A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) | Betty Smith | A Wowing Historical Fiction Classic

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) | Betty Smith | Brooklyn life in the finest prose

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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 548 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

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A Wowing Historical Fiction Classic

I am in total awe after reading this book. In the beginning I thought it was going to be a boring and long novel. But throughout my reading I became to grow more attached to the story. The main character Francie was an intriguing and delightful creation that anyone would want as their best friend, should she not be a fictional person. I enjoyed reading how the poor family made ends meet and continued surviving when it seemed they couldn't hang on much longer. It seems that you shouldn't find it entertaining to read of suffering, but the author writes it in such a ingenious way as to that you're really reading about the magnificence of life, living, and death. As the family encounters dilemma after dilemma you find yourself encased in the wonder of how they do it. Throughout all the sadness and suffering the Nolans are still kind and considerate, loving and caring, fair and just; overall good people! Don't get me wrong, this is not a sad story, although some parts are on the sadder side. This is a marvelous writing about why people live and how. It shows a young girl growing up and changing into a woman. I was so in tune with the story I found myself laughing, crying, cheering, and feeling scared! The Nolans are resourceful and caring people, although they do have their faults. You learn about them from birth to middle aged and curiously watch them change, grow, and develop their ways. You see where each person gets their character traits from and why they do certain things. The setting is early twentieth century Brooklyn, NY. The Nolans live in a neighborhood of old flats. Electricity has not yet been invented and the value of the dollar is way higher than the present. Its interesting reading about how their insurance was twenty-five cents and that four people could eat on ten cents a day! The author provides you with outstanding descriptions of looks, feelings, and mood as to that you feel you are really there. You feel as if you have known the characters forever and are close friends with all of them. This is because you learn more about them throughout the story as if you really were their friends, and they were alive and you got to know them better as time goes on. While you read this book, you will discover how lucky we are, and what some people went through to cope with the daily mandatory needs of humans. I am completely convinced anyone who reads this book will fall in love with the gentle rhythym of the flowing sentences. When I finished I didn't want it to end, the author could've kept writing until Francie died and you would've ever get bored. Yet all books have to end. With a touch of history, I am positive anyone who reads this will be more than satisfied. This novel definitely deserves more than five stars!

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Brooklyn life in the finest prose

Of all Brooklyn literature, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", has probably the most charm and magnetism for everyone, who reached for it at least once.

The story of the Nolan family from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, comes to life in the book - and the novel is really heartfelt, very much because of simple, but poetic, suggestive and emotionally engaging language. Betty Smith managed to write a timeless piece, not only because of what she wrote about, but largely due to the lack of mannerisms and phrases fashionable in the 1940's, when she wrote "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn".

Francie Nolan, a gifted girl who loves books and decides to be a writer (an alter ego of the author), who is 11 years old at the beginning of the book, is a daughter of Katie, a strong, pragmatic, honest, down-to-earth woman of Austrian descent, who supports her family being a cleaning lady, and Johnny, an Irish, heavy drinking romantic, earning some money now and then as a singing waiter. Francie has a year younger brother, Neely, and although the children are often hungry and cold, and try to earn money, selling scrap metal, they have the love of their parents, their own good nature, and a happy childhood as a result.

The plot follows Francie from 11 to 16, when she goes to college, but also goes back in retrospective as far as the childhood and family lives of Katie and Johnny. Francie is at the center of the story, growing from a dreamy, shy child into a bright, imaginative woman. The lives of the Nolan nuclear family and numerous relatives and neighbors are described in a series of anecdotic pieces, which could make very good short stories, like snapshots of everyday life of the poor neighborhood, where people are resourceful and full of character. These stories, however, are masterfully tied together into this brilliant novel, which made me laugh and cry, moving me to the core, and teaching important lessons of the essence of humanity and American spirit.

Betty Smith wrote a wonderful novel which will inspire generations to come, and immortalized the atmosphere of Brooklyn at the beginning of twentieth century. Thinking of this book simply as of "coming of age" novel does not do it justice - it is much more than that.

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Great read

My grandmother, who I adore/admire in words I am not able to convey, passed this book onto me years ago. It still remains in my top 10.
It is intensely emotional and affirmative for a woman of any age... and, for those who want to be around them.
I can't imagine anyone being disappointed.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

As a senior citizen and former New Yorker, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book after all these years
Although it takes place in the 1910-1920 era, there were many things that came to my memory ( or what's left of it! )
I did a lot of reminiscing.
I highly recomend it.
especially if your an old timer and a New Yorker

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I ordered this book as it was my book club selection, very sure I would not find it terribly interesting. What a surprise it turned out to be! This is a very readable, colorful story of an immigrant family in early 1900's Brooklyn. With every page, Betty Smith carried me away to these neighborhoods and ethnic communities. I loved the trip.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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