Brooklyn

I just finished Summer at Tiffany, which was set in 1945 and from the perspective of a Iowa native coming to the big city to work in expensive retail.

Now, I’ve read NYC from a completely different perspective, at much the same time period. Brooklyn by Colm Tobin is the story of Eilis, who gets a generous offer from a priest to come from Ireland to the US. He sets her up in a little boarding house full of very fickle single women…good LORD would I go nuts in that house. She has a pretty sweet gig working in a well-respected retail shop.

The gals go to all the dances, of course, and Eilis meets a handsome Italian man who seems different than all the other Irish boys she’s met. Does she really love him though?

The uncertainty she feels is what is unique about this book. It’s not the man who is holding back and the girl who is left with unrequited love. I like that the author played to us women who sometimes just aren’t so sure we want to rush into things.

This is just really a sweet story about a young woman coming of age in an unfamiliar world. I definitely recommend it, and it’s a very quick read. It was a welcome reprieve after some of the heavier books I’ve stacked on during this readathon!

Advertisement

Summer at Tiffany

As a small town gal, I was completely mesmerized when my family went to The Big Apple my senior year. The buildings! The people! The noise!

I loved it. There was so much to see, so much to do. And of course, I had a list of food that I wanted to eat. I was constantly getting distracted by all of the little shops.

I could never imagine picking up and moving there though, especially not with $30 to my name. Could you? That would be way too overwhelming. But Marjorie Jacobson Hart did it, 60 years ago. And now she’s written about it, in Summer at Tiffany. This is a terrific memoir of two young friends off to see the big city. It’s nothing fancy, like any Midwestern story should be. But you can just about see their eyes about popping out of their heads when they walk into Tiffany’s for the first time.

It won’t take you long to read this, but it’s a very cute book. Something to rest your brain on.