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Eilis Lacey #2
Long Island
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2024)From the beloved, critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving and intense novel of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love, the story of Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work, twenty years later.
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 that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. 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 his job and Eilis is in her home office doing her accounting, an Irishman comes to the door asking for her 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.
Long Island is about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis’ life are thunderous and dangerous, and there’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost.
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 that lives and works, eats and plays together. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no one to rely on in this still-new country. 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 his job and Eilis is in her home office doing her accounting, an Irishman comes to the door asking for her 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.
Long Island is about longings unfulfilled, even unrecognized. The silences in Eilis’ life are thunderous and dangerous, and there’s no one more deft than Tóibín at giving them language. This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost.
294 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2024
About the author
Colm Tóibín
215 books4,557 followersColm Tóibín FRSL, is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet. Tóibín is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University in Manhattan and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,876 reviews
May 9, 2024
What a disappointment. The Kirkus starred review describes, "a dramatic denouement," with "a plot twist worthy of Edith Wharton." To me it felt like the last page of the book must be missing, or that the author, unsure how the end the book simply decided not to.
June 2, 2024
4.5⭐️
Long Island by Colm Tóibín continues with the story of Eilis Lacey, our protagonist from Brooklyn . Set twenty years after the events of the first novel, Eilis, now in her forties, is the wife of Italian plumber Tony Fiorelli, whom we met in the first book. Parents to two teenagers, daughter Rossella and sixteen-year-old son Larry they have settled in Long Island in a cul-de-sac with Tony’s parents and two of her husband’s three brothers and their families as neighbors. Despite being a close-knit family and Eilis sharing a good relationship with everybody, she is conscious of how different she is from her close-knit extended family. The differences become more pronounced when Tony’s actions push their marriage into a downward spiral, and she feels his family isn’t supportive of her or her wishes.
Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland in twenty years, but feeling the need to distance herself from Tony and his family, decides to visit her mother who will soon turn eighty, with her children to join her later. As the narrative progresses, this time we follow Eilis as she revisits her hometown and those she had left behind when she chose to return to Tony all those years ago. Conflicted over her feelings for Tony, her responsibilities to children and the future she desires for herself, she is compelled to take stock of her life and reflect on her regrets and the consequences of her life choices. Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and complexities that arise when confronted with her past, she finds herself once again at a crossroads in life.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín is an exquisitely penned novel that had me hooked until the very last page. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Eilis and two other characters from her past in Ireland- her best friend Nancy and Jim Farrell with whom she once shared a romantic relationship, both of whom we had met in the previous book. Compared to the first book this is a more complex and layered novel and the author seamlessly weaves the three perspectives into an immersive, consistently paced narrative that revolves around love, family, secrets, choices and consequences. Not only do we get to follow Eilis’s journey but we are also provided insight into how her mother, brothers and friends have fared in the last twenty years and how her presence impacts them in the present day. The strength of this novel lies in its mature and realistic depiction of complex human emotions and relationships with minimal melodrama and concise yet elegant prose – be it the tensions between Eilis and Tony or Eilis and her mother, the complexities that arise between Nancy, Jim and Eilis or how Eilis’s children react to their troubled marriage. Though her children had never shown any interest in their Irish heritage, it was endearing to see them absorb as much as they could in the course of their visit and bond with their grandmother whom they were meeting for the first time and who welcomed them with open arms. I particularly liked how the author addresses the cracks in the relationship between Eilis and her mother. The Eilis we meet in this book is mature and complex. Though I could sympathize with her predicament with Tony and admired her inner strength and resolve, I couldn’t help but question some of her actions in the latter half of the story. The ending leaves us with more than a few unanswered questions and leaves me eager to explore Eilis's motivations further.
I would recommend reading the previous novel before picking up the sequel for a better understanding of Eilis’s journey and the events referenced in this novel.
To be honest, I did not think that Brooklyn needed a sequel, but the ending of Long Island has me eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Eilis’s life.
Many thanks to Scribner for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Long Island was published on May 7, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
Long Island by Colm Tóibín continues with the story of Eilis Lacey, our protagonist from Brooklyn . Set twenty years after the events of the first novel, Eilis, now in her forties, is the wife of Italian plumber Tony Fiorelli, whom we met in the first book. Parents to two teenagers, daughter Rossella and sixteen-year-old son Larry they have settled in Long Island in a cul-de-sac with Tony’s parents and two of her husband’s three brothers and their families as neighbors. Despite being a close-knit family and Eilis sharing a good relationship with everybody, she is conscious of how different she is from her close-knit extended family. The differences become more pronounced when Tony’s actions push their marriage into a downward spiral, and she feels his family isn’t supportive of her or her wishes.
Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland in twenty years, but feeling the need to distance herself from Tony and his family, decides to visit her mother who will soon turn eighty, with her children to join her later. As the narrative progresses, this time we follow Eilis as she revisits her hometown and those she had left behind when she chose to return to Tony all those years ago. Conflicted over her feelings for Tony, her responsibilities to children and the future she desires for herself, she is compelled to take stock of her life and reflect on her regrets and the consequences of her life choices. Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and complexities that arise when confronted with her past, she finds herself once again at a crossroads in life.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín is an exquisitely penned novel that had me hooked until the very last page. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Eilis and two other characters from her past in Ireland- her best friend Nancy and Jim Farrell with whom she once shared a romantic relationship, both of whom we had met in the previous book. Compared to the first book this is a more complex and layered novel and the author seamlessly weaves the three perspectives into an immersive, consistently paced narrative that revolves around love, family, secrets, choices and consequences. Not only do we get to follow Eilis’s journey but we are also provided insight into how her mother, brothers and friends have fared in the last twenty years and how her presence impacts them in the present day. The strength of this novel lies in its mature and realistic depiction of complex human emotions and relationships with minimal melodrama and concise yet elegant prose – be it the tensions between Eilis and Tony or Eilis and her mother, the complexities that arise between Nancy, Jim and Eilis or how Eilis’s children react to their troubled marriage. Though her children had never shown any interest in their Irish heritage, it was endearing to see them absorb as much as they could in the course of their visit and bond with their grandmother whom they were meeting for the first time and who welcomed them with open arms. I particularly liked how the author addresses the cracks in the relationship between Eilis and her mother. The Eilis we meet in this book is mature and complex. Though I could sympathize with her predicament with Tony and admired her inner strength and resolve, I couldn’t help but question some of her actions in the latter half of the story. The ending leaves us with more than a few unanswered questions and leaves me eager to explore Eilis's motivations further.
I would recommend reading the previous novel before picking up the sequel for a better understanding of Eilis’s journey and the events referenced in this novel.
To be honest, I did not think that Brooklyn needed a sequel, but the ending of Long Island has me eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Eilis’s life.
Many thanks to Scribner for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Long Island was published on May 7, 2024.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
May 16, 2024
I was as drawn to Eilis Lacey Fiorello as I was in Brooklyn when I first met her, even more so, perhaps. I found her more mature and stronger. I found it sad, though, that she’s lonely, 20 years after emigrating from Ireland and still not really feeling a part of her husband’s extended Italian family who live houses away from each other on Long Island. However, she manages to live her life, care for her family and maintain some independence and work as a bookkeeper. That is, until her husband Tony commits a transgression that turns their lives upside down. Sad because she has no one to call. I was impressed with Eilis’ strength, though, as the family plots to take care of things going against Eilis’ wishes as if what is happening doesn’t affect her and if she should have no say . She takes the reins and decides to return home to Ireland to visit her mother after twenty years.
Anyone who has read Brooklyn knows that Eilis is a complex character and that things were complicated when she returned to Ireland back then. As you might suspect, they will again be complicated upon her return. Told not just from Eilis’ point of view, but also from the man she once loved and her best friend, we get an introspective and intimate view of each one filled with uncertainty and emotions that are so realistic . Tóibín also gives us another ending that has me wanting to know what the future holds for Eilis. His alluring writing has me wanting to get to those books of his that I have not yet read . And hopefully a third book about Eilis.
I received a copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley.
Anyone who has read Brooklyn knows that Eilis is a complex character and that things were complicated when she returned to Ireland back then. As you might suspect, they will again be complicated upon her return. Told not just from Eilis’ point of view, but also from the man she once loved and her best friend, we get an introspective and intimate view of each one filled with uncertainty and emotions that are so realistic . Tóibín also gives us another ending that has me wanting to know what the future holds for Eilis. His alluring writing has me wanting to get to those books of his that I have not yet read . And hopefully a third book about Eilis.
I received a copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley.
May 10, 2024
This is a weirdly sterile and passionless novel where none of the characters express emotion. The reader is at a loss for where to cast his sympathies and interest.
May 17, 2024
Loved it!
I had not read Brooklyn, but last week I watched the movie and met Eilis, played by Saoirse Ronan.. it was a beautiful movie!
So.. at the end of Brooklyn, Eilis went back to Tony the Italian man she had married right before she went back to Ireland for a short time to see family. When she had been in Ireland she met Jim Farrell and they became very close, but… she was quite newly married and went back to New York
Eilis and Tony now married 20 yrs with two grown teenage children.. living in a cul-de-sac that includes all her in-laws family’s. Tony has broken Eilis’s heart with an infidelity that is complicated.
She returns to Ireland to get away and of course her story with Jim continues and it’s also very complicated.
I am leaving out the reasons for these complicated relationships because I want you to just read the book.
One downside…. it ends in a cliffhanger… boo…
Well… hope we don’t have to wait long for book 3.
I had not read Brooklyn, but last week I watched the movie and met Eilis, played by Saoirse Ronan.. it was a beautiful movie!
So.. at the end of Brooklyn, Eilis went back to Tony the Italian man she had married right before she went back to Ireland for a short time to see family. When she had been in Ireland she met Jim Farrell and they became very close, but… she was quite newly married and went back to New York
Eilis and Tony now married 20 yrs with two grown teenage children.. living in a cul-de-sac that includes all her in-laws family’s. Tony has broken Eilis’s heart with an infidelity that is complicated.
She returns to Ireland to get away and of course her story with Jim continues and it’s also very complicated.
I am leaving out the reasons for these complicated relationships because I want you to just read the book.
One downside…. it ends in a cliffhanger… boo…
Well… hope we don’t have to wait long for book 3.
December 4, 2024
thank you to colm tóibín for understanding what few do: all the books i like should get sequels.
this book is the absolute most i could enjoy any story that refused to go anywhere i wanted it to go, and in fact at any given time was following one nightmarish plot point with another unique hellscape of its own making.
in many ways this book was very similar to the last one — woman leaves one life and visits another path she could have taken and has to choose between them, ending on an emotional crisis and then a cliffhanger — but it wasn't as charming and i found it very stressful.
it also had three perspectives, which was a bummer because i love eilish (an evildoer who can do no wrong in my eyes) and i don't much care about anyone else.
it was still evocatively written and in many ways an excellent read, but it just wasn't so much for me.
bottom line: i guess i'll just hope for another random sequel in 15 years.
-------------------
tbr review
i haven't read the first one yet but i still know i want to read the second
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
this book is the absolute most i could enjoy any story that refused to go anywhere i wanted it to go, and in fact at any given time was following one nightmarish plot point with another unique hellscape of its own making.
in many ways this book was very similar to the last one — woman leaves one life and visits another path she could have taken and has to choose between them, ending on an emotional crisis and then a cliffhanger — but it wasn't as charming and i found it very stressful.
it also had three perspectives, which was a bummer because i love eilish (an evildoer who can do no wrong in my eyes) and i don't much care about anyone else.
it was still evocatively written and in many ways an excellent read, but it just wasn't so much for me.
bottom line: i guess i'll just hope for another random sequel in 15 years.
-------------------
tbr review
i haven't read the first one yet but i still know i want to read the second
(thanks to the publisher for the copy)
May 24, 2024
8 years ago I read Brooklyn, loved it, and considered it one of my favorite books of the year, so needless to say I was really looking forward to this one. We meet Eilis Lacey after 20 years of marriage, 2 teenage children, and, in the first chapter, an unforgivable betrayal. Her husband has gotten another woman pregnant and that husband shows up at her door saying he will leave the baby on her doorstep since it isn't his. When Eilis decides she will have nothing to do with it either, she goes home to Ireland to visit her 80 year old mother.
There she reconnects with an old love, Jim, who is secretly involved with her former best friend. He's playing both ends against the middle and gets snared in a web of lies. There are a lot of lies in this novel that quickly becomes a comedy of errors.
In this follow up, I could not come to care for any of these characters and I felt like the dialogue was stilted and unreal. Whether it's me or whether it's Toibin I'm unsure, but I'll just move on.
There she reconnects with an old love, Jim, who is secretly involved with her former best friend. He's playing both ends against the middle and gets snared in a web of lies. There are a lot of lies in this novel that quickly becomes a comedy of errors.
In this follow up, I could not come to care for any of these characters and I felt like the dialogue was stilted and unreal. Whether it's me or whether it's Toibin I'm unsure, but I'll just move on.
May 24, 2024
Read the previous book, Brooklyn, or see the movie. That will set you up nicely for where this one starts. Brooklyn, the novel, is short, understated—in fact, it wasn’t until the end that I appreciated it fully. But Long Island? Not just the best of the two books, but a deeply felt surprise. I went into this not expecting much; in fact, I thought it would be a strained sequel. Wow, was I ever wrong! Long Island will make my top ten of the year. These characters do not go away when you close the last page. I’m hoping for a trilogy. But I am not going to give even circumspect clues about how Tóibín ends things. That in itself would be a spoiler.
Long Island takes place twenty years post-Brooklyn, sometime in the 1970s now, and Irish-born Eilis has two teenage children with her husband, Italian American born Tony Fiorello. Tony has made a mess of things just recently (all for the reader to discover in the first few pages), and it is practically impossible for Eilis to think peacefully on her own. She is surrounded here in a cul-de-sac by Tony’s family in several of the houses. Everyone in the family knows everyone’s business, it’s just too much for Eilis right now.
Eilis’s mother and a brother are in Ireland, and have never met her children. She resolves to return home for a long visit, stay several weeks (if not months) before her children fly up to accompany her for their first visit. Of course, there’s drama in the gossipy village of Enniscorthy where Eilis grew up, and ghosts from her past that are living, breathing individuals, are ready to haunt or heat up at every turn. Besides her difficult mother, there’s the man she left behind, Jim Farrell. He runs one of the most popular pubs in town. Has never married.
Most of the novel is set in Ireland, as we follow Eilis and her children. The pace is perfect, never ever a dull moment. The prose reads with the alacrity of a gazelle, sprinting freely, yet fully dimensional in details and the authenticity of human dilemma. It’s real, folks! It’s suspenseful and thrilling, and the stakes just get higher and tighter as the pages turn. Oh, those stakes---a few went almost straight through my heart and bled me out.
Don’t worry---there is nothing melodramatic about this novel—that’s just me with my heart in their teeth. It is just as restrained as it needs to be, while also being fulsome and forthright. You never know what will happen next. The riskier the conduct, the more your own heart will pump and panic in equal measure.
What you have and what you left behind rub up against each other, and Eilis is compelled by unfinished business back in Enniscorthy. Broken bonds lay open and exposed, the harm to all the characters gradually revealed. As Eilis appraises her life and considers her options, she fully grasps the urgency to go back to her past in order to secure her future.
I must add my awe at how Tóibín develops characters with such sublime attention to the minute contradictions in human behavior, and how our outward-facing temperament may be highly interpretive. For example, Jim acts like what we know as *the strong silent type.* Is that why he is fiercely selective with his words? Tentative with weighty actions? Guarded about his life? Well, as quiet and restrained as he is, there is more than one way to interpret his personal style and cautious choices. The ending will blow you away, and that’s all I will say about that.
The author effortlessly crafts his tale, and he never intrudes on the action. Tóibín’s cast run the show—they fluently forward the plot with palpable intimacy. And enigma. For all their transparency, the reader won’t easily pierce the inexorable. The author steps out and lets them at it.
Eilis—the entire cast-- continues to carry on in my life. I can’t let them go, they are flawed, unforgettable, human. Eilis especially is inscribed in my personal atlas of eternal literary characters. In the space where truth-in-fiction exists, Eilis Lacey will endure. The story’s spry, subtle, and scintillating style was brilliant. I want another sequel and I rarely say that!
Addendum: Norah Webster makes a cameo appearance. (Also the title of one of my favorite Tóibín novels.) Background color basically. But it made me think about the Lucy Barton/Olive Kitteridge-verse. Tóibín has well established the Eilis Lacy-verse, and I'm a fan of him continuing to explore these nervy characters in both Enniscorthy and Long Island.
Long Island takes place twenty years post-Brooklyn, sometime in the 1970s now, and Irish-born Eilis has two teenage children with her husband, Italian American born Tony Fiorello. Tony has made a mess of things just recently (all for the reader to discover in the first few pages), and it is practically impossible for Eilis to think peacefully on her own. She is surrounded here in a cul-de-sac by Tony’s family in several of the houses. Everyone in the family knows everyone’s business, it’s just too much for Eilis right now.
Eilis’s mother and a brother are in Ireland, and have never met her children. She resolves to return home for a long visit, stay several weeks (if not months) before her children fly up to accompany her for their first visit. Of course, there’s drama in the gossipy village of Enniscorthy where Eilis grew up, and ghosts from her past that are living, breathing individuals, are ready to haunt or heat up at every turn. Besides her difficult mother, there’s the man she left behind, Jim Farrell. He runs one of the most popular pubs in town. Has never married.
Most of the novel is set in Ireland, as we follow Eilis and her children. The pace is perfect, never ever a dull moment. The prose reads with the alacrity of a gazelle, sprinting freely, yet fully dimensional in details and the authenticity of human dilemma. It’s real, folks! It’s suspenseful and thrilling, and the stakes just get higher and tighter as the pages turn. Oh, those stakes---a few went almost straight through my heart and bled me out.
Don’t worry---there is nothing melodramatic about this novel—that’s just me with my heart in their teeth. It is just as restrained as it needs to be, while also being fulsome and forthright. You never know what will happen next. The riskier the conduct, the more your own heart will pump and panic in equal measure.
What you have and what you left behind rub up against each other, and Eilis is compelled by unfinished business back in Enniscorthy. Broken bonds lay open and exposed, the harm to all the characters gradually revealed. As Eilis appraises her life and considers her options, she fully grasps the urgency to go back to her past in order to secure her future.
I must add my awe at how Tóibín develops characters with such sublime attention to the minute contradictions in human behavior, and how our outward-facing temperament may be highly interpretive. For example, Jim acts like what we know as *the strong silent type.* Is that why he is fiercely selective with his words? Tentative with weighty actions? Guarded about his life? Well, as quiet and restrained as he is, there is more than one way to interpret his personal style and cautious choices. The ending will blow you away, and that’s all I will say about that.
The author effortlessly crafts his tale, and he never intrudes on the action. Tóibín’s cast run the show—they fluently forward the plot with palpable intimacy. And enigma. For all their transparency, the reader won’t easily pierce the inexorable. The author steps out and lets them at it.
Eilis—the entire cast-- continues to carry on in my life. I can’t let them go, they are flawed, unforgettable, human. Eilis especially is inscribed in my personal atlas of eternal literary characters. In the space where truth-in-fiction exists, Eilis Lacey will endure. The story’s spry, subtle, and scintillating style was brilliant. I want another sequel and I rarely say that!
Addendum: Norah Webster makes a cameo appearance. (Also the title of one of my favorite Tóibín novels.) Background color basically. But it made me think about the Lucy Barton/Olive Kitteridge-verse. Tóibín has well established the Eilis Lacy-verse, and I'm a fan of him continuing to explore these nervy characters in both Enniscorthy and Long Island.
February 8, 2024
I was so incredibly excited to read this book. I have so much love for 'Brooklyn', such a worthy premise for a follow up.
But I threw this book across the room once I was done. I found it incredibly frustrating. If you're going to return to these characters after so long then can't I at least see them well? And failing that, could you at least provide definate answers to what their fate is? So unsatisfying and unnecessary.
But I threw this book across the room once I was done. I found it incredibly frustrating. If you're going to return to these characters after so long then can't I at least see them well? And failing that, could you at least provide definate answers to what their fate is? So unsatisfying and unnecessary.
May 13, 2024
Secret Consequences
Fifteen years after bringing us Eilis Lacey in the novel (and movie) “Brooklyn,” Colm Toibin updates us on her life. Still married to Tony, she has been slotted into a composed life in Long Island with her in-laws and their two children. A knock on the door changes everything. An irate man tells Eilis that Tony has impregnated his wife, and the man will not raise the child, that he will leave the baby at their doorstep.
No, no, no… Eilis makes a stand. She will not raise the child, will not accept the baby being brought into her house. She learns that her mother-in-law is plotting to take the baby in, literally just across the street. Eilis tells Tony she is going away, back to Ireland, to visit for her mother’s eightieth birthday. Their children will join her there– the question of whether she will return is up in the air. Though unspoken, the threat is that if Tony takes in the baby, the marriage will be over.
In the novel “Brooklyn,” Eilis left for Ireland after secretly marrying Tony. During her stay she drifted into a romance with Jim Farrell, who was unaware she was married, unaware of her secret. In the twenty-five years that have passed, he really never got over her or the abrupt way things ended. As fate would have it, just before Eilis returns, Jim develops a relationship with another woman, Nancy, and they secretly plan to marry. And then Eilis reappears.
Secrets, secrets, secrets. Nearly every character, every plot twist, is filled with them. No one considers that they are lying, it is more that concealment is preventing unnecessary complications. Every silence, every deception adds to the risk of discovery and the consequences we dread only increase the tension as the story progresses. The time bomb is ticking, and we are propelled to the finale. A brilliantly crafted novel.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #ScribnerBooks #ColmToibin #LongIsland
Fifteen years after bringing us Eilis Lacey in the novel (and movie) “Brooklyn,” Colm Toibin updates us on her life. Still married to Tony, she has been slotted into a composed life in Long Island with her in-laws and their two children. A knock on the door changes everything. An irate man tells Eilis that Tony has impregnated his wife, and the man will not raise the child, that he will leave the baby at their doorstep.
No, no, no… Eilis makes a stand. She will not raise the child, will not accept the baby being brought into her house. She learns that her mother-in-law is plotting to take the baby in, literally just across the street. Eilis tells Tony she is going away, back to Ireland, to visit for her mother’s eightieth birthday. Their children will join her there– the question of whether she will return is up in the air. Though unspoken, the threat is that if Tony takes in the baby, the marriage will be over.
In the novel “Brooklyn,” Eilis left for Ireland after secretly marrying Tony. During her stay she drifted into a romance with Jim Farrell, who was unaware she was married, unaware of her secret. In the twenty-five years that have passed, he really never got over her or the abrupt way things ended. As fate would have it, just before Eilis returns, Jim develops a relationship with another woman, Nancy, and they secretly plan to marry. And then Eilis reappears.
Secrets, secrets, secrets. Nearly every character, every plot twist, is filled with them. No one considers that they are lying, it is more that concealment is preventing unnecessary complications. Every silence, every deception adds to the risk of discovery and the consequences we dread only increase the tension as the story progresses. The time bomb is ticking, and we are propelled to the finale. A brilliantly crafted novel.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #ScribnerBooks #ColmToibin #LongIsland
May 25, 2024
Much more like 4.5 stars. Read this in a long day of travel where I all I could do while sitting in airports and airplanes is read. The best of times. It’s a work of art, this book, and my only reason for holding back that fifth star is art sometimes needs its creator to tell you what you are seeing. Definitely a good book club book because the ending will have you wanting to talk to someone, like right now…And I had no one to talk to…
April 14, 2024
Audiobook: incredible narration!!
Going to be thinking about these characters for a while! Let me gather my thoughts and get a better review written. I will say that if this is on your list to read, please please read Brooklyn before (and maybe follow it up with the movie because it’s incredible) and if you’re an audiobook listener, listen to Brooklyn and Long Island back to back!!!! It will feel like a big family saga. You’ll get sucked into the story and feel so close to everyone by the end.
Going to be thinking about these characters for a while! Let me gather my thoughts and get a better review written. I will say that if this is on your list to read, please please read Brooklyn before (and maybe follow it up with the movie because it’s incredible) and if you’re an audiobook listener, listen to Brooklyn and Long Island back to back!!!! It will feel like a big family saga. You’ll get sucked into the story and feel so close to everyone by the end.
June 23, 2024
There comes a point in this book, like so many other Toibin books, where it becomes impossible to put it down. I finished reading this on a plane between Singapore and Melbourne. I would have read Brooklyn, what is essentially part one of this novel, when it first came out in 2009. There were very few things that had stuck with me in the decade and more since. There was the sense of the boarding room she stayed in, the loneliness, the sand that I guess must have been on Coney Island. There was the claustrophobic sense of Ireland in the 1950s, but how much I wanted her to stay there and not go back to the US. But I’d forgotten why. Now, look, none of these are spoilers – and you don’t even have to have remembered that much of the previous book to read this one. Eilis Lacey #2. Toibin holds your hand and walks with you throughout. But ah, by Jesus, this is a fine novel. This is an author in total command of the art, and writing in sentences that a ten-year-old could read without stumbling, even if not fully comprehending the utter beauty and simplicity of them.
Suddenly, while you’re reading this, you realise that this book can end in any one of about fifteen different ways – and you also realise that you don’t want it to end in any of those ways. Each one is so bitter and so sweet. Each one is certain to rip your heart out and leave you cold and naked – alone in the most dreadful of ways.
This is a seriously beautiful book. Achingly so. And if you want to see what effortless, beautiful writing looks like – this is a master-class. I have to say, I would give anything, anything in the world, to be able to write like this. The courage of his simple sentences is a joy to behold. He does not waste a word.
I’m going to shut up now – or I’ll spoil the book on you. But get this, read it, find a quiet place where the language and the story can rush you through the last 50 pages. You’ll regret this ever ends.
Suddenly, while you’re reading this, you realise that this book can end in any one of about fifteen different ways – and you also realise that you don’t want it to end in any of those ways. Each one is so bitter and so sweet. Each one is certain to rip your heart out and leave you cold and naked – alone in the most dreadful of ways.
This is a seriously beautiful book. Achingly so. And if you want to see what effortless, beautiful writing looks like – this is a master-class. I have to say, I would give anything, anything in the world, to be able to write like this. The courage of his simple sentences is a joy to behold. He does not waste a word.
I’m going to shut up now – or I’ll spoil the book on you. But get this, read it, find a quiet place where the language and the story can rush you through the last 50 pages. You’ll regret this ever ends.
February 21, 2024
I was so excited to read this sequel to Brooklyn, but felt like it was just a bridge to a third book. Left me disappointed.
July 19, 2024
This is a sequel to the authors previous book, “Brooklyn,” and maybe even a companion to his book, “Nora Webster,” but it doesn’t fully read like one. In other words, I didn’t realize that Eilis’s story began in “Brooklyn,” until I was mid-way through the story. Or, the story of Eilis’ mother, Mrs. Lacey from ‘Nora Webster’ would come up again here. Which meant, that if you read ‘Brooklyn’ by the author years ago, or hadn’t read ‘Brooklyn,’ or even ‘Nora Webster’ you aren’t going to feel fully lost by reading ‘Long Island.’ The author gives us a sense of both of their past history, so we can follow along on this journey.
And, when it had to do with Eilis, I found myself most engaged in the storyline. She (to me) was the most interesting and vivid character of all of them. I liked the way she stands up for what she believes in and what she chooses for her destiny.
Because living in the time she is, there are many social norms and family expectations, and constraints.
What her husband chooses to do, and his family’s response to it, and her response gives readers an opportunity to choose sides. (At least, that is how I felt.) And, join her as she explores finding her past and reconnecting with her mother, in Ireland. And, perhaps something she left behind in Ireland (first love?) that may deserve a second chance.
The problem for me was that “Brooklyn” and “Nora Webster” were so far in the distance, and the character list was so long, that I had a hard time keeping track of everyone at times. So much plot and incidents and twists and declarations, that I found myself feeling a bit frustrated by it all. I preferred the scenes with Eilis and just wanted to find out what she was going to decide for herself.
The book is a slow build that picks up at the end, where sometimes characters are left with unanswered questions.
Still, the question will be, do we as readers find satisfaction by the time we reach the end of this story? Or, will the same thing happen to us – unanswered questions?
And, when it had to do with Eilis, I found myself most engaged in the storyline. She (to me) was the most interesting and vivid character of all of them. I liked the way she stands up for what she believes in and what she chooses for her destiny.
Because living in the time she is, there are many social norms and family expectations, and constraints.
What her husband chooses to do, and his family’s response to it, and her response gives readers an opportunity to choose sides. (At least, that is how I felt.) And, join her as she explores finding her past and reconnecting with her mother, in Ireland. And, perhaps something she left behind in Ireland (first love?) that may deserve a second chance.
The problem for me was that “Brooklyn” and “Nora Webster” were so far in the distance, and the character list was so long, that I had a hard time keeping track of everyone at times. So much plot and incidents and twists and declarations, that I found myself feeling a bit frustrated by it all. I preferred the scenes with Eilis and just wanted to find out what she was going to decide for herself.
The book is a slow build that picks up at the end, where sometimes characters are left with unanswered questions.
Still, the question will be, do we as readers find satisfaction by the time we reach the end of this story? Or, will the same thing happen to us – unanswered questions?
May 12, 2024
Your husband fathers a child with another woman. The solution is to go to Ireland and rekindle the relationship you left behind 20 years ago with no thought to how it would impact anyone but yourself? I’m unhappy with the female friendship that seems to be worthless. Just shaking my head. I had a similar problem with Eilis in Brooklyn. Are there really such self-absorbed women?
I love the descriptive language and don’t mind the slow pace. I just want more empathy.
I love the descriptive language and don’t mind the slow pace. I just want more empathy.
August 1, 2024
Beth and I buddy read Brooklyn and Long Island, one after the other. In Long Island, Eilis’s story continues now, years later, living with Tony’s family in Long Island. The beginning of the story starts with quite the bang. It’s included in the synopsis, but I’ll hold off here. That first section where this is dealt with, and before Eilis goes to Ireland, is so absorbing and compelling. I was in awe of how Eilis handles such a difficult situation and how empowered she is to make her stance known to Tony and everyone in the family.
Then, also, there’s the story of Eilis’s return to Ireland, the changing dynamics with her mother, her friend, Nancy, and, of course, Jim. In both books, Eilis’s narrative is deeply personal and intimate. We know her, and perhaps even understand her motivations to an extent. Toibin concludes Long Island with another mic drop. I filled in the blanks, just as with Brooklyn, but I can’t help but hope for another story with Eilis. Beth and I agreed she has to be one of the most charming and well-developed characters in literature. So well-done.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Then, also, there’s the story of Eilis’s return to Ireland, the changing dynamics with her mother, her friend, Nancy, and, of course, Jim. In both books, Eilis’s narrative is deeply personal and intimate. We know her, and perhaps even understand her motivations to an extent. Toibin concludes Long Island with another mic drop. I filled in the blanks, just as with Brooklyn, but I can’t help but hope for another story with Eilis. Beth and I agreed she has to be one of the most charming and well-developed characters in literature. So well-done.
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Want to read
November 24, 2023I need this like I need air.
June 30, 2024
If you have not read Brooklyn, the first book in the Eilis Lacey series, do that before you embark upon this next book in the series. (It may be sufficient to watch the beautiful film version of that book.) Given the ending of this one, at least one more book is MANDATORY and lord do I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers!
Long Island picks up about 20 years after the end of Brooklyn. Eilis and Tony have moved, with the rest of Tony's family, to neighboring houses in Lindenhurst, Long Island. Tony's family's plumbing business is a success. Eilis and Tony have raised two children, Rosella and Larry. Everyone is living a placid suburban life amongst a sea of family members who are up in each other's business all the time. I am going to avoid spoilers in this review, but I need to cover something that happens in the opening pages which sets up the rest of the story. If you don't want to know, stop reading now.
Tony has done some plumbing in a local home and it appears he and the lady of the house cleared each other's pipes. Long story short, she is pregnant and her husband has said he will not raise the baby and will deliver it to Eilis and Tony's doorstep upon its birth. Eilis had put her foot down and said she is not raising another woman's child and if any family member takes in the baby she is leaving. Having reached a standoff Eilis leaves Tony to decide what he is going to to and runs off to her mother's home in Enniscorthy (County Wexford I believe) after having been absent for 20 years. Those who read Brooklyn will recall that last time Eilis ran off to Enniscorthy immediately after marrying Tony she had a romantic relationship with Jim Farrell. She gadded about town with Jim and another couple. For readers who read Brooklyn the fact that Eilis is living in Long Island with Tony is, I guess, a spoiler regarding the outcome of her relationship with Jim. So here we are, years later. Jim has never married and runs the family pub, and has never fully gotten over Eilis. Her return presents many complications in his life. I will not get into that because it is the heart of this story. Eilis needs to figure out the rest of her life, and her choices will impact many people in Ireland and America.
I don't want to say more, but the story is beautiful and enveloping. It is a quiet story, as we expect from Toibin, but not as quiet as the other books I have read by him. Those books were fully character studies, but this leans more into plot. Also, in this book we have three POV characters though Toibin usually focuses on one character. In Long Island seeing things only from Eilis's perspective would not have worked. Wed need to see things from the other perspectives to fully understand the stakes in Eilis's decisions. Also, the other main characters, Jim and Nancy (Eilis' former BFF and also half of the other couple who Jim and Eilis hung out with in the Ireland-set portions of Brooklyn) are really great characters. I loved spending time with both. They manage to be very steady but still full of surprises.
This is great storytelling. If you want to take up residence in an Irish village for a little while this is a great choice. (All of Toibin's books that I have read are great choices for this.) Already looking forward to book 3. I just hope it comes faster than this since 15 years have elapsed since Brooklyn came out.
I listened t this, and Jessie Buckley's narration was great except when she was talking like the Long Island Italians, who all sounded the same regardless of age, education, or gender -- and also that is not at all how LI Italian people sound. Luckily that was a tiny fraction of the narration after the first half hour.
Long Island picks up about 20 years after the end of Brooklyn. Eilis and Tony have moved, with the rest of Tony's family, to neighboring houses in Lindenhurst, Long Island. Tony's family's plumbing business is a success. Eilis and Tony have raised two children, Rosella and Larry. Everyone is living a placid suburban life amongst a sea of family members who are up in each other's business all the time. I am going to avoid spoilers in this review, but I need to cover something that happens in the opening pages which sets up the rest of the story. If you don't want to know, stop reading now.
Tony has done some plumbing in a local home and it appears he and the lady of the house cleared each other's pipes. Long story short, she is pregnant and her husband has said he will not raise the baby and will deliver it to Eilis and Tony's doorstep upon its birth. Eilis had put her foot down and said she is not raising another woman's child and if any family member takes in the baby she is leaving. Having reached a standoff Eilis leaves Tony to decide what he is going to to and runs off to her mother's home in Enniscorthy (County Wexford I believe) after having been absent for 20 years. Those who read Brooklyn will recall that last time Eilis ran off to Enniscorthy immediately after marrying Tony she had a romantic relationship with Jim Farrell. She gadded about town with Jim and another couple. For readers who read Brooklyn the fact that Eilis is living in Long Island with Tony is, I guess, a spoiler regarding the outcome of her relationship with Jim. So here we are, years later. Jim has never married and runs the family pub, and has never fully gotten over Eilis. Her return presents many complications in his life. I will not get into that because it is the heart of this story. Eilis needs to figure out the rest of her life, and her choices will impact many people in Ireland and America.
I don't want to say more, but the story is beautiful and enveloping. It is a quiet story, as we expect from Toibin, but not as quiet as the other books I have read by him. Those books were fully character studies, but this leans more into plot. Also, in this book we have three POV characters though Toibin usually focuses on one character. In Long Island seeing things only from Eilis's perspective would not have worked. Wed need to see things from the other perspectives to fully understand the stakes in Eilis's decisions. Also, the other main characters, Jim and Nancy (Eilis' former BFF and also half of the other couple who Jim and Eilis hung out with in the Ireland-set portions of Brooklyn) are really great characters. I loved spending time with both. They manage to be very steady but still full of surprises.
This is great storytelling. If you want to take up residence in an Irish village for a little while this is a great choice. (All of Toibin's books that I have read are great choices for this.) Already looking forward to book 3. I just hope it comes faster than this since 15 years have elapsed since Brooklyn came out.
I listened t this, and Jessie Buckley's narration was great except when she was talking like the Long Island Italians, who all sounded the same regardless of age, education, or gender -- and also that is not at all how LI Italian people sound. Luckily that was a tiny fraction of the narration after the first half hour.
April 30, 2024
She wished that Rosella and Larry were coming now and not weeks away. She wished her mother would let her talk about them. But she barely let herself think about what she wished for most — that she were not in her mother’s living room trying to write a letter, hearing her mother move with difficulty in the room upstairs, but rather at home, waking to the soft light of early summer that appeared through the curtains of her bedroom on Long Island.
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 while the middle of a trilogy is often underwhelming, I spent a few pleasant hours with this book without ultimately leaving impressed. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
When the doorbell rang, Eilis stood up lazily, presuming that it was one of Larry’s cousins calling for him to come and play. However, from the hallway, she made out the silhouette of a grown man through the frosted glass of the door. Until he called out her name, it did not occur to her that this was the man Francesca had mentioned. She opened the door.
‘You are Eilis Fiorello?’
The accent was Irish, with a trace, she thought, of Donegal, like a teacher she had had in school. Also, the way the man stood there, as though waiting to be challenged, reminded her of home.
Set twenty years after the end of Brooklyn, Eilis lives with her husband, Tony, and their teenage children, Rosella and Larry, on a quite cul-de-sac whose only other residents are Tony’s extended Italian family; the matriarch Francesca watching and controlling everything from behind her kitchen’s cafe curtains. When a man comes to Eilis’ door to deliver life-changing news, Francesca arranges a response behind the scenes that sidelines Eilis’ agency, so she decides to grasp some power over her life and spend the summer back home in Ireland, taking the kids with her. Once back in the village of Enniscorthy — and in the home of her own watching and controlling mother — Eilis mostly avoids the gossip-mongering locals (everyone is whispering about how she can afford a fancy rental car for weeks, she’s not going to let them know about her troubles back home), and when she does run into old friends, Eilis is careful not to share too much (which leads to Eilis’ insouciant disruption of other people’s lives, as her own had been disrupted.) The questions unasked and unanswered, the omissions and lies, gossip and game-playing — Eilis is just one of many characters with hidden agendas and their interactions were consistently frustrating:
Eilis appeared puzzled, as though she hadn’t heard him properly. But he knew not to repeat the question; instead, he should give her time to take it in. He kept his eyes on her and let the silence linger. She didn’t move at all. He wondered if she was thinking about something else or if she was working out how to reply. He began to count the seconds as they went by, until he got to a hundred and then two hundred. He could feel that his own face was burned from the midday sun at Cush. But Eilis’s colour had not changed. She was pale. She looked around the room and then directly at him. He sensed that his question still hung in the air and then it became obvious that she wasn’t going to answer it.
Again: I understand that this is a middle volume of the “Eilis Lacey Series”, and without having read the first volume, I didn’t get the pleasure of catching up with beloved old characters, 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.
May 10, 2024
I don’t know why Oprah chose this for her book club. The story draws you in, but true to the author’s form he leaves it all up in the air at the end. I read the first in the series expecting some closure in the 2nd only to be left hanging once again. I don’t think I’ll be reading anything else from this author if this is his M.O.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2024
Colm Tóibín doesn't normally do sequels, but he came up with an idea for a follow-up to Brooklyn that was too strong to resist. It's twenty years after the events of that novel - Eilis Lacey is living in New York with her Italian-American husband Tony and their two teenage children. Life is going relatively well until one awful day when her world is turned upside-down. A stranger arrives at the family home to inform Eilis that Tony has had an affair and gotten his wife pregnant. This man wants nothing to do with the baby and declares that when it is born, he will leave it on their doorstep for Eilis and Tony to look after. Eilis is stunned but adamant that she will not rear this child either. With her life in turmoil, she decides to travel back home to Ireland to clear her head. This trip will come as an escape from her current woes, but it will also force her to confront uncomfortable situations from her past that remain unresolved.
Brooklyn had a famous love triangle at its heart, and Long Island imagines another one just as complicated. Jim Carroll, abandoned by Eilis all those years ago, still holds a candle for her. Though he never married, he has done his best to move on and found happiness with Nancy, former best friend of Eilis. Her return, however, causes dormant feelings to resurface. Tóibín is so adept at capturing the complex emotions of yearning and regret. As they approach middle age, these three characters are as unsure and impulsive as ever, guided by short-term desires. Eilis feels trapped by her family dilemma, Jim doesn't know which woman will make him happy, while Nancy mourns her late husband and fumbles her way towards contentment in a relationship of convenience. Tóibín also excels at presenting a portrait of smalltown Irish life, where secrets are impossible to keep. However, I do think the ending is too abrupt - maybe it's meant to reflect the indecisiveness of the characters, but I found it unsatisfying. Still, this is a wonderful novel: the people within and their problems feel so real. It's a testament to an author who always depicts a profound understanding of the human condition.
Favourite Quotes:
"It would be hard to explain to her how lonely he felt when he came into these rooms after closing time and how that feeling became more intense if he woke in the night or in the morning. He had not felt like this before the possibility of being with her arose. Now that it was there as something that would happen, it made his solitary state almost unbearable, at least some of the time."
"If she were to indicate that she was happily married and would soon be returning to her husband, that would, it now occurred to him, make things simple. He would not have to make any decisions. He would feel a dull disappointment. But he was used to that. It was what he carried upstairs to this room most nights."
"When she asked him what he regretted most, he was at a loss. He regretted the years going by; he regretted that he had taken so long to find someone he could be happy with."
Brooklyn had a famous love triangle at its heart, and Long Island imagines another one just as complicated. Jim Carroll, abandoned by Eilis all those years ago, still holds a candle for her. Though he never married, he has done his best to move on and found happiness with Nancy, former best friend of Eilis. Her return, however, causes dormant feelings to resurface. Tóibín is so adept at capturing the complex emotions of yearning and regret. As they approach middle age, these three characters are as unsure and impulsive as ever, guided by short-term desires. Eilis feels trapped by her family dilemma, Jim doesn't know which woman will make him happy, while Nancy mourns her late husband and fumbles her way towards contentment in a relationship of convenience. Tóibín also excels at presenting a portrait of smalltown Irish life, where secrets are impossible to keep. However, I do think the ending is too abrupt - maybe it's meant to reflect the indecisiveness of the characters, but I found it unsatisfying. Still, this is a wonderful novel: the people within and their problems feel so real. It's a testament to an author who always depicts a profound understanding of the human condition.
Favourite Quotes:
"It would be hard to explain to her how lonely he felt when he came into these rooms after closing time and how that feeling became more intense if he woke in the night or in the morning. He had not felt like this before the possibility of being with her arose. Now that it was there as something that would happen, it made his solitary state almost unbearable, at least some of the time."
"If she were to indicate that she was happily married and would soon be returning to her husband, that would, it now occurred to him, make things simple. He would not have to make any decisions. He would feel a dull disappointment. But he was used to that. It was what he carried upstairs to this room most nights."
"When she asked him what he regretted most, he was at a loss. He regretted the years going by; he regretted that he had taken so long to find someone he could be happy with."
April 4, 2024
#Gifted
Long Island is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín’s 2009 bestselling novel that was also turned into a movie. I loved both book and film so I was really excited to get stuck into this latest release and find out how Eilís is getting on.
Brooklyn takes place in the 1950’s, and Long Island transports us forward to the 70’s. Eilís is happily ensconced with Italian American husband Tony, and their two teenage kids Rosalyn and Larry. Their community consists of his extended family, which can be a little cloying at times as they often misunderstand Eilís and the cultural differences she brings with her. Still, all is going reasonably well until a knock at the door brings bad news.
Feeling unmoored from her life in America, Eilís decides it’s time to return home to visit her mother, friends, and even a former love interest to see if there’s still a place for her in her homeland.
Soon Eilís realises that you can in fact go home again, but what you thought was home may not exist anymore.
I loved this book. Tóibín is such an understated, gentle writer; his prose is often simple, but yet is so impactful. There’s a very definite sense of time and place; even thinking of it now, I can picture the small town in Wexford, the nearby beach, and Eilís sticking out like a sore thumb in her New York clothes.
All of the characters felt like real people to me; Eilís keeps her cards close to her chest, and you can feel how she struggles with her mother’s gossipy ways. Their interactions felt very realistic, and honest; Eilís is a “foreigner” in America, and now Ireland too, and navigating that is difficult and feels well portrayed here.
My only qualm is that the ending is ambiguous, and I’m only mentioning that because I know a lot of people dislike that. I personally see it as a “choose your own adventure” so it doesn’t bother me 😅, but I’m pointing it out now so no one can get annoyed with me 🤣
That said! I highly recommend this book, I already know it’ll be in my favourites list for 2024. It was both a joy and a comfort to read.
With many thanks to @bookbreakuk and @panmacmillan for my advanced copy. Out in May!
Long Island is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín’s 2009 bestselling novel that was also turned into a movie. I loved both book and film so I was really excited to get stuck into this latest release and find out how Eilís is getting on.
Brooklyn takes place in the 1950’s, and Long Island transports us forward to the 70’s. Eilís is happily ensconced with Italian American husband Tony, and their two teenage kids Rosalyn and Larry. Their community consists of his extended family, which can be a little cloying at times as they often misunderstand Eilís and the cultural differences she brings with her. Still, all is going reasonably well until a knock at the door brings bad news.
Feeling unmoored from her life in America, Eilís decides it’s time to return home to visit her mother, friends, and even a former love interest to see if there’s still a place for her in her homeland.
Soon Eilís realises that you can in fact go home again, but what you thought was home may not exist anymore.
I loved this book. Tóibín is such an understated, gentle writer; his prose is often simple, but yet is so impactful. There’s a very definite sense of time and place; even thinking of it now, I can picture the small town in Wexford, the nearby beach, and Eilís sticking out like a sore thumb in her New York clothes.
All of the characters felt like real people to me; Eilís keeps her cards close to her chest, and you can feel how she struggles with her mother’s gossipy ways. Their interactions felt very realistic, and honest; Eilís is a “foreigner” in America, and now Ireland too, and navigating that is difficult and feels well portrayed here.
My only qualm is that the ending is ambiguous, and I’m only mentioning that because I know a lot of people dislike that. I personally see it as a “choose your own adventure” so it doesn’t bother me 😅, but I’m pointing it out now so no one can get annoyed with me 🤣
That said! I highly recommend this book, I already know it’ll be in my favourites list for 2024. It was both a joy and a comfort to read.
With many thanks to @bookbreakuk and @panmacmillan for my advanced copy. Out in May!
July 15, 2024
3.5 STARS
This book has left me conflicted. I read Brooklyn in 2015 and I loved it- it was one of my top ten that year. In that book, I could feel Eilis’ unsureness- her ultimate decision made, she moved back to New York.
Again in this book, Eilis has to make tough decisions. We know from the blurb that Eilis finds out in Chapter 1 that Tony has been unfaithful and the other woman is pregnant. The other woman’s husband has told Eilis that he will be dropping that baby off on her doorstep. What a stunning revelation! Eilis decides she needs to get away, so decides to go back to Ireland, after a 20 year absence. This go round, we follow Nancy Sheridan, Eilis’ past best friend and Jim Farrell, her former Irish love.
There are so many secrets in this book and so many “Don’t tell” warnings. I was left with so many questions by the end of the book. Eilis, as a character, was not as well fleshed out this time. She seemed very flat to me. I couldn’t decide if she had or had not been happy over the past 20 years. She is supposedly a strong person, but she never seemed able to stand up for herself. She objected to the baby, but yet she never asked Tony why this affair had happened. What went on in Enniscorthy, Ireland became like a three ring circus, with Jim ensconced in the middle. I wasn’t sure how Toibin would bring it to a conclusion, but conclude it he did. Hopefully, this is not the end of Eilis’ story, because if it is, what a disappointment!
Published: 2024
This book has left me conflicted. I read Brooklyn in 2015 and I loved it- it was one of my top ten that year. In that book, I could feel Eilis’ unsureness- her ultimate decision made, she moved back to New York.
Again in this book, Eilis has to make tough decisions. We know from the blurb that Eilis finds out in Chapter 1 that Tony has been unfaithful and the other woman is pregnant. The other woman’s husband has told Eilis that he will be dropping that baby off on her doorstep. What a stunning revelation! Eilis decides she needs to get away, so decides to go back to Ireland, after a 20 year absence. This go round, we follow Nancy Sheridan, Eilis’ past best friend and Jim Farrell, her former Irish love.
There are so many secrets in this book and so many “Don’t tell” warnings. I was left with so many questions by the end of the book. Eilis, as a character, was not as well fleshed out this time. She seemed very flat to me. I couldn’t decide if she had or had not been happy over the past 20 years. She is supposedly a strong person, but she never seemed able to stand up for herself. She objected to the baby, but yet she never asked Tony why this affair had happened. What went on in Enniscorthy, Ireland became like a three ring circus, with Jim ensconced in the middle. I wasn’t sure how Toibin would bring it to a conclusion, but conclude it he did. Hopefully, this is not the end of Eilis’ story, because if it is, what a disappointment!
Published: 2024
July 18, 2024
I’m baffled! Why would Mr. Toibin leave us hanging like this? All I can say is, He’d better be planning a third book in this Eilis Lacey series!
Without a doubt, Long Island is another Colm Toibin masterpiece! The characters he invented for this series are absolutely spectacular! What a bunch of very interesting characters they are!! Although… Whew!😮💨 For me, that's a huge relief!!! But still, I wish Toibin would give us something—anything! And, please sir, don’t make us wait another 15 years to find out!!!🙏
Very highly recommended, with the caveat that Brooklyn is a must-read first!!
5 “Please, No more cliffhangers, Mr. Toibin!” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Without a doubt, Long Island is another Colm Toibin masterpiece! The characters he invented for this series are absolutely spectacular! What a bunch of very interesting characters they are!! Although… Whew!😮💨 For me, that's a huge relief!!! But still, I wish Toibin would give us something—anything! And, please sir, don’t make us wait another 15 years to find out!!!🙏
Very highly recommended, with the caveat that Brooklyn is a must-read first!!
5 “Please, No more cliffhangers, Mr. Toibin!” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
May 14, 2024
Long Island by Colm Toibin is a captivating continuation of his novel Brooklyn. We rejoin Eilis, now married to Tony for twenty years with two teenage kids, as she faces an unexpected challenge that threaten her marriage and family when a stranger with an Irish brogue delivers life- altering news. She lives in a cul-de-sac in Long Island where her neighbors are Tony’s family. She can barely go for a walk by herself. As her mother is nearing her 80th birthday, Eilis returns to Ireland to think things through, with her kids joining later. The strong connection she has to her homeland is evident throughout the narrative. She may never go back.
Toibin brings back familiar characters like Nancy and Jim, weaving their stories into a compelling love triangle. As secrets unravel and tensions rise, the dynamics between the characters become increasingly complex. The novel had a gripping start and kept a relatively steady pace throughout. It's a must-read if you enjoyed Brooklyn or for anyone who enjoys deeply layered, fictional stories. I believe this book stands on its own but would be a more enriching experience if you read the first in the series. The ending will definitely leave you wanting more of Eilis.
Toibin brings back familiar characters like Nancy and Jim, weaving their stories into a compelling love triangle. As secrets unravel and tensions rise, the dynamics between the characters become increasingly complex. The novel had a gripping start and kept a relatively steady pace throughout. It's a must-read if you enjoyed Brooklyn or for anyone who enjoys deeply layered, fictional stories. I believe this book stands on its own but would be a more enriching experience if you read the first in the series. The ending will definitely leave you wanting more of Eilis.
May 19, 2024
That has got to be the worst ending of both books that I have ever read! After reading thousands of books over the years, never have I reads ones with the worse endings ever. A waste of time, do not read! Why would anyone even print this book?
August 1, 2024
It is difficult to explain how thrilling I find this type of story, as done by Colm Tóibín: small, quiet from the outside, lives and dilemas, and I am in tenterhooks over what somebody will choose to do, to say, or even to think. This will not be everybody's cup of tea for sure, but this like Brooklyn was still a page turner to me (summer speed...). The brutality of some decisions, the lack of sentimentality, or some thoughts nobody in the outside will ever be aware of is really quite amazing.
Tóibín's writing is fantastic, simple but beautiful, and the people, all the characters—are so well defined, not just the POV characters but all the others are also vivid and complete, even with just some words about them. Apparently he has written about Thomas Mann and that makes sense, it is that type of writing of story (it is also reminding me a bit of Jane Austen or even more Robertson Davies though, quite different).
Long Island is a sequel to Brooklyn, set some 20 years past (1972?, we go back to whatever happened to Eilis Lacey and this time going back to a few of the characters who stayed in Enniscorthy. It was also really timely, in Portugal August (and July) is the season of the return of the emigrants for the summer holidays, and this ended up being perfectly seasonal that way since most of the setting was Eilis returning to Eniscirthy one summer in the 1970s. It felt so universal, its cultural differences just making similarities deeper, again about emigration, moving, changing cultures andconnections to a place.
Tóibín is again fantastic at writing women, and he adds a male POV, which also seemed fantastically believable. A warning: despite this being explicitly called the Eilis Lacey series, the focus of this book is not just Eilis, particularly the ending of it. I thought the ending was fantastic and powerful (but I am self-acknowledgedly weird about such things), but a lot is left for Eilis to do, and I think any reader who got to this point (likely likes and is interested in Eilis) is going to be left clamouring for more, for a full-fledged trilogy, at the very least. It was a great ending, but Eilis' story is not done quite yet for us readers...It took him 15 years, after Brooklyn, to publish this, I hope he does not take as long and publishes another book about Eilis faster, but I am in, whenever he publishes it.
I am definitely his other work, and I had noticed he has written a book titled Nora Webster and there is a Nora Webster character with backstory in this novel, so I guess this is a spin-off of that too. I will be reading it soonish also!
Tóibín's writing is fantastic, simple but beautiful, and the people, all the characters—are so well defined, not just the POV characters but all the others are also vivid and complete, even with just some words about them. Apparently he has written about Thomas Mann and that makes sense, it is that type of writing of story (it is also reminding me a bit of Jane Austen or even more Robertson Davies though, quite different).
Long Island is a sequel to Brooklyn, set some 20 years past (1972?, we go back to whatever happened to Eilis Lacey and this time going back to a few of the characters who stayed in Enniscorthy. It was also really timely, in Portugal August (and July) is the season of the return of the emigrants for the summer holidays, and this ended up being perfectly seasonal that way since most of the setting was Eilis returning to Eniscirthy one summer in the 1970s. It felt so universal, its cultural differences just making similarities deeper, again about emigration, moving, changing cultures andconnections to a place.
Tóibín is again fantastic at writing women, and he adds a male POV, which also seemed fantastically believable. A warning: despite this being explicitly called the Eilis Lacey series, the focus of this book is not just Eilis, particularly the ending of it. I thought the ending was fantastic and powerful (but I am self-acknowledgedly weird about such things), but a lot is left for Eilis to do, and I think any reader who got to this point (likely likes and is interested in Eilis) is going to be left clamouring for more, for a full-fledged trilogy, at the very least. It was a great ending, but Eilis' story is not done quite yet for us readers...It took him 15 years, after Brooklyn, to publish this, I hope he does not take as long and publishes another book about Eilis faster, but I am in, whenever he publishes it.
I am definitely his other work, and I had noticed he has written a book titled Nora Webster and there is a Nora Webster character with backstory in this novel, so I guess this is a spin-off of that too. I will be reading it soonish also!
June 9, 2024
Though beautifully written, fans looking for a read similar to Brooklyn will find a novel with a markedly different tone. The charm and innocence of Eilis's days as a fresh-faced, Irish immigrant have been replaced by an older, wiser, and more experienced Eilis who is dealt a huge blow in the book's opening scene. Eilis returns to Ireland and tries to map out her future. She must make a huge decision with very few people in her corner. Is an old love a way out? Is there happiness for any of the main characters? The narrative is tender, poignant, and realistic. Loneliness echoes from nearly every page and, despite its beauty, the story left me feeling resigned and gloomy. I will read anything Colm Toibin writes, but this one wasn't a hit for me.
May 22, 2024
This is a story about cheaters and cheating with no redemption arc or adequate explanation of the characters’ motivations. And the ending? What crap.
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