Long Island, Colm Tóibín

 

Long Island by Colm Tóibín is the sequel to Brooklyn and is read by Jessie Buckley

Started: August 26, 2024
Completed: August 29, 2024
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Tóibín is pretty amazing.  This book is very well written, but it was hard for me to come to like any of these characters.  They all are fundamentally flawed--I guess, like Shakespeare;  nobody really likes Hamlet.  Having said that, also like Shakespeare, these characters all suffer from a fundamental character flaw that then moves the story forward.  At the end of the book, Buckley comments that the most important part is what is not said and that all these characters seem to get in their own way.  That is characteristic of the Irish.  I don't really know what to think about that, but there is no doubt that reading this is kind of like watching a slow-motion boat capsize.  I looked Brooklyn better and should there be a sequel to Long Island, I'm not sure I'd want to go back into the swamp of character flaws to read more.

Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín

 

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Started: 6/18/2024
Completed: 6/20/2024
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody, but I did enjoy The Magician so when I saw that Tóibín had released a new book, Long Island, I took note.  Of course, then I found out that it was a sequel to this book!

Review:

I read this book knowing that there was a sequel and I think it affected my perspective.  The writing was fabulous and the growth of the protagonist going out on her own and experiencing a whole new world (with all of its angst and all of its possibilities) was richly detailed.  I was struck by how her adventures (and misadventures) were handled and I think that as I neared the end of the book my approach to the book's conclusion would have been much different had I not known that another book was to come.  Regardless, I felt unfulfilled (which, surely, many others must have as well) by the conclusion and I ticked it off mentally without thinking that there was a book to follow.  Surely, the author had not intended to write another as he concluded this book.  Or, if he did, he certainly took his sweet time.  All the same, I can recommend the book with a clear conscious because he did, indeed, write a second book.

The Magician, Colm Tóibín

 

The Magician by Colm Tóibín

Started: 4/28/2022
Completed: 5/2/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

slattern -- a dirty, untidy woman

Review:

This book is historical fiction.  It is a loose biography of Thomas Mann.  Tóibín steps into the minds of several of the characters and recounts dialog that was unlikely to have been written down.  The events, however, are truly those of Thomas Mann's life and that of his family.  The details, however, are a tad shocking and I'm not entirely sure to know what is true and what is not.  Mann kept extensive diaries and those clearly figure in the story and offer some insight into his internal mind set.  This was a good read and I enjoyed it.