A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) | Betty Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) | Betty Smith | Love the book, but...

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A Tree Grows in Br...

	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) Betty Smith Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 554 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

My new favorite!

I love this book! I found my new favorite novel. I recently read this book and fell in love with the story. I highly recommend it to anyone who needs to be entertained and inspired!

Love the book, but...

I recently read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time. I loved it. If I had to compare it to another book to someone else, I would say it compares to Angela's Ashes, though I enjoyed this one more.

I did not like this particular book though because it has rough cut pages where the each page edge is different. I just don't care for that, and had I known that this edition was like that, I would have bought a different copy.

But you can't go wrong with the book.

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An enthralling book that I just couldn't put down

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
By Betty Smith

Have you ever been so poor that you had to save pennies just to have enough money to put food on the table? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith describes the life of a poor girl growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the 1920s. Johnny Nolan, her father, was a drunk and always became quiet and depressed when he drank, while Katie Nolan, her mother, worked late and didn't see her family much. Yet, you can tell because of the way Smith describes Katie that she deeply loves her family. Betty Smith talks about Francie's courage to seek a better life. This happens to be my favorite part of the book. In elementary school, on her own initiative, Francie switched schools to get away from the bullies and succeeded to make herself happier.
I love how Francie Nolan has a passion to write and wrote many mythical stories of flowers and rainbows. After her father died, she started writing stories about poverty and people starving. Francie is a unique character for many reasons: I can picture her as she used to run down to get paper dickie shirt collars for her father, and she drank coffee when she was only 10. Although she went through many of life's hardships, she still turned out to be a very nice lady.
I recommend "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", A New York Public Library "Book of the Century" to anyone and everyone as it was enthralling and interesting, too. It was such a good read that I just couldn't put it down.
-Olivia Fleming

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Readable, rambling, and reasonable - 3 1/2

The thing about "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is that it is inconsistent in terms of quality. The plot is AT TIMES interesting, and other times so dull I barely even bothered to read what was on the page. The writing is in fact incredibly readable, but that is only because it lacks depth at times and is extraordinarily simplistic.

For the most part, the story of the Nolan's is interesting. Francie seems to be a character that falls into a template or a pattern - she is a reader, she is somewhat weak, and she is an intelligent child. These traits have rather become cliches in main characters, but the point is almost irrelevant here. The remainder of the Nolan family is fascinating, but more often than not, we are only given Francie, which is both disappointing and also boring at times. Things do get quite repetitive.

There's not much to be said about the writing. It's hardly the most beautiful writing I've ever encountered, nor does it have the greatest consistency or flow, but it reads simple. For readers who don't want to dive into a thick book that is also complex, this would probably be a great choice.

The best parts of this book are the little things. The "should-be-great" parts of the book are merely "okay". While the overall story is grand and impressive, at times the book and the writing simply stall, giving a few pages of words that really need not be there. Editing, perhaps, would have helped.

On the whole, this book can be recommended, though be warned that it may not suit those in search of good writing, and also that it stops at time, or rambles. It is thoroughly readable, though, and overall good.

3 1/2 stars - Recommended.

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A tree grows in Brooklyn

This book was really worth the time spent reading it. I had seen the movie years ago and I knew the book is always better. So I decided to buy it. It was a little too descriptive but the essence of the story makes up for that.Once I started I couldn't stop. Wow!A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) If you like to reminisce read it.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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