Three Great Spring Reads

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

Spring is traditionally a busy time of year with many publishers releasing some of their most promising books of the year and this year is no exception. This month’s Book Report has a few of them in different genres.

Colm Tobin’s latest novel, Long Island picks up the story he began in his novel Brooklyn twenty years ago. We met young Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey who moved to Brooklyn, fell in  love, and married Tony Fiorello in Brooklyn. 

Twenty years later, Eilis, Tony and their two teenage children live amongst Tony’s large family in a Lindenhurst, Long Island cul-de-sac. Eilis still feels like an outsider in the large Italian-American family years later.

When a man comes to the door and says that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child, and that when the baby is born he will be dropping the baby on Eilis’ doorstep, she tells Tony that she will not raise another woman’s baby.

As Tony and his mother make arrangements for her to take care of the baby, Eilis returns home to Ireland for a planned visit to see her own mother whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years.

Eilis’ last visit home was fraught with complications. She never told anyone she was married to Tony, and wasn’t sure then whether she would stay in Ireland or return to Brooklyn and Tony.

She began a relationship with Jim, whose family owned a pub in her hometown. After leaving Jim heartbroken, she never spoke to him again. Jim is now in a relationship with Nancy, a widow who was Eilis’ best friend. 

Eilis’ return again causes complications for Jim. He loves Nancy and wants to build a life with her, but seeing Eilis again brings up old feelings he thought were buried.

I found the character of Jim the most intriguing in Long Island. He is a good man who is torn between doing right by Nancy, a woman he truly loves, and wanting to be with Eilis, even if it means leaving all he knows behind.

Colm Toibin writes complicated, realistic characters, and I felt completely immersed in the small Irish town where most of the story takes place. We waited twenty years for the continuation of Eilis’ story and it was certainly worth the wait. I highly recommend Long Island.

I have two books that resonate with mothers and daughters. Andromeda Romano-Lax’s novel The Deepest Lake tells the story of Rose, a mother whose twenty-something daughter Jules drowned in a lake in Central America. 

Jules was working at a writers’ workshop run by Eve Marshall, a popular memoir writer whom Jules greatly admired. Rose is troubled by the fact that Jules was afraid of water, and wonders why Jules was last seen in a small boat out in bad weather. 

Rose decides to go incognito to the writers’ workshop to find out what happened to her daughter. While there, Rose meets the other women at the workshop, and begins to probe them and others about what exactly goes on at this retreat, without blowing her cover.

Rose can see why so many women are seduced by Eve’s glamour and personality, but she comes to feel that Eve’s methods to get these women to open up and write their own stories are disturbing. She feels that Eve is hiding something that may have to do with Jules’ mysterious death.

There is a twist at the end that I did not see coming that upends the story and creates tension in the novel. At the heart of the story is the strength that a mother finds in herself to discover what happened to her daughter. If you like well-written literary thrillers with intriguing characters, put The Deepest Lake on your list.

After the death of Mary Lou Quinlan’s mother, she discovered that her mother had stashed small boxes all over her home filled with little slips of paper containing petitions to God. 

The God Box shares many of the prayers her mother Mary wrote asking God to help her children, friends, and even people she barely knew. From serious health matters to job advancement to help with relationships, Mary’s faith, compassion, and empathy for others shines in this slim read, and it’s a beautiful tribute to her life.

The God Box is a lovely inspirational gift for any mom or daughter, it will encourage you to reflect on your own mother’s life.

Long Island by Colm Toibin-A

Published by Scribner

Hardcover, $28, 320 pages

The Deepest Lake by Andromeda Romano-Lax- A-

Published by Soho Crime

Hardcover, $26.95, 384 pages

The God Box by Mary Lou Quinlan- A-

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press

Hardcover, $16.95, 122 pages

At The Movies- Brooklyn

A few years ago I read Colm Toibin's beautiful novel Brooklyn.  He told the story of Eilis, a young Irish woman who leaves her home, her mother and sister in Ireland to come to America for a better opportunity in 1951.

Eilis' sister Rose arranged for Eilis to move to move to Brooklyn where a kindly priest found her a job working in an upscale department store and a place to live in a boardinghouse with other young women.

Eilis was frightened and very lonely, and Toibin made her loneliness feel palpable on the page. I can remember feeling that so many of our own relatives must have felt the very same way, moving away from home and family all alone to a new country.

Toibin's novel was turned into a movie, also called Brooklyn, and I saw it last week. It is such a beautiful work of art, it felt like an old-fashioned MGM movie from the 1950s. The colors are so vibrant, the costumes just so lovely, and Saoirse Ronan is absolute perfection as Eilis.

Her beautiful face just registers all the emotions that Eilis feels- the loneliness, homesickness, fear, and eventually joy and love. Ronan gives a stunning performance, and is in nearly every scene of the movie. Oscar buzz is already building for her, and I would be shocked if she is not nominated.

Director John Crowley creates a work of art here, and Nick Hornsby's script perfectly captures the essence of Tobin's book. All of my favorite book scenes are in the movie.

As Eilis falls in love with Tony, wonderfully played by Emory Cohen, you can feel Eilis coming out of her shell and believing that she can be happy and have a future. Watching them fall in love was so heartwarming.

Tragedy intervenes and Eilis must return home for awhile. When she gets there, she feels torn between her home and her new life, and you will be on pins and needles waiting to get to the end. And even though I knew how it ended, I still felt anxious, that's how well done this movie is.

In the lobby

I give Brooklyn the movie my highest recommendation. Take your mom or your grandma to see it with you.

The City Cinema 1-2-3 on the Upper East Side had a display of one of Eilis' costumes, a black sweater that I coveted from the movie. Maybe there will be a fashion tie-in with the movie?

A closeup of Ellis' sweater and skirt

The link to the homepage for the Fox Searchlight movie is here.

My Favorite BEA14 Books

One of the most exciting things about going to the Book Expo is the chance to get advanced copies of upcoming books. This year I got books from some of my favorite authors, including Dorothea Benton Franks' The Hurricane Sisters, which publishes this month and is certain to be in everyone's beach bags this summer. I saw her at the Harper Bloggers Bash and then ran into a few times on the BEA floor; she is such a fun, genuine person. (My review of The Hurricane Sisters will be posted on June 19th.)

Another terrific Harper author, Stephanie Evanovich, was at the party as well and the followup to her debut novel Big Girl Panties is called The Sweet Spot and is a worthy sequel. The story centers on baseball superstar and ladies man Chase Walker (think Derek Jeter) who pursues restauranteur Amanda, trying to convince her that he is a good guy. But he is hiding something. It's sassy and sexy and if you like baseball like me, this is a must-read. This one publishes in July and my review will be posted on July 8th.

I was so thrilled to meet Jane Smiley, who wrote one of my all-time favorites A Thousand Acres. Her new book is Some Luck, about three decades in the life of an American farm family, and it will be out in October.

Australian Liane Moriarty is an Amy Einhorn find, and I loved two of her novels, What Alice Forgot and The Husband's Secret, which I recommended to everyone and which got rave reviews from many publications. I got to meet her as well and get an autographed copy of her upcoming novel, Big Little Lies about parents at a primary school and a dead body at School Trivia Night. It publishes on July 29th.

Colm Toibin wrote a beautiful novel, Brooklyn, about an Irish woman who comes to America and how she made a life in Brooklyn. His new book, Nora Webster, features a character from Brooklyn and I can't wait to read this October release.

Actor Alan Cumming, from TV's The Good Wife and currently on Broadway in Cabaret, wrote a memoir, Not My Father's Son, and after hearing him talk about it at the Author Breakfast on Saturday, I'm moving this book up on my TBR list.

Gone With The Wind is my favorite book, and I'm intrigued by Daniel McCaig's novel, Ruth's Journey, which tells the story of the slave known as Mammy in the book. It is sanctioned by the Margaret Mitchell estate.

Empty Mansions is a book I have had my eye on for awhile, so I was happy to find a paperback edition at BEA. It tells the true story of heiress Hugette Clark, who recently died and left her fortune to a nurse who worked at the hospital she lived in.

One of the books that had everybody talking at BEA is Matthew Thomas' We Are Not Ourselves, a debut novel that sold for one million dollars at auction. The novel is about an Irish-American family and their matriarch's struggle to get them into the middle-class where their dreams can come true.

I've got a lot of reading ahead of me, I'll keep you posted on the good ones.
What books are you looking forward to reading this summer? Let me know in comments.

My review of Big Girl Panties is here.
My review of Brooklyn is here.
My review of What Alice Forgot is here.
My review of The Husband's Secret is here.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

As someone of Irish descent, I found Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, a fascinating look at how one young girl makes her way from her small town in Ireland to the big borough of Brooklyn.

Shy Eilis Lacey lives with her widowed mother and older sister Rose. Rose has a good job, supports her family, and has an active social life. Work is difficult to come by in the 1950's in Ireland, and Eilis works part-time as sales girl in a small grocers.

An opportunity in the form of Father Flood arises. He can arrange for Eilis to come to Brooklyn where he lives, she can find steady work, and go to college to get an accounting degree and a better life. Eilis fears leaving her mother and sister, but Rose convinces her it is for the best.

Leaving everyone she knows far behind, Father Flood arranges for Eilis to work at a department store by day, and attend college by night. She lives in Mrs. Kehoe's boardinghouse, along with several other single women. It is a lonely life for Eilis, and although she is successful as a shopgirl, she finds it tedious.

She concentrates on her studies, working hard to get good grades. On Friday evenings, she goes to the dance at Father Flood's church. There she meets Tony, a handsome plumber from a big Italian family. Tony pursues Eilis, and slowly, Eilis comes to care deeply for him.

Tony wants to marry Eilis, and they plan a future together. When Eilis gets bad news from Ireland, she returns home and finds that the life she left there still has a hold on her. Her dilemma grabs at the heart.

Toibin has been compared to Alice McDermott, and he mines the same territory to similar effect. The reader is immediately drawn into Eilis's life, and feels empathy for her. The reader feels the fear of leaving one's home, traveling overseas where you know no one, and trying to build a new life. Eilis's story is one that many of our ancestors lived, and her story feels authentic.

The characters are interesting, particularly Eilis and Tony. Toibin gets you to care deeply about these characters. The boardinghouse life, and the desire of immigrants to work hard to make a better life is explored with great skill by the author.

You won't easily forget Eilis, or her fascinating story. Rating: 4 of 5 stars








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