Oprah Winfrey announced “Long Island” to be her new book club selection. The book by “Brooklyn” author Colm Tóibín picks up more than two decades later with Eilis Lacey, who left her small Irish town for a new life in America.
Winfrey said she picked the book for how easy the 294-page book was easy to read while keeping readers wanting more.
“The story is so intriguing in that there is this yearning and longing for the love, or the place, or the being, and past loves. There’s all of that, and there’s conflict, and you know, I was torn. In the beginning of the book. I wanted one thing to happen, and by the end of the book, I wanted something else to happen,” Winfrey said.
Tóibín said he crafted the novel’s pace to maintain its suspense.
“Even five pages before the end, you’re still not sure,” he said, revealing that he had always known the ending but enjoyed keeping readers guessing.
“You must be able to imagine the end and think there’s another way this could happen,” he said. “In other words, the reader is a character in the book, and you’re imagining the reader as much as you’re imagining the characters to see, where is the reader now, how much does the reader need to be told, how much does the reader needs to know,” he said.
During the interview, Tóibín hinted at the potential for another sequel to his novels, despite the 15-year time gap that has passed since the release of “Brooklyn.”
Winfrey suggested that she could see “Long Island” turned into a movie, similar to how “Brooklyn” was adapted for film.
“There’s definitely a movie here,” she said.
Read an excerpt from “Long Island” here.
Questions, discussion topics and other materials intended to enhance a group’s conversation of “Long Island” can be found here.