Colm Toibin is the master of tension-filled storytelling! Sometimes stressful, but boy oh boy, it keeps you going. This is a continuation of Brooklyn, about 20 years later. Hard to describe without spoilers, but definitely highly recommended!

A melancholy and quietly provocative story about the decisions we make when we are backed into a corner. Thank you to Netgalley for the early read, I loved Brooklyn and was thrilled to get to read this sequel. As it is numbered and the ending very open, I hope there is more of Eilis’s story to come

Having enjoyed Brooklyn, I greatly anticipated Colm Toibin’s newest novel, Long Island. In Long Island, the sage of Eilis Lacey continues. After immigrating to the US, Eilis meets and marries Tony Fiorello. On a trip back to Ireland for her sister’s funeral, she reconnects with an old boyfriend, Jim. While caring for Jim, she eventually returns to Tony. After many years of marriage and two children, a man comes to Elis’ door telling her that Tony has father a child with his wife. When the baby is born, the man intends to drop the baby off at her house. Eilis informs Tony that she will have nothing to do with this child and that the child is never to enter their home. However, Tony, his parents and brothers decided to keep the baby. This decision infuriates Eilis and causes her to question her marriage and her way of life. Is this all there is for Eilis? Eilis returns to Ireland for her mother’s birthday and again falls for Jim. Emotions run strong this time and a decision is made to be together. This begins a struggle for all involved. Should Eilis stay with Jim or go back to Tony. Should Jim follow Eilis to the US or marry Nancy, Eilis’ best friend. What does Tony and his family do about the decision to keep his child? All of these issues are excellently laid out in Toibin’s newest book. A truly engrossing read.

Brooklyn was one of my favorite books, I still remember listening to the audio and falling in love with this beautiful story. I was shocked to find out we would be getting a glimpse back into Ellis's life 20 years later.

My heart ached for Ellis. The circumstances of this book and the choices made by Tony infuriated me so badly! I just want Ellis to be happy. I do believe that this story is very realistic for the time it is set in. The fact that Tony's family would quickly forgive him and even side with him seemed spot on for this generation.

I was torn on the ending. I desperately wanted a resolution. Here's to hoping we get a third book.

Toibin has done it again. I loved reading Long Island, a follow-up to his prior Brooklyn. I loved the time period jump from the last book and his writing was excellent.

Long Island is the continuation of Colm Tobin's Brooklyn (2009) twenty years later. In Brooklyn we met Eilis and Tony and their unlikely romance after Eilis immigrates from Ireland. Now Eilish and Tony are married and living on the same cul-de-sac as Tony's parents and brothers on Long island. It is a bit stifling for Eilis who never truly acclimated. One day a man with an Irish accent shows up at their door and tells Eilis that his wife is having Tony's baby and he's dropping the baby off at their house. Eilis does not want to allow the baby in their house at all either. She decides to return to Ireland to celebrate her mother's 80th birthday. She has not seen her mother in twenty years. Once back in Enniscorthy, Ireland, Eilis finds that although not much has changed since she's been gone, she has changed. Her mother's home is the exact same and her mother does not necessarily like the changes that Eilis tries to make to make her mother's life easier. Being away from home, she begins to find herself again. She looks up her childhood friend, Nancy, who is widowed and running a chip shop in Enniscorthy. Eilis finds out that Jim is running his family's bar and hasn't left Enniscorthy. All of the characters have their own secrets. Many of the interactions are brilliantly written leaving unanswered questions as remarks and questions are not responded to. Long Island is a welcome return to the life of Eilis. Eilis found that although returning home may not always be the same as what's in your memories, it was a good thing for her to also to see how she has grown and changed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read the ARC of Long Island. I had enjoyed Brooklyn very much and I so enjoyed returning to the story of Eilis and Tony.

4.5⭐️

Long Island by Colm Tóibín continues with the story of Eilis Lacey, our protagonist from Brooklyn . Set twenty years after the events of the first novel, Eilis, now in her forties, is the wife of Italian plumber Tony Fiorelli, whom we met in the first book. Parents to two teenagers, daughter Rossella and sixteen-year-old son Larry they have settled in Long Island in a cul-de-sac with Tony’s parents and two of her husband’s three brothers and their families as neighbors. Despite being a close-knit family and Eilis sharing a good relationship with everybody, she is conscious of how different she is from her close-knit extended family. The differences become more pronounced when Tony’s actions push their marriage into a downward spiral, and she feels his family isn’t supportive of her or her wishes.

Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland in twenty years, but feeling the need to distance herself from Tony and his family, decides to visit her mother who will soon turn eighty, with her children to join her later. As the narrative progresses, this time we follow Eilis as she revisits her hometown and those she had left behind when she chose to return to Tony all those years ago. Conflicted over her feelings for Tony, her responsibilities to children and the future she desires for herself, she is compelled to take stock of her life and reflect on her regrets and the consequences of her life choices. Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and complexities that arise when confronted with her past, she finds herself once again at a crossroads in life.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín is an exquisitely penned novel that had me hooked until the very last page. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Eilis and two other characters from her past in Ireland- her best friend Nancy and Jim Farrell with whom she once shared a romantic relationship, both of whom we had met in the previous book. Compared to the first book this is a more complex and layered novel and the author seamlessly weaves the three perspectives into an immersive, consistently paced narrative that revolves around love, family, secrets, choices and consequences. Not only do we get to follow Eilis’s journey but we are also provided insight into how her mother, brothers and friends have fared in the last twenty years and how her presence impacts them in the present day. The strength of this novel lies in its mature and realistic depiction of complex human emotions and relationships with minimal melodrama and concise yet elegant prose – be it the tensions between Eilis and Tony or Eilis and her mother, the complexities that arise between Nancy, Jim and Eilis or how Eilis’s children react to their troubled marriage. Though her children had never shown any interest in their Irish heritage, it was endearing to see them absorb as much as they could in the course of their visit and bond with their grandmother whom they were meeting for the first time and who welcomed them with open arms. I particularly liked how the author addresses the cracks in the relationship between Eilis and her mother. The Eilis we meet in this book is mature and complex. Though I could sympathize with her predicament with Tony and admired her inner strength and resolve, I couldn’t help but question some of her actions in the latter half of the story. The ending leaves us with more than a few unanswered questions and leaves me eager to explore Eilis's motivations further.

I would recommend reading the previous novel before picking up the sequel for a better understanding of Eilis’s journey and the events referenced in this novel.

To be honest, I did not think that Brooklyn needed a sequel, but the ending of Long Island has me eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Eilis’s life.

Many thanks to Scribner for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Set in Long Island and Ireland in the 1970s, this book is the sequel to Brooklyn. I haven’t read all of Brooklyn (as I was reading this I went and read sections of it) but I don’t think that’s required. This is a book about complicated relationships with a pervasive melancholy tone throughout that very much works. l did not grow up Irish or Italian but I have dearly loved people of whom Ellis and her family remind me. The strength of this book is definitely its characters, who immediately draw you in. But, even as someone who really enjoys unlikable characters, the actions of the three POV characters stretched me to my limits. However I also realize this story is not a mirror for me, but instead a window into an era and mindsets I’ll never be able to truly understand. There is no therapy speak or signs of modern millennial relationships to be found. And while this at times made the characters feel unreachable to me, the story also made me consider the “silent generation” and culture of the time differently and left a lasting impression. This is a solidly 4 star book for me, maybe even a bit more, but I can easily see how it would be 5 stars for many.

Toibin continues the story of Ellis and Tony from his wonderful book, Brooklyn. Sometimes the story stretched credibility a bit, but I couldn't put it down. And there were many surprises. I hope Toibin will write a third novel on the next chapter of Ellis's life. For fans of Brooklyn and family sagas and historical fiction.

I just told someone yesterday that I don’t care for romance writing, as it usually makes me roll my eyes. Only in the hands of a true master like Toibin can I appreciate writing about the complex psychosocial nature of human attraction and love. Another masterpiece.

Thank you to Colm Toibin, Scribner Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Long Island is a story of a woman originally from Ireland that marries an Italian American. They live on Long Island in a compound with his mother and brothers. This story is a continuation of the book Brooklyn but Long Island is a stand alone story. Having never read Brooklyn I was still able to follow the back story.
Eilis finds out that her husband has fathered another child and once that baby is born he plans to bring that child to the “compound” to be raised. Eilis is not happy about that; returns to Ireland to visit her mother and has her two teenage children join her there. While in Ireland, Eilis gets reacquainted with an old boyfriend. The story continues from there.
There are many complicated feelings and relationships in this story. Never sure what is going to happen. My one disappointment is that the story had an abrupt ending which was very unsatisfying. This may be due to the author writing a sequel.

This book has already been greeted enthusiastically by many. Among these readers is Oprah Winfrey who has made it her book club pick. It has been reviewed widely and anyone who read (or saw the movie) Brooklyn will want to spend time with this novel.

This is a story of Eilis twenty or so years after the events in Brooklyn. She has found herself a housewife (with occasional work), mother of two and is still married to Tony; his boisterous clan makes their presence in her life rather prominent.

The catalyst for what happens is that Tony has impregnated another woman. Needless to say Eilis is not pleased. One way that she copes is by going back to Ireland. Yes, she does again meet up with Jim while there.

What will happen to this family as they face a crisis? Eilis once left but returned to Tony. What will she do this time?

I found the writing in this book to be deceptively simple. There is much behind what each character says and does. It is a paean to well written prose.

Even if a reader has not yet enjoyed Brooklyn, they can still read this one. I recommend it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this title. All opinions are my own.

(Thanks to @simon.audio and @scribnerbooks #gifted.) At the end of last year I listened to 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘭𝘺𝘯 by Colm Tóibín. I had seen the movie years ago, but wanted the story to be fresh in my mind after hearing about the upcoming release of 𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗. Having now listened to both, I think that was a very good call.⁣
⁣
𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘭𝘺𝘯 told the story of Eilis Lacey as she immigrated to the United States in the early 50’s, made a life for herself there, fell in love, but never stopped longing for her home in Ireland. 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 picks up her story 20 years later, married to Tony, the man she first fell in love with. With two teenage children, her life has gone smoothly even if she doesn’t always love being surrounded by Tony’s large Italian family. Everything changes the day a man shows up at her door telling Eilis his wife is pregnant by Tony and that when the baby is born, it will be left on her doorstep. This might appear to be an idle threat, but Tony and his family believe it isn’t, and they don’t want to turn this child away. Eilis wants nothing to do with any of it.⁣
⁣
As in 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘭𝘺𝘯, Eilis flees to Ireland to give herself distance as she attempts to make sense of her situation. This second story is tightly connected to the first. Being familiar with the first allowed me to see many parallels in the two stories. I actually wished there were fewer similarities between the two, hoping Eilis might have evolved just a little more. Still, I enjoyed both books very much. They’re a little different than what I normally read and I appreciated that breath of fresh air. I’m glad I did both on audio. The narrators were different and both excellent, but I particularly enjoyed Jessica Buckley in this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In this sequel to Brooklyn, Ellis Lacey returns to Ireland to decompress after learning that her husband has been having an affair, that his mistress is pregnant, and that he wants Eilis to let him bring the baby to their home to raise.

Absolutely loved this book!! It was great to revisit the same characters from Brooklyn. Beautifully written, as all of Toibin's books are. We have a long holds list for this at our library-I know our patrons will enjoy it.

This is a complicated story of feelings and relationships. It’s about a love story that never was fully realized. Eilis and Tony’s marriage seems to exist but lacks passion. He has an extra marital affair that results in a pregnancy. The other husband threatens to leave the baby on their doorstep to raise. This sends her back to Ireland where she and Jim try to come to terms with their complicated past. Jim, her former boyfriend that she left behind, has never understood why she abandoned him. While keeping secrets of his own, he and Eilis try to reconcile their feelings for each other. This is a small Irish town where everyone knows each other’s business. The storyline kept me engaged but the ending was very abrupt. I am hoping that the author completes this story with a sequel.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sribner for a digital eGalley of this book.
#LongIsland #ColmToibin #NetGalley

Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Pub. Date: May 7, 2024

At the end of Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel “Brooklyn,” the protagonist, Eilis, decides what life and what man she will choose. A life of promise in Brooklyn, NY, with Tony Fiorello, her secret husband. Or a life of familiarity in her hometown, “Enniscorthy” in Ireland, where everybody knows everything about everyone, with Jim Farrell, who is courting her. Jim has no idea that Eilis is married. She decides to go back to Brooklyn. There was the inevitable gossip in “Enniscorthy,” where gossip has a God-like rule over the town regarding her scandalous conduct. It is unclear where Eilis’s true heart lies, which seems to be a common theme with the Irish author who has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

In “Long Island,” Tóibín returns to these characters, again exploring what makes a home and how humans struggle to make decisions. It is twenty years later, and we are in 1976. Eilis, Tony, and their two teenage children now reside on Long Island, NY, near Tony’s large Italian family. Here, Tony fathers a baby with another woman. This distressing news brings Eilis back to “Enniscorthy, where Eilis rekindles her romance with Jim, who is now secretly engaged to Eilis’ closest friend in Ireland, Nancy Sheridan. In 1976, the town knows Eilis is married to Tony and lives with him on Long Island, so they must hide their relationship from snooping eyes and Nancy. The story might sound like a soap, but this is literary fiction in its most convincing form. Tóibín’s prose is appealing and artistic, yet it has the neutral quality of a reporter. Interestingly, the author writes that Eilis and Jim’s hometown is the same one where he was born. I can’t help but wonder if the author had ever been involved with “Enniscorthy” gossip.

When I read “Brooklyn,” I understood Eilis’s complicated reasons for leaving Jim and Ireland behind without any explanation. I was not too fond of her behavior, but I empathized with the character. In “Long Island,” both characters, Eilis and Jim, come off as self-interested and heartbreakingly unsure of themselves. Tóibin’s plot creates tension and leads to personal crises as characters withhold information from one another. For instance, Nancy never tells Eilis she is secretly engaged to Jim. In addition, Jim never mentions his rekindled affair with Eilis to Nancy. Tóibin makes his characters realistic and not too inconsiderate by handling their ambiguities and moral dilemmas sensitively. You can read “Long Island” as a standalone novel, but I would advise reading “Brooklyn” first. Both books explore the human psyche and our unfulfilled longings that our conscious thoughts may not even recognize. Tóibín is that good of a writer. I am hoping there will be another addition to the series.

I give this book 5 stars! I loved this book! I feel for Eilis as she navigates the bumpy road that come with life with her husband (and his family). What she experienced with her decision to return to her home made me curious for what comes next for her. I hope there is a 3rd book!

Well, i was anticipating a fantastic sequel to Brooklyn which I really enjoyed. I didn't dislike this book per say but the ending left me a bit confused and perhaps unsettled? It was a bit slow...but I am sure readers will still dive in curious about what happens to Eilis and her life.

I’m starting to believe COLM equals CALM, that’s how I’ve begun to think of Colm Toibin’s writing. But, in the case of Long Island, it’s the calm before the simmering storm. The quiet family centered marriage and day to day life among the neighboring extended family, has a storm brewing as protagonists Elis, faces and reacts to the threats resulting from her husbands extramarital affair. After 20 years in America, Elis ventures alone to her native Ireland, and the reader is left in doubt as to her return. Whether the story is taking place in Long Island or Ireland, I felt as tho I was right there, as the Author’s Sense of Place is so strong. I found the novel Long Island even more gut-wrenching than Brooklyn. While Long Island can be a stand alone novel, the experience is enhanced if Brooklyn is read first.
#NetGalley