Brooklyn

  Brooklyn by Colm Tolbin

Eilis lives with her widowed mother and older sister in a small Irish Village. Even though she is smart and good with numbers, there are just no jobs to be found. Through a family friend, and much to her surprise, plans are made and soon Eilis is on her way to America where there is plenty of work available and opportunities abound.

Once Eilis arrives in Brooklyn, her new employment turns out to be a tedious job in a clothing shop, not in accounting where she had hoped to be. She never really develops any kind of friendship with her fellow boarding house roommates and just drifts from day to day. Eilis does meet a young Italian at a community dance and they slowly begin their courtship.

There is not a whole lot of excitement in this book, the main character, Eilis just seems to fall into each different situation without protest or fanfare. I kept waiting for Eilis to take a stand and feel passionately about any part of her life, but it never happened, throughout the whole book she just went passively along with whatever fate seemed to hand her.