, and hopes and dreams. Everyone has been betrayed and has betrayed others so all suffer consequences. All are torn between commitments/responsibilities and longings/desires.

As in Brooklyn, the inability or unwillingness to express one’s feelings is a major theme. For instance, when leaving for Ireland, Eilis knows what she wants to say to Tony but she avoids using the word divorce because “it would change things between them.” Characters often wonder what someone else is thinking because so much is left unsaid. There’s an interesting exchange between two characters: the question “’Can I ask if you love me?’” is answered with “’That’s why I am here.’” Then the response to the follow-up question of “’Can you say it?” is “’Yes, I can.’” But “I love you” is never spoken.

The book has as much tension as any thriller. As things become complicated, readers wonder what will happen but also find themselves asking what they would do and what they want to happen. Past events have shown that there are no real secrets in a small town, so it is inevitable that eventually the truth will be revealed to all. It becomes clear that a happy ending is impossible. Too many dreams are torn apart for there to be a happy ever after.

In fact the ending will leave some readers dissatisfied. Readers will certainly be able to fill in what happens but there is definitely a degree of uncertainty. A third book would not be a surprise, especially since Brooklyn and Long Island are being referred to as the Eilis Lacey series.

Written in Tóibín’s typical quiet, restrained prose, this novel, like his others, depicts complex emotions and complicated interactions. I highly recommend it and will not be surprised to see it on literary awards lists.

Long Island by Colm Toibin is the sequel to Brooklyn, a book I have not yet had the pleasure of reading. Family drama, (dis)loyalties and secrets are at the forefront of this character-driven Historical Fiction novel, inviting the reader to ponder what constitutes home and family.

Irish Eilis and her Italian husband Tony live on Long Island going about their daily business including Italian Sunday dinners with his family. They have two kids and a solid marriage...but appearances can be deceiving. An ordinary day turns upside down when a stranger appears with shocking news and threats. Eilis has decisions to make and chooses to return to Ireland and her mother after twenty years in America. Her grown children go along and learn more about their Irish heritage and their mother. Eilis reflects, too.

The writing is simple but powerful. It took me awhile to get into but when I did, my brain did a double take. I liked getting into the minds of realistically flawed characters. Cliffhanger endings such as this one are my wheelhouse.

My sincere thank you to McClelland & Stewart and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this unique novel.

I hadn’t previously read Colm Tóibín’s hugely popular Brooklyn (although I thought I had), but even so, there’s enough backstory recapped in Long Island that I was never lost or confused; it’s just that straightforward. Mostly plot-forward, Tóibín isn’t heavy on dialogue or setting (I love an Irish storyteller, but this could have honestly been set anywhere), and the characters are for the most part self-interested and unlikeable, keeping secrets, telling lies, and always running other people’s statements through their minds trying to see what kind of game they’re playing (and while there might be the shine of truth in that — especially when dealing with difficult family members — it makes for exhausting reading.) As a story, I thought this was fine: I assume it’s a bridging step between Brooklyn and the conclusion of Eilis Lacey’s adventures, and middle volumes in a series are notoriously difficult, so my underwhelmed response is only to Long Island as a standalone. I will say: if the next volume promises a clash of titans between Francesca Fiorello and Mrs Lacey, as hinted at in this book’s ending, I wouldn’t miss it.

Fifteen years ago I read (and enjoyed) a book by this author, Brooklyn. It was about a young lady who came from Ireland to Brooklyn and married into an Italian family. This is the continuation of that story.

In this story there is a dual setting: Long Island on a cul-de-sac with different branches of the family. And, a small village in Ireland. I have a soft spot for any story taking place in Ireland or New York City.

The writing style is different from anything I’m used to. It is narrative driven, even including the thoughts of the characters. The narrative is simply written, but it leaves an impact.
There is dialogue too, but not as impactful as the narration. Most of the narration seems to happen inside the characters' heads. None of the characters in the story seem to be very happy. There's a marriage in crisis, infidelity, separation, unhappy elderly mothers, moral decisions.

It sounds like this is a depressing story, but surprisingly, I became very invested in the characters. I was hoping that there would be resolution and I had my fingers crossed for them the whole time. It's also a good study in the fact that everything is not black or white. There's a much more grey than anything else.

The book ends as it should, in my mind. It fits with the tone of the book. And, perhaps there might be a sequel to the sequel. I hope it's not another 15 years.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

I was scared to read this as I loved Brooklyn so much and I thought there was no way that Long Island would measure up, but it did and more. The way Colm Toibin gets inside his characters heads is nothing short of amazing. This book is beautiful and it will break your heart.

Long Island by Colm Toibin returns the reader to Eilis and Tony 20 years in the future and the future has not provided the couple with a happily ever after. Instead we reunite with Eilis and Tony who’s existence is messy, complicated and Eilis is still out of place and isolated living in America, surrounded by Tony’s family. Eilis returns to Ireland for the first time in 20 years and her children join her to meet their family for the first time. The reader gets the opportunity to become reacquainted with many of the Irish characters from Brooklyn and how Eilis’ crosses paths with them on her visit home. The book ends on a cliffhanger and hopefully a future opportunity to return to Eilis’ story.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, McClelland & Stewart, NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Eilis hasn’t been home to Ireland in twenty years and there is a reason for that .Most likely she was content with her life in Long Island with her children and her husband’s Italian families living close by. However , this contentment is disrupted when she learns her husband has fathered a child that he must raise. Eilis wants none of this and travels to Ireland to figure out what she should do. This visit has it perks as her children will visit to see their grandmother for the first time , she reconnects with her mother her family , some friends and an old flame. Time has moved slowly back in Ireland as her old flame although committed to someone else still has a soft spot for her. He is a weak man who is unfaithful to a widow who has put up with his bachelor ways for years. Kiddos to her when she stands up for herself. Hopefully Eilis returns to America , as a woman who can live independently of her husband and his family and Jim and Nancy build that bungalow .