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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith

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Dec 22, 2011 El rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: peer-pressure, young-adult-n-kids, 20th-centurylit-early

I felt like the last person in the world to have read this book, and based on what everyone has said about it over the years, I expected this to be the next best thing after the Crispy Potato Soft Taco at Taco Bell. But as I read the first 200 pages, I thought everyone was out of their freaking minds. This, I thought, is what everyone has been raving about for as long as I can remember? I even did a quick peek at my GR friends list - you people love this book. I couldn't figure out why.

It starte ...more

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May 31, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: everyone-loved-it-except-me, nyc, fiction, historical-fiction, classic, coming-of-age

I did not enjoy reading A Tree Grows, and I am glad I'm done with it. That's not to say that I don't appreciate its value as a classic. It depicts an important time in US history, a time that my own grandparents lived through. I recognize my Nana in Katie and my Poppop in Johnny, so I know that Ms Smith got it right. But I just did not enjoy this. The story is dreadfully depressing, it drags on and on, and meanders this way and that. It is a character-driven story, I suppose, but I did not care I did not enjoy reading A Tree Grows, and I am glad I'm done with it. That's not to say that I don't appreciate its value as a classic. It depicts an important time in US history, a time that my own grandparents lived through. I recognize my Nana in Katie and my Poppop in Johnny, so I know that Ms Smith got it right. But I just did not enjoy this. The story is dreadfully depressing, it drags on and on, and meanders this way and that. It is a character-driven story, I suppose, but I did not care about any of the characters. The big climactic scene midway through is told in the same detached, plodding fashion as the rest of the book, and (even worse) the character, Francie, does not seem the least bit changed by the trauma. I found the writing style to be wholly insipid, for most of the book it is "See Jane. See Jane run. Run, Jane, run!" for the first three parts:
Mama came home at six with Aunt Sissy. Francie was very glad to see Sissy. She was her favorite aunt. Francie loved her and was fascinated by her. So far, Sissy had led a very exciting life.
then it becomes disjointed in the fourth part, and finally disjointed and rushed in the fifth part. (I wonder if Ms Smith wrote the first three parts when she was much younger, then set it aside when she couldn't figure out how to finish it? Or is this Ms Smith's way of showing how Francie is growing up?) And too many things about this story were just terribly depressing - I'm sure it's realistic, but it's not what I want to read. Plus, the general attitude felt extremely dated, with casual bigotry and sexism at every turn.

The ending was satisfying, which is what saves this from being a one star read for me.
Francie went over to stand at the great window from which she could see the East River twenty stories below. It was the last time she’d see the river from that window. The last time of anything has the poignancy of death itself. This that I see now, she thought, to see no more this way. Oh, the last time how clearly you see everything; as though a magnifying light had been turned on it. And you grieve because you hadn’t held it tighter when you had it every day.
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Jan 12, 2009 Sharon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-pre-1975

Read this as an adolescent and remember LOVING it. While the story centers around a young girl, it i...more

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Apr 12, 2010 Debbie is on Storygraph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, historical-fiction, 2010

It took a long time to read this book -- not because I didn't like it but because I didn't have a lot of reading time. But every time I picked it up, I was immediately sucked into Francie's world and it was always jarring to leave it. This was Smith's love letter to the Brooklyn that she grew up in -- poor and shabby but still very beloved. I only wish I had read this book earlier. ...more

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May 31, 2007 Ruth Soz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, novels

A favorite of mine, recommended to me by my mother when I was looking for something to read one summer in my teens. I think my mom identified with the main character, and so I will forever think of my mom when this I think of this book.

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Jan 25, 2009 Melissa Rochelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, read-2020

Francie Nolan is one of my favorite characters in literature. She is smart, independent, resilient. Such a great book. <3

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May 05, 2007 Emma rated it really liked it

May 14, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, owned-1300, zz-5star, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, historical-fiction, nyc, novel, favorites, z1966, owned-or-own-different-edition

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