‘Long Island’ by Colm Toibin (2024) – 294 pages
Several Irish fiction writers of today bring a fine sense of humor into their novels and stories. Colm Toibin is not one of them. His works are dramatic and austere. Dialogues between characters tend to be short and to the point, and his characters speak in abrupt sentences. Toibin has written novels about two acclaimed authors, Henry James (‘The Master’) and Thomas Mann (‘The Magician’), neither of whom is known for their sense of humor. Here is a conversation between one of the main characters Eilis and her son Larry in ‘Long Island’.
“I need you here,” she said.
“Why?”
She indicated he should follow her into the living room.
“What’s this about?” he asked.
“It’s about your father.”
“I know all that.”
“What do you know?”
“I was sworn to secrecy.”
“By whom?”
“By everyone.”
“What is the secret?”
“He has a girlfriend.”
“Who told you that?”
The characters here speak with a certain stilted reticence where every word becomes momentous. One wishes Toibin allowed his characters to relax a little, become more unrestrained and expansive. This conversation is short and terse, but it does reveal one of the main plot points of ‘Long Island’. A man has stopped by Eilis’ Long Island house and told her that her husband Tony has gotten his wife pregnant while working on a plumbing job for them, and this man is going to drop the baby off at Eilis and Tony’s house after it is born. Although quite happily married up to this point, Eilis wants no part of this other woman’s baby. In the meanwhile, Tony and his Italian mother make secret plans for bringing up the baby.
Eilis heads back to Enniscorthy, Ireland and her own mother. Her children will come later. Most of this novel named ‘Long Island’ takes place in Ireland.
In Enniscorthy. Eilis meets up with her old flame Jim Farrell who owns one of the local bars. Their original affair was the subject of ‘Brooklyn’, so ‘Long Island’ is somewhat of a sequel, but it can stand alone. However Jim Farrell now is in a long-standing relationship with another woman, Nancy Sheridan. Good single men over forty still looking for a wife are hard to find, and Jim Farrell is one of them.
At Nancy’s daughter Miriam’s wedding Nancy sees Jim talking to Eilis.
“She had seen Eilis and Jim talking to each other in a way that appeared casual, relaxed, almost familiar. It was odd because she had presumed that any encounter between them would be strained and uneasy. But then someone distracted her, someone demanded her full attention, and she did not think about that scene again.”
If an intense drama of midlife passion is what you are looking for, you will find it in ‘Long Island’.
Grade: B+
Tony's Book World 
Posted by Lisa Hill on June 11, 2024 at 2:45 AM
“One wishes Toibin allowed his characters to relax a little, become more unrestrained and expansive.”
Yup. As we do when we meet people like this.
But also, that’s what made me cross about his depiction of Thomas Mann in The Magician. Mann in real life and in Toibin’s book lived through momentous times in Nazi Germany and his relationship with his children was fraught. Possibly with his wife too, though Toibin isn’t interested in her at all, so we can’t tell from his book. Yet Toibin’s TM remains passionless throughout. We see what he does, not how he feels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by Anokatony on June 12, 2024 at 1:32 AM
Hi Lisa,
I haven’t tackled ‘The Master’ yet, but am a little surprised Toibin wrote about Thomas Mann instead of Henry James.
LikeLike
Posted by Lisa Hill on June 12, 2024 at 3:09 AM
He fictionalised both in novels. The master (Henry James) was first (ages ago, before any of us were blogging) and then The Magician (Thomas Mann) was just a year or two ago.
And he’s also fictionalised Mary the mother of God, though that was not a bio as such.
LikeLike
Posted by Anokatony on June 12, 2024 at 4:11 AM
Thank You, I had forgotten about his Henry James novel which I didn’t read. I did read ‘The Testament of Mary’ which, according to my review, did not impress me much.
LikeLike
Posted by Lisa Hill on June 12, 2024 at 4:48 AM
Oh, say it isn’t so! I loved Mary, it seemed authentic to me, and representative of all the mothers who suffer from their sons’ revolutionary activity. (People like Giordano Bruno, burnt at the stake in Rome for suggesting that the earth revolved around the sun. Was his mother alive, to grieve? He was only 52).
LikeLike
Posted by Cathy746books on June 11, 2024 at 7:58 PM
I quite enjoyed Brooklyn but am not just so inclined to race to this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by Anokatony on June 12, 2024 at 1:35 AM
Hi Cathy,
I must have read ‘Brooklyn’ just before I started my book blog. I remember liking it, but I now don’t remember any of its plot, so ‘Long Island’ really wasn’t a sequel for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by BookerTalk on June 14, 2024 at 1:14 AM
I bought this for a friend, forgetting that they haven’t yet read Brooklyn. It seems from your comments that they don’t really need to read the earlier book – that Long Island stands on its own??
LikeLiked by 1 person
Posted by Anokatony on June 14, 2024 at 2:47 AM
Hi Booker Talk,
Yes, I had assumed that I had read ‘Brooklyn’, even though I couldn’t remember anything about it. Only a few days ago, I realized that I had not read ‘Brooklyn’ at all. As with quite a few sequels these days, the author gives the reader enough information so it is not necessary to read the first book.
LikeLike
Posted by ‘Long Island’ by Colm Tóibín – Reading Matters on January 27, 2025 at 7:10 AM
[…] For other (more positive) takes on this novel, please see reviews by Kate, Lisa, Karen and Tony. […]
LikeLike