A novel that a barely reaches the simmering point : Brooklyn

Colm Toibin's "Brooklyn" fooled me a little. I was pretty sure that [ spoilers! ] Eilie would return to Ireland and stay there, leaving behind the sweet but somewhat feckless Tony - I thought the story was probably the life story of Toibin's mother (he's written a lot about mothers and sons). But I was wrong. The last part of the novel becomes something like Pride & Prejudice, with Eiler back home in Ireland, now courted assiduously by a handsome young man in her town who had shunned her in the first part of the novel but now sees her as a glamourous catch. Is he sincere and a good man? Or is he a cad taking advantage of her? She has to decide whether her initial prejudice toward him was wrong - ultimately decides that her place is back in Brooklyn, with Tony, whom she has secretly wed. So the novel, after 150 pages or with a series of events but with no plot to speak of - reminded me in a way of Mrs. Bridge, scenes accumulating into a life - becomes plot-driven, almost a romance novel. Is it a good novel? Despite the beautiful and clear writing throughout, it's not a great novel by any means - mainly because the main character is such a puff of air. Right to the end, she really makes no decisions, just continues to choose the path of least resistance, avoiding a scene, avoiding a confrontation, ultimately settling for Tony rather than returning to him with any enthusiasm - leaving a note for Jack or whatever his name is, finally telling her mother that she's been secretly married, and her mother doesn't want to talk about it. I understand that part of the theme is the taciturnity of her family (or her mother, anyway), but really it's a novel that barely even reaches the simmering point, a sketch for a novel, bloodless.