Part 3 Summary

Brooklyn Part 3 Summary: Beginning

• Miss Keegan moves out. BYE FELICIA!
• Mrs. Kehoe tells Eilis secretly and privately that she is to move into Miss Keegan’s old room in the basement because it’s the best room in the house.
• Eilis worries that the other lodgers will resent her for getting the room especially because she is the youngest lodger and and the most recent one to move in. It’s like when a new girl moves to town and all the boys love her.
• Eilis realizes this also might be some dirty trick and Mrs. Kehoe’s way of sending her to the damp, dark room in the dungeon.
• When Eilis moves into the basement room, all of her suspicions fade. The room is gorgeous and huge and decorated regally. Eilis is Queen.  There’s a fireplace and proper desk and its own staircase leading up to the sidewalk outside.
• Eilis almost feels uncomfortable at how nice this gesture is from Mrs. Kehoe. She realizes she must be Mrs. Kehoe’s favorite and fears that Mrs. Kehoe will expect favors from her now in return for the amazing room.
• Miss McAdam tells Eilis privately that she was only given the room because all the other lodgers refused to move into it. Apparently Miss Keegan moved out because some strange guy followed her home and flashed her. Thus, the other lodgers refused to move down there.
• Eilis thinks Miss McAdam is lying out of her teeth. She believes she is making this story up out of mere jealousy.

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• The weekly Friday dances at the parish hall begin.
• Patty and Diana beg Eilis to attend with them but Eilis ends up going with Miss McAdam and Sheila Heffernan instead. Why she chooses those old hags? I have no idea.
• Eilis wears no makeup and wears a frumpy dress and has a miserable night with Sheila and Miss McAdam. They sit like wallflowers at the dance while Patty and Diana enter with a huge group of popular friends and dance the night away like movie stars. Miss McAdam and Sheila judge Patty and Diana but Eilis knows they are just jealous.
• Eilis feels frumpy and ugly compared to Patty and Diana. She admires them in envy and is humiliated at how bad she looks and feels compared to them.
• Eilis and Sheila and Miss McAdam leave early.
• Eilis vows to never attend a dance with those miserable brats ever again.
• The next week, Eilis fakes a cold so she does not have to attend the dance.
• A new girl named Dolores moves into the house. The other lodgers are humiliated by her presence and ignore her because she is a “scrubber” and like so totally beneath their standards.
• Eilis doesn’t mind Dolores and feels sorry for her. However, she doesn’t have the guts to stand up against the other gals.
• The next Friday, Mrs. Kehoe begs Eilis to to take Dolores to the dance because she is dying to go.
• Eilis reluctantly agrees but immediately regrets her decision once she sees what Dolores is wearing to the dance.
• Dolores looks like a cheap hooker. She wears a cheap leather jacket and a white blouse and skirt with black tights. Her makeup is tacky and Eilis is humiliated to be seen with her at the church.
• Once they arrive, Eilis avoids her at all costs. Luckily Patty arrives with Diana and takes Eilis to the ladies room to fix up her makeup and raggedy hair.
• On the dance floor, Patty’s guy friend teaches Eilis how to dance the steps to the popular songs. As he’s teaching her, she notices a guy looking at her and smiling.

 

Brooklyn Part 3 Summary: Middle

• Eilis notices some guy looking at her while she’s dancing. He has blonde hair and clear blue eyes and isn’t much taller than her.
• After the song ends, this mystery guy asks her if she’s single and she says yes. They dance and he buys her a drink. A lemonade of course, because this is at a church!
• His name is Tony and Eilis thinks he looks kinda goofy but as time passes, they dance the night away. This serves as a great plus for her because it gives her an excuse to avoid Dolores.
• The slow songs play and Tony pulls Eilis closer and closer and they embrace in a way that Eilis likes. *SWOON*
• He is a gentleman and walks her all the way home.
• She learns that he is Italian. Not Irish. He admits that he’s been wanting to talk to her since the first week he noticed her at the dance. How sweet, he’s been admiring her from afar… but not in a creepy way… in an adorable romantic kind of way.
• As he drops her off he says he will pick her up next Friday night before the dance.
• When that day comes, he makes the mistake of knocking on the front door where Mrs. Kehoe answers and asks him a thousand questions. He assures Eilis that he lied about his ethnicity because back then the Irish and Italians sure as hell didn’t mix well.
• Eilis learns that Tony is a plumber. He takes her out to eat and then to the dance. This routine continues on for many many weeks.

 

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• The warm weather arrives and Tony  and Eilis’s relationship blooms. They learn more about each other and make a point to see each other more often. He walks her home from school on Thursday nights, takes her for dinner and the dance on Fridays, and every Saturday he takes her to a movie.
• Eilis fears telling Rose about Tony because she knows Rose will judge her for dating a plumber.
• Eilis likes how Tony is such a gentleman. He never forces her to do anything. She likes his warm embraces and sweet breath when he kisses her. He’s always smiling and joking around and paying attention to her. Even when he is upset or serious he holds her hand and shows her love and care. Isn’t he perfect?
• As her exams approach, they see each other less often so Eilis can study.
• Tony has been telling Eilis for a while now that he loves her. Eilis is stern. She is that girlfriend who doesn’t say “I love you” back. Tony is crazy about her but Eilis just goes with the flow. He even tells her how he hopes their children are Brooklyn Dodgers fans.
• Eilis does not know how to feel about this. She worries that he is moving too fast for her. She gives him the cold shoulder because she does not know how to act in front of him.
• However one day after class, she tells Tony she loves him. FINALLY. Tony is utterly thrilled.

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• After her exams, she meets Tony’s family. Tony looks nothing like his family. They all have black hair and brown eyes.
• Tony’s family lives in a small apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
• Tony has three younger brothers, Maurizio, Laurence, and Frank. The four brothers all share the bedroom together. God bless them.
• The parents sleep on a pull out bed in the kitchen.
• Eilis feels awkward at dinner and little Frank gets in trouble for making snippy comments about how his family doesn’t like Irish people.
• Tony leaves for a plumbing call and Eilis is left with his family. Frank tells Eilis secretly how Tony’s ex-girlfriend broke up with him because he took her to Coney Island and she threw up on the Ferris Wheel.
• As summer sets in, Tony wants to take Eilis to the beach at Coney Island. She doesn’t have a bathing suit so Miss Fortini from Bartocci’s helps her pick one. She advises Eilis to shave down under and lose weight before going to the beach. Uhhh awkward .. thanks Miss Fortini!
• When they go to Coney Island, Eilis admires Tony’s street smarts and his ability to push through the crowds on the train and at the beach.
• They go in the water and playfully embrace each other in the sea. When Tony tries to touch her butt, she swims away. Poor Tony.
• They spend the whole day on the beach and embracing and kissing in the ocean.

 

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• Father Flood meets Tony and approves of his gentlemanly character and outgoing personality. They bond over the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team.
• Tony tells Eilis his plan to buy property in Long Island with his brothers and start a plumbing/carpentry business with them. They will build five houses and one is reserved for him and Eilis.
• Eilis goes with the flow and enjoys her romance with Tony.
• In September Tony takes her and his brothers to a dodgers game. He is so absorbed in the game and ignores Eilis but she adores the fact that he finds passion in other things in life.
• Eilis spends Thanksgiving with Tony’s family. She spends Christmas at the parish hall serving the Irishmen who have nowhere to go. She enjoys spending the holiday in solitude.

 

 

 

 

Brooklyn Part 3 Summary: End

• Eilis spends a normal spring day at Bartocci’s when Father Flood arrives and informs her that her sister Rose has died in her sleep last night. What kind of sick joke is this?!
• Eilis is in denial and complete shock. She sobs and is angry that she will never be able to see Rose again. She asks Father Flood repeatedly, “Why did I ever come here?”
• Eilis talks on the phone with her mother and learns that Rose was suffering from a heart problem but told no one. The doctor was the only other person who knew and he informed Rose that nothing could be done to help her heart. So Rose continued to live her life like the fabulous independent woman she was. She did all of the things she loved until she died suddenly in her sleep. *sobs*
• Eilis wonders many questions like how long did Rose knew about her condition. Was she afraid? Was she in pain? Did she try calling for help before she passed in the night? Eilis is heartbroken by the fact that she will never know the answers.
• Father Flood takes her home where Mrs. Kehoe and Tony are waiting.
• They talk and drink tea and eat sandwiches while Eilis ignores everyone. Eilis does not feel the need to be polite with Mrs. Kehoe.
• When Tony leaves, he expresses his sorrow and promises to be there for her.
• The next day Father Flood holds a mass for Rose’s memory in Brooklyn and Mrs. Kehoe, Eilis, Tony and his mother all attend.
• Eilis keeps herself busy with school and work and her routine with Tony but Eilis remains silent a lot of the time and she loves that Tony respects her silence.

 

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• One night Eilis reads a letter from her brother Jack. He confides in her that their mother isn’t doing because of Rose’s death. Jack and the other brothers must go back to England for work but are afraid to leave their mother alone with no one.
• Eilis understands from the letter that Jack is basically saying he wants Eilis to go home to Ireland and watch after their mother.
• Eilis does not know how to handle all of this so she sets out for Tony’s apartment even though it’s 10:30 at night.
• His mother opens the door in her pajamas and Tony wakes up , throws some clothes on, and takes Eilis to the diner. What a gem he is!
• She shows him the letter and he is heartbroken. Eilis regrets showing him the letter because now Tony will know that Eilis is needed back home and won’t stop her from seeing her family. She knows that he will be afraid for her to leave him.
• Eilis feels sorry for sharing the letter with him but she’s glad that Tony knows that Eilis trusts him. Tony is upset but understands that she may have to pay a visit to Ireland soon.
• He walks her home and they both cry outside of her house. Eilis knows that neither of them will be able to sleep alone tonight so she sneaks him down into her room.
• He has never seen her room before.
• They kiss and make their way to her bed. Uh oh… Here it comes y’all.
• Eilis touches Tony and admires his strong body.
• They undress and make love for the first time.
• I’ll spare the details of the love scene LOL
• After making love twice, they cuddle under the covers. Awwww.
• Mrs. Kehoe ignores Eilis the following days and even puts a lock on the gate leading to Eilis’s bedroom downstairs.
• Eilis is convinced she and Tony have been caught red handed. Awkward!
• Eilis is afraid she’s knocked up. Her and Tony go to Confession at Tony’s Italian church. The priest asks Eilis if she loves Tony and she says yes. When the priest asks her if she would marry him, Eilis says she would like to marry him but she’s not ready right now.
• Thank goodness… Eilis isn’t preggo!
• Now that she knows she isn’t knocked up, she looks back on her night with Tony with pleasure and happiness and is thankful that he shared that moment with her.

 

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• Eilis channels her inner Rose and tells Father Flood confidently that she must go visit Ireland and help her mother cope with Rose’s death. She would like him to talk to Mr. Bartocci and request that she have an unpaid month’s leave while she’s in Ireland.
• She also tells Father Flood that since she has passed all of her exams and is a certified bookkeeper, she would like to rise the ranks in the store.
• Father Flood makes the arrangements with Mr. Bartocci and Eilis plans her trip. Father Flood warns her to be nice to Mrs. Kehoe and Eilis listens. EVentually Mrs. Kehoe takes the lock off the gate. Now Eilis is a free woman.

 

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• When Eilis tells Tony the news of her trip to Ireland, she promises she will return to him.
• Tony asks her to marry him. *Damn this guy is so romantic*
• He asks her to marry him, even if it’s just a private ceremony between the two of them. Then they can have a proper wedding ceremony when she returns and is ready.
• Eilis asks him why he is doing this and he says that he is afraid that if he visits home she will never come back. Eilis promises him she will come back.
• Soon they sign the paperwork to be legally married and have a small ceremony with just the two of them a week before her departure.
• After they get married, Tony takes her for a day trip to Coney Island and they walk the boardwalk and eat Nathan’s. How romantic!
• He then drops her off home to Mrs. Kehoe’s where Eilis needs to pretend she isn’t married. Talk about a romantic wedding night… They don’t even get to spend it together.