Long Island is a sequel to Colm Toibin’s novel, Brooklyn. Colm Toibin writes basic, true-to-life characters who have flaws, foibles and weaknesses that mirror the real world outside of literature. They don’t know themselves, sometimes, how pure their own motives are, but for even the kindest and most considerate, self-preservation is the ultimate goal.
Long Island 1976 and Eilis, married to Tony and with two teenage children, receives some utterly shattering news, in the light of which she decides to go back to Ireland for her mother’s eightieth birthday and while there to reassess the circumstances of her life in her adopted homeland.
I think Long Island could be read easily as a stand-alone but if you’ve read Brooklyn you will appreciate the problems Eilis has newly created for Jim Farrell and for her former best friend, Nancy. In his down to earth style, Colm Toibin has Jim walking a tightrope, trying to hold on to what he’s got but willing to let it go if he can be sure of getting what he really wants. Jim is not horrible, or wishy-washy, he is simply human.
Colm Toibin’s characters’ actions speak louder than their words. Some are loveable, some not so much, but once you start reading about them find yourself somewhere comfortable because you won’t be getting up again for anything other than emergencies. It would be an absolute treat to be reading both books for the first time, and then to discover that the ending of Long Island points surely to another sequel!
Published by Pan Macmillan
No comments:
Post a Comment