I have not read the novel; however, I heard the ending differs from film. So my question is, how so? I heard the novel just talks about her leaving her Irish town, whereas the film shows her going back to New York and reuniting with Tony. But I wanna know more detail on the novel ending, anyone know?
shareIn the book, Eilise just says to Mrs. Kelly, "Is that all you have to say?" then she leaves Mrs. Kelly and goes and telephones for passage back to Brooklyn. She writes a letter to Tony about her return. She tells her mother she's married, and the mother arranges for a neighbor to take her to the train that will take her to Cohb (where the boat leaves for New York) the next morning. She packs her stuff. The next morning on the way to the train, she has the neighbor stop by Jim Farrell's house so she can leave a note in his mail slot. The note doesn't say she's married. It just says she's going back to Brooklyn. Then she gets on the train and thinks about how meaningful the note will be to Jim over the years and how meaningless to her. The End.
What the movie basically did is really dress up Eilise and Tony's story by making it more mutual. In the book, Tony is crazy about Eilise and Eilise appreciates everything about him but she's like a person without feelings, very detached. When she returns to Ireland, she gets romantically involved with Jim Farrell (making out at the beach, in the back seat of cars, etc.) Not because she's crazy about him, it seems, but because she's really confident now (skinny, tan, a big deal in town) and she likes the idea of having position in town and living in a nice place two doors from her mother. Her mother is as bad in the book as the movie. Ultimately Eilise realizes Jim is conservative and would never have to do with a married or divorced woman. She doesn't see a way around the problem, but she keeps dragging her feet almost as if she hopes something will fix everything by magic. I found the book very strange because although Tony is as good-looking, short, and devoted as in the movie, Eilise is hard to figure out. Back in Ireland, the implication is Jim Farrell is sort of a pain in the neck because Nancy's sister had dated him for awhile, but couldn't stand it and dumped him. It comes off as if Eilise is just into her new power and appeal way more than Jim himself. She teaches herself to be into Jim, and mostly she seems to be very happy about how she doesn't care what people think, and how sure she is of herself now. Basically I felt she liked being a big fish in a smaller pond but Mrs. Kelly ruined it for her. Even then though, Eilise seemed neither upset nor happy about going back to Brooklyn.
One weird part of the book was after she and Tony had sex, Eilise insists they go to confession to a priest. He takes her to his Italian parish, but she insists the priest she confesses to speak English or it wouldn't be a good confession. So there she has a conscience and is a good Catholic, but when she gets to Ireland she cheats on her husband and it doesn't bother her at all. It seems to me she could have gotten an anulment from Tony since it was a civil wedding and they hadn't had sex after the ceremony, and she could also just ignore her marriage because how would Jim ever find out? She never considers doing that, but of course, Mrs. Kelly finding out would have spoiled it.
Thank you, JaneThree, for such a great description of the book's ending and for the extra info re the Eilise in the book.
Up until she started dating Jim, I actually liked Eilise in the film. I know from your description, I wouldn't have liked her at all in the book. Did you find anything worthwhile in 'book-Eilise'?
Like I said, I did like Eilise, up until she became so unfair to both Tony and Jim; then, I just felt sorry for both of the men. I doubt I would have even watched the film had I read the book because watching such a character with such a lack of character wouldn't be at all enjoyable for me.
What did you think of the film? ๎
Oh, and as far as an annulment, yes, she/Tony could have had the marriage annulled since the marriage hadn't been consummated so that's what you were referring to, yes? Obviously, an annulment couldn't be granted for them in the film (not,at least, for that reason.) ๎
What a shame for Tony ๐ and maybe a little bit for me, too, 'cuz this definitely wasn't my idea of a 'happy ending' for anyone concerned and, I confess, I do like a happy ending for at least someone!)
I would say the issues I had with Eilise were entirely with the writing. You never knew where you stood with the character. The only really clear thing in the writing, that makes sense to me, is that when Tony moved faster towards commitment than Eilise wanted, there was one point where the book explicitly said she resisted because if she committed, she was giving up the idea of home (Ireland) for good. But then it didn't follow through. It really is, to me, one of those books where being cryptic and unilluminating is taken for subtly and depth. I'm a NYer, so at least I know, based on that, how inaccurate and sloppy the author's idea of New York and Brooklyn is, and maybe this carried forward with Eilise. It's as if he couldn't keep track of how he'd had her behave from one chapter to the next. When we meet her, she is such an amazing drip it's hard to believe they wrote a book about her. She seriously wants to just live with her mother the rest of her life and never ever go anywhere or do anything, and I'm not sure she ever changed.
In the book, you can see the outline of how she cares for Tony, and she writes to her sister Rose praising him (although Rose is more judgmental in the book - Eilise is afraid Rose won't like her dating a plumber, and Rose writes back that it's great they're so young so no "decisions" have to be made.) There are places in the book where you can read, okay, she cares for Tony (who is super perfect) but still is hung up on Ireland. Then she goes back to Ireland and is totally sucked in by the idea of impressing her mother and having her mother's approval by marrying Jim Farrell. That thin spine is there, but there is SO much that contradicts it as well, you can't really say "Okay, that's the story."
Oh, in the book she and Tony go to Manhattan to see movies all the time. In the movie, she never leaves Brooklyn.
Eilise and Tony could have gotten an annulment even in the movie, because they had sex BEFORE they were married. They had sex the night she agreed to marry him. After the civil ceremony, you see them up on the steps of the main door to the boarding house, not the door to her room at sidewalk level, and, since the marriage is secret, we can figure they didn't consummate the marriage (the fact that they had sex before the wedding wouldn't count as consummation).
One of the weird inconsistencies in the book is that after she has sex with Tony, she not only insists they both go to confession, but she makes sure the priest in Tony's parish speaks English, so her confession is REAL, the priest really heard her. Yet in Ireland she physically carries on (making out and letting herself be touched) with Jim Farrell - cheating on her husband - without a qualm. Don't think this is character, think this is just bad writing.
Ways the movie made Eilise and Tony's relationship more romantic:
After she doesn't respond to his declaration of love, we see her leaving Brooklyn College and not seeing Tony waiting for her as usual. We see the disappointment on her face - I could have cried for her. THAT told the audience that even though she didn't say "I love you" back to him, he meant something to her. In the book it was sort of - well, if I tell him to slow down or break up with him, I'll have to stand against the wall at the dances again, and I don't want to. In the book Tony is never late. He's always at the college, even after she doesn't respond to his saying I love you.
In the movie, she puts on her wedding ring when she visits Rose's grave in Ireland, and tells Rose about Tony. When she's busted by Miss Kelly, she announces her name with Tony's last name. She bursts out to her mother that she wants to be with her husband. The way it played is she feels guilty that she'd rather be with Tony, and has been afraid and repressing it all this time.
In the book, it's her mother who says "you should be with your husband", and none of the other things happen.
Another difference is the movie tried to present Jim Farrell as pretty perfect except for the fact that Eilise loved somebody else. In the book he definitely had good qualities, only his history of getting dumped by girls was so bad you had to figure he had something wrong with him. Nancy's sister dumped him basically because she just couldn't take him anymore. The book doesn't explain exactly why he was a pain in the neck. We're left to guess.
Honestly, I think the writer wanted to write about Enniscorthy. That's his big love in the book. I know every store and cobblestone at this point. He sort of built this story around it, but appeared to have trouble keeping track of it. The filmmakers did a good job working around the structure, but once they decided to make Eilise a complete heroine and Tony/Eilise a real love story, they had a big challenge with the story structure. I saw the marketing campaign about which man will she choose, and when I saw the movie I was stunned she'd gotten married before she went back to Ireland, as was everyone else. Nobody watching the movie that I know of saw it as a triangle or which man is better for Eilise. They were thinking of Tony and waiting for Eilise to explain herself, which never happened.
Last thing, in my previous comment, I got her thoughts on the train backwards. She actually thought that in years to come her note about going back to Brooklyn would become meaningless to JIM, but more and more meaningful to herself.
Thank you for your description of the differences between the book and the movie, as well as your thoughts and opinions on both. I, like the original poster, was also curious about the differences, and what the book was like. However, I probably don't have the time or will to actually read the book, so your synopses were very helpful.
Also, one particular thing of interest I noted was how I had read that the book had gotten great reviews, and specifically, was very accurate and insightful in its portrayal of 1950's Brooklyn. Your posts, on the other hand, indicated you believed the opposite was true.
JaneThree, thank you so much for your comments! I felt the movie did not convincingly explain Eilise's decision, but your notes about the book give excellent context to see where it came from.
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