It's hard to put a finger on what makes this story so beautiful. There's something magical about the linear and straight-forward writing used to convey characters and emotions in this award-winning novel.
Eilis Lacey is a girl who has come of age in Ireland right after World War Two. It is decided by her family that she should cross the ocean to America in order to work and make money. This is all planned by Eilis's mother and older sister through a parish priest, none of whom check with Eilis about how she feels about it. Arrangements are made for her to live in a boarding house in Brooklyn, New York, amongst other Irish women and to work in a department store.
Eilis experiences feelings of homesickness and despondency as she navigates her new life in America away from her family and everything she has ever known. Then at a dance one night Eilis meets Tony, a big-hearted, kind plumber. His large Italian family behaves very differently than her reticent Irish one, but Eilis eventually falls in love with Tony, and they begin to plan for the future.
An unforeseen tragedy occurs in Ireland that results in Eilis making a return trip to her homeland. After being gone for two years, things in Ireland feel different but restoring all the same. Eilis's time there is spent helping her mother and catching up with old friends. She finds herself becoming close and romantic with a young man from her past. Eilis is then faced with an enormous conundrum. Return to Tony in America to whom she has made a solemn promise? Or pursue this new love interest in Ireland and live a very familiar, comfortable life near home, her mother and family?
Brooklyn is an absorbing drama told with simple, graceful prose. It manages to transport the reader back in time and to become emotionally invested in the story. I whole-heartedly loved this book.
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