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What Members Thought
I really enjoyed listening to this book on audio. It's a quiet book about a young Irish woman who emigrates to Brooklyn, NY post -WWII. I thought that the Toibin did a great job depicting the immigrant experience for young women in the US during that timeframe. However, the story started to lose its luster for me once the focus turned to Eilis' love life. The book started to go downhill for me at that point, which is why I ended up giving this book 4 instead of 5 stars. Even so, I would recommen
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Because I had heard so much praise for this book, I was really expecting a masterpiece. I think I was slightly underwhelmed after all that acclaim, but! It was without a doubt a really enjoyable historical fiction that gives you a sense of what it must have been like to move from Ireland to New York following WW2. There were characters introduced that I would’ve liked to see fleshed out more: the Jewish professor, the priest, the gay(?) woman at work, the other boarders, etc. and I felt a bit li
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Probably more like a 3.5. I really enjoyed the main character, the story of her immigration to the states, description of post-war Brooklyn. And, I consistently struggle with women characters written by men.
It probably deserves 4 stars, but it turned into a scmalzy romance novel about 2/3 of the way in, and it never turned back, so I'm giving it 3.
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This book is quiet, straightforward, touching, beautiful, just as it is. No high tension or overly dramatic scenes. Eilis is a girl who didn't have many choices, and moved to the US when things were quite hard at her hometown in Ireland. Her new home - Brooklyn- offered so many new things, exciting but also created a big hole in her heart, especially when she heard a sad news from Ireland. Should she come back or stay? Where's her true home?
Very reflective and thought provoking in a simple way. ...more
Very reflective and thought provoking in a simple way. ...more
A sweet/ bittersweet book I would recommend to anyone who has ever lived far from "home". Glad I read the book before I saw the movie - I'll wait for the DVD.
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This is a really sweet book. I think if the writing was slightly different it would have been too sweet, but it wasn't.
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May 15, 2009
KC
marked it as to-read
Jan 30, 2010
SarahC
marked it as to-read
Jun 04, 2010
Erin (NY)
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-own,
for-book-challenges
Nov 24, 2015
Jen
marked it as to-read
Dec 18, 2015
Ann
marked it as to-read
Jan 18, 2016
Tiffany
marked it as to-read
Jan 18, 2016
Christy McKenna
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
historical-fiction
Mar 25, 2016
Lori
marked it as to-read
Feb 07, 2018
Jana
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
x2018-reading-challenge,
book-club
May 17, 2020
Tania
marked it as to-read
