Long Island (Oprah's Book Club) (Eilis Lacey Series)
* OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *
* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, WASHINGTON POST, VULTURE, GLAMOUR, FRESH AIR, NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE ECONOMIST, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TIMES (London), THE IRISH TIMES, THE NEW STATESMAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE OBSERVER, and more *
“Stunning.” —People * “Dazzling yet devastating...Tóibín is simply one of the world’s best living literary writers.” —The Boston Globe * “Momentous and hugely affecting.” —The Wall Street Journal *
From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work in twenty years.
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.
One day, when Tony is at work an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.
Long Island is a gorgeous story “about a woman thrashing against the constraints of fate” (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air). It is “a wonder, rich with yearning and regret” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, WASHINGTON POST, VULTURE, GLAMOUR, FRESH AIR, NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE ECONOMIST, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TIMES (London), THE IRISH TIMES, THE NEW STATESMAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE OBSERVER, and more *
“Stunning.” —People * “Dazzling yet devastating...Tóibín is simply one of the world’s best living literary writers.” —The Boston Globe * “Momentous and hugely affecting.” —The Wall Street Journal *
From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work in twenty years.
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.
One day, when Tony is at work an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.
Long Island is a gorgeous story “about a woman thrashing against the constraints of fate” (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air). It is “a wonder, rich with yearning and regret” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
What’s it about?
Colm Toibin returns to the characters he wrote about in his novel, Brooklyn. It is 1974, and 25 years have passed, but Eilis must again make some hard decisions. Going back to Ireland to visit her mother will give her some time. But is returning home always the right answer?
What did it make me think about?
Commitment
Should I read it?
What beautiful sparse writing. I enjoyed this story but the main character of Eilis was too inscrutable for me to warm to. In order to absolutely love a book I need to be emotionally involved. Eilis keeps us all at a distance. I do recommend this one – sometimes you don’t have to love it to think it is a book worth reading.
Quote-
“No one really knew anything about her. In this pew in the cathedral, and the ones behind and in front, sat people who lived in the town all of their lives. They did not have to explain themselves. Everyone knew who they had married, the names of their children. They did not have different accents which they used when they met different people. They did not live in a place where their children often tried to speak before they did at a ticket office or in a shop so that their mother’s accent might not become a subject of inquiry. “
What’s it about?
Colm Toibin returns to the characters he wrote about in his novel, Brooklyn. It is 1974, and 25 years have passed, but Eilis must again make some hard decisions. Going back to Ireland to visit her mother will give her some time. But is returning home always the right answer?
What did it make me think about?
Commitment
Should I read it?
What beautiful sparse writing. I enjoyed this story but the main character of Eilis was too inscrutable for me to warm to. In order to absolutely love a book I need to be emotionally involved. Eilis keeps us all at a distance. I do recommend this one – sometimes you don’t have to love it to think it is a book worth reading.
Quote-
“No one really knew anything about her. In this pew in the cathedral, and the ones behind and in front, sat people who lived in the town all of their lives. They did not have to explain themselves. Everyone knew who they had married, the names of their children. They did not have different accents which they used when they met different people. They did not live in a place where their children often tried to speak before they did at a ticket office or in a shop so that their mother’s accent might not become a subject of inquiry. “
Morose book elucidating the lives of numerous repressed characters. Page after page of their interior discontent which is never spoken aloud. Frustrating lack of growth or expression. Good writing, but the story itself is not one I wanted to finish nor am I interested in the prequel. Or sequel if there is one.
This book just dragged on and on. The male author tries to write as a woman and fails at the attempt. If it hadn’t been selected by my book club, I would not have forced myself to finish it. I don’t think there was any real character development.
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