I really liked the book “Brooklyn”. After meeting Colm Toibin I can say that i like it even more since now I know the fascinating story was true even if partially. I liked how casually and interesting the author spoke to us. It didn’t feel like a meting with the famous person at all, more like a casual conversation. The fact that he wrote a book about an imaginary story about his mother made me laugh. He has a descent imagination.
It was a great event.
Being honest– I had never had the time to actual read “Brooklyn.” I received the novel a few days before classes began and jumped right into my school work. The novel hadn’t crossed my mind until I heard that the author would be visiting the college and we would get to watch him discuss his novel. Colm Toibin was overall a really good speaker. He spoke clearly and organized his thoughts and ideas behind the novel so all the students were able to follow along with him. He began his speech by discussing a girl who came up to him at a book signing and proclaiming to him that “Brooklyn” was written about her mother. Out of all the ways to start, I think he chose a fantastic one. He was able to grasp our attention and keep it because (well, I don’t know about everyone else) but I was intrigued to find out how a random girl at a book signing could be the daughter of a woman who a novel was written about– and the author not even know it.
I enjoyed the workshop as it allowed me to get a better insight into how the book was written and the entire background. Being that I never had the chance to read it, I felt as though his speech persuaded me to start to simply for my leisure.