review "Brooklyn" 
Genre: Fiction Author: Colm Tóibín Medium: Hardcover Publisher: Hanser Belletristik Year: 09/2010 Pages: 304 Rating: 8.5 10 points content Eilis, the protagonist of this story leads, in its Irish home town Enniscorty a more tranquil and quiet life. It's the 50s, there exists unemployment and Ireland is firmly in the hands of Catholicism. Eilis' brothers emigrated to England, as they have found work there, and so lives Eilis alone with her mother and her older sister Rose, her father died a few years ago. Rose is the admired big sister who makes her work for the maintenance of the family. Eilis, who has a knack for numbers and is interested in accounting, receives one day, through the mediation of the living in Brooklyn Irish priest Father Flood the opportunity to travel to America and to get a job and then makes the long journey Eilis to Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is in the 50 years an almost Irish city but Eilis suffers massive homesickness, it can be difficult to settle and adapt only very slowly. She gets through the mediation of Father Flood a job as a saleswoman in a large department store run by Italians and they rented a room at Mrs. Kehoe, a strict Irish-born landlady. But gradually gaining confidence Eilis, she attends night classes at Brooklyn College and is training for the certified accountant. On one of the dances organized by Father Flood she met the likeable Italian Tony. Everything is going just fine until one day Eilis reached the bad news from Ireland and they must go back. But Eilis has changed, it is an independent, grown woman now.
My opinion Colm Toibin offers entertainment high. His book is a novel about growing up a young woman, a story of departure and arrival, consistent only told from the perspective of the protagonist Eilis. Toibin depicts his heroine with a lot of sympathy and affection. He loves his characters and with empathy, he is able to create wonderful and believable characters. He too is in my opinion one of the few male writers who have a knack for female figures. This is probably partly because that Toibin has long dealt with the author Henry James, who is famous for its so wonderful female characters, and Toibin whose novel "Portrait of the Master in middle-aged" ein schönes Denkmal gesetzt hat.
Doch es sind nicht nur die wunderbaren Figuren, die die Qualität dieses Romans ausmachen, es ist auch Toibins präziser und schnörkelloser Erzählstil; ruhig und auf sehr zurückgenommene Art und Weise schreibt er über ganz normale Menschen, ohne jedes Pathos und Effekthascherei. Der Roman liest sich fließend, scheinbar einfach und es wird einem eigentlich erst am Schluss des Buches richtig bewusst, wie komplex die Handlung in Wirklichkeit ist. Einziger Wermutstropfen ist jedoch das abrupte, wie hastig hingeschriebene Ende.
Dies war mein erstes Buch von Toibin und es wird ganz sicher nicht das letzte gewesen sein; für mich ist er ein Autor, den es sich lohnt, im Auge zu behalten.
