This is a book that Colm Tóibín has maintained that he would never write, a sequel to Brooklyn. After more than 20 years in America, Eilis Fiorello (nee Lacey) faces a personal/family crisis, and the realisation that decisions have been made no matter what she has to say.

She takes a holiday to visit her mother in her small Irish home town, Enniscorthy, but in doing so, she is revisiting the path not taken, a man she didn't marry, a life she didn't live. While there, she reflects on her life in the US, disagreements with her Italian American in laws about the Vietnam War, politics, what it means to be American. Did she make the wrong decision? As she points out, she doesn't want to wish her life as it turned out away - this life has included her two children with Tony. Now, though, she has time to reflect and make decisions on the next part of her life, or does she? In both Long Island and Enniscorthy, there are significant silences, things that people notably don't, won't and can't say about what they think and feel.

I understand why other readers of this novel are hoping for a sequel, and I would certainly read more about Eilis, but I think the frustrating ending is true to the characters and settings of her story - there could be more to tell but there isn't a tidy happy ending to the dilemmas she faces on either side of the Atlantic. ( )

The sequel to [Brooklyn] picks up about 20 years after Eilis has returned to New York to create a life with Tony, her Italian husband. Her husband's large family lives in a cul de sac of four houses on Long Island. Tony and Eilis have two teenage children and Eilis has a job. But things are not all well. Eilis has never really felt that she belonged, being Irish. And then she discovers that Tony has had an affair and she's being expected to live with the consequences. So she decides to visit her mother in Ireland and take her kids as well, creating some space for herself to figure out how she wants to proceed. Meanwhile, Jim Farrell, the man that Eilis jilted twenty years ago, and her best friend Nancy have recently developed a relationship. When Eilis returns, so many feelings reemerge.

The plot in this book is simple. It's Tóibín's writing that creates another really beautiful novel. There is a lot unsaid but somehow described perfectly at the same time. I think anyone who loved [Brooklyn] will also love this sequel. It is very similar in tone and style, and I was happy to spend time with Eilis Lacey again. I hope there will be a third installment as this one does not end up with a neat and tidy ending, as life rarely does. ( )

Readers of Colm Tóibín's 2009 novel Brooklyn will remember the Fiorelli family's plans for their five adjacent plots of land on Long Island... In this sequel it turns out to have been a fateful decision indeed.
In my review of Brooklyn, I noted that Eilis had been steam-rollered into acquiescing to demands and obligations — from her family, from the church, from her employer and even from her landlady. She is characterised as a quiet, reflective and often indecisive person who keeps her thoughts — and her doubts — to herself. Her habit of reticence causes trouble for herself and others when, always waiting for the right moment to reveal an aspect of herself that will confound their expectations, she lets time drift and by saying nothing, ends up precipitating a crisis of her own making.

But confronted in middle age by her husband Tony's betrayal, Eilis speaks up. She will not have that child in her house or in her life.

But because Tony is in thrall to the matriarch of the family, who is insistent that the child be welcomed into the family of which it is a part, that refusal could mean the breakup of everything.

Having read so recently of a powerful matriarch in Azerbainjani author Leyla Shukurova's short story Mamali, I was alert to the toxic role that unreasonable matriarchs can play in the affairs of those they purport to love. Eilis's mother-in-law is well used to doing things her way and — exacerbated by Eilis's compliance — she has no expectation of rebellion. She is not above manipulating Eilis's children into her plans either.

All this is messy enough. But reminiscent of events in Brooklyn, when life events propelled Eilis across the world back to Ireland and an eternal triangle, her mother's 80th birthday is the catalyst for a journey which might be an interlude or might be an escape.

To read the rest of my review, please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/06/10/long-island-2024-by-colm-toibin/ ( )

I never buy books sight unseen. I get them from the library and if they're good, then I buy them in order to support the author.
In this case, I broke my own rule. When I saw that this was the continuation of Eilis and Tony's story, I ordered it new.
It begins with a devastating announcement, made to Eilis by a strange man who comes to her door. Tony has impregnated the man's wife, and he is going to drop the baby on Eilish's porch when it arrives.
So - right off the bat, sweet Tony, who loved and sought out Eilis, has become a villain, and Eilish has no one to help her deal with the consequences of Tony's action.
And it goes downhill from there. A friend of mine who also read it said that by the end she did not like any of the characters. Nor did I. And poor Jim Farrell gets screwed again.
Now I know that this is not pulp fiction. It's a literary novel so we have to have the depths of the human condition plumbed and all that. And humans fail and hurt each other. So Tony and his family hurt Eilish, and she turns around and eviscerates Jim a 2nd time. And she does that because Nancy, fighting for her own happiness, lies to Eilish. What a mess! What a downer of an ending.
I plan to just remember the end of Brooklyn, to pull the wool over my own eyes, and to think of them all living loving lives with each other on Long Island. ( )

[3.75 ] Given the fact that I hadn’t read “Brooklyn,” I had a tinge of apprehension as I began “Long Island.” To Toibin’s credit, I never felt lost or deprived as I read this sequel. It showcases a delightful mix of memorable characters that navigate their intertwined lives in Brooklyn and Ireland. I’m generally not enamored of character-driven books, gravitating instead toward works that focus on twist-filled storylines. True, “Long Island’s” plot tends to meander in a half-dozen spots (hence the rating that is just a notch below 4 stars). But I truly enjoyed the author’s latest book that explores fractured family dynamics, infidelity, cultural bonds and the quest for individual freedom. ( )