Brooklyn

....Well, I took Colm Toibin's new release Brooklyn from atop the pile and read it. Yep, mistake. This is well crafted account of a young Irish woman's immigrant experience in Brooklyn, NY, after the Second World War, and Toibin's perceptive portrayal of the shifting nature of familial relationships with those left behind is the best part of the novel. However, it lacks humor, and only humor or writing that is more than meticulous - that is ravishing - could save this book from being, I hate to say it, boring. My opinion is very much in the minority, I know, given Brooklyn's other reviews, but nothing frustrates me more than an immensely talented craftsman (or woman) forgetting that novels shouldn't only illuminate or educate, but entertain.