Reviews - Long Island | The StoryGraph

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2.24k reviews for:

Long Island

Colm Tóibín

3.76 AVERAGE

kaaatherin3's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lostinskylines's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dvineabsrdities's review against another edition

3.75

emotional sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

alexreads22's review against another edition

2.0

slow-paced

rackle's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

neom's review against another edition

3.5

I had to leave a bit of time between reading and reviewing this one to really reflect on it.

I think that the process of reading it was very enjoyable, because it is so beautifully written. But there was also something a little unsatisfying about it as well. I understand that this is a deliberate choice by the author, but it was a bit irritating. I know what it’s trying to achieve but it somehow ended up feeling like a rehash of Brooklyn to me.

joeturner's review against another edition

3.5

The least-surprising aspect of Toibin's sequel to Brooklyn is the fact Eilis finds her life in Long Island dull and miserable. Within the first few pages, a shocking plot development is introduced, as Eilis finds out in dramatic fashion that her husband, Tony, has fathered a child by another woman (a similar plot point appears in August Wilson's Fences). We get the sense that even after twenty years in American, Eilis still feels like an outsider, surrounded by her husband's Italian-American family, and that things have been unwell for some time. This unwelcome turn of events gives her the impetus to travel back to Ireland to visit her mother. In the process, she becomes entangled in a love triangle with her former best friend, Nancy, and her former paramour, Jim. One of the more interesting themes in the novel explores how much things have changed in Ireland between the 1950s and the 1970s. This is contrasted with the depiction of American suburbia, which Eilis finds dull and uninteresting. Unlike Brooklyn, this novel switches point of view between several characters, following not only Eilis, but later Nancy and Jim. At first I thought the Nancy parts were a bit dull, and longed for Tobin to bring us back to Eilis's perspective. But in the end, the mechanics of the plot require us to spend time in Nancy's head. Toibin resolves the conflict in a satisfying way, revealing the cunning Nancy uses to ensure she gets what she wants, even if it leaves everyone else unhappy. This underlines one of the novel's other great themes: both Eilis and Jim just sort of let things happen to them, and it results in both of them being pretty unhappy. By the end of the novel, Eilis seems to have no good options. She can't stay in Enniscorthy and going back home to Tony seems unfathomable. Perhaps she moves to Dublin, or to Manhattan. Hopefully Toibin decides to continue Eilis's story some day.