In the end, Brid debates whether to leave Ireland again. Do you think she made the right decision? In your opinion is it better to make your life close to where you were raised, or far away from it?

In the end, Brid debates whether to leave Ireland again, ultimately deciding to do so. Do you think she made the right decision? Do you think she'll ever return to her homeland?

In your opinion is it better to make your life close to where you were raised, or far away from it?

It was not definitely stated but certainly implied what Brid’s decision was. I think some people need the environment in which they were raised. They only feel like their true selves there. I would imagine this is especially true when cultures are so different as in the U.S. vs. any other country. Cultures, religion, language, experiences, people are important influences. For myself, I have chosed to live somewhere other than where I was raised and for me this is the right place. Again, people have different needs and comfort zones.

I agree with ritah -I have also chosen someplace else to live than where I was raised.
And I liked my childhood. It is such a personal decision based on so many past and present experiences and future plans. I thought it was incredibly brave for Brid to go so far away to California from Ireland.

Yes, I do think she made the right decision to leave. If she stayed she be faced every day with the things she needed to be away from. A constantly angry mother, judgement from her brothers and the guilt of her participation in harming the mother and child. Living where you grew up is good and bad. Staying surrounds you with comfort and familiarity or it can be the exact opposite. Leaving can allows you to be more your own author, to be who you should not what everyone else expects.

I think she made the right decision. I think going back only reinforced her need to be separated from the hate in her family and the cultural upheavals ... even though, she was drawn to the smells, sounds and sights of her homeland. Home is always home.
Sad when this is the case.

I believe that Brid's life would have been miserable in Ireland, and I would have been disappointed if the author chose to leave her there. I think she made the correct choice the first time she left.

I am usually a big believer in 'there is no place like home.' but in the case of Brid she became the person she is today because she left home, left behind the narrow minds and sensless violence. I am glad she reconnected to her family, but I feel if she had stayed in Ireland she would have lost herself.

Yes, Brid most definitely made the right decision. Her home is with her daughter and if she has any desire to heal and move forward it must be far away from her mother.
The decision of where to make one’s home has many variables and is unique to each individual/family. There are as many correct answers as there are people.

I think she made the right decision to return to the States. I have my doubts that she was strong enough yet to withstand any repeat of the emotional baggage that she had experienced. I also couldn't tell to what extent her family had moved on, if any at all.

Brid needed to return to the states. Her mother was toxic and unable to change. Her sibling relationships were not strong. I think Ireland was no longer her home. If your relationship with your family is a positive one living close to your family is great but if it is a toxic relationship living far away is the braver and better decision.

Staying in Ireland would have meant living in the past with a troubled family and past. Going home to California was her current life with her daughter. In the end, different people make different choices and it’s right for them.

Brid made the right decision to return to the States. It would have been depressing to live with her mother and probably the past. I love the scene in the airport where Brid cannot decide to stay or leave and Bernie extend her hand and Brid takes it. I knew then that their relationship was on the healing path.
From my own experience, I grew up in Canada and moved in the U.S. in my early 20s. I love both my family in Canada and my family here. It was the right choice for me and I don't regret it.

Oh, she absolutely made the right decision. She hadn't had a relationship with her family in years, so in a sense they were strangers. Plus her mother was truly horrible. I'm surprised no one brought up "the five words" - "It should have been you."

I think whether to stay close or move away depends a lot on the circumstances. It might make sense to stick near one's birthplace if one's family is there and if there's a desire for children to know their relatives. It makes more sense to move, in my opinion, if the area only produces painful memories, and the only reason to stay is a misplaced sense of responsibility.

I think Brid made the right decision to leave the second time. I think it was a freeing decision for her, knowing she had a choice. As others have said, leaving your childhood home/town is different for each of us. At the end of the day, wherever we live hopefully feels like "home" in spite of where it is geographically or the distance from our childhood home. In Brid's case, she had gone home and made peace with her family and was finally able to share difficult aspects of her childhood with her own daughter. Going home was therapeutic and cathartic, but returning to the home she had created was an adult choice.

Her return to the US seems the only way she could escape the old religious hatred she grew up with. There are many, many groups of hate and divisions in the US, but in a way that makes this particular religious hate easier to achieve separation. There was really nothing left for her in Northern Ireland but more hate and guilt.

I do think Brid made the right decision to leave Ireland again and return to California. Staying in Ireland would have brought back the same relationship patterns and interactions that she had before and left behind. However, I think if Bernie had not said she was definitely leaving to go home to California, no matter if Brid came with her or not, Brid may have stayed. I think in this case her daughter helped boost her resolve to leave.

I agree with all of you, it was the right decision to return to the U.S. And kdowney25, yes, if Bernie had wanted to stay in Ireland, she might have chosen that path.

Brid would have been miserable in Ireland I think and gone deeper into depression.

I also agree with all. There was no question in my mind that Brid needed to return to California. Although the trip to Ireland was somewhat healing for her and important for Birdie ultimately it would have been a disastrous choice.

I was glad Brid decided to go back to the US with her daughter, I would have thought much less of her if she would have stayed behind and sent her teenage daughter back to the US alone. Or if she would have made Bernie stay in Ireland. It is important that she chose to do the right thing for Bernie at that time. I was also glad that she did go back to visit when her dad passed away and was able to make some amends with her family. I hope that she would be able to let some of the past go and live a more fulfilling life when she got back to the US. Hopefully she would keep in contact with her family and they would remain a part of her life.

She made the right decision. She had made a life for herself and Bernie in the United States, and she really had no life left in Ireland. And Bernie's resolve to go back to California regardless of what Brid might decide probably made Brid realize that her life is now in California, not in Ireland.