A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in Books and Jams Readalong

Mar 13, 2018 Callie rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2018

I enjoyed this book almost in spite of the book. If you’ve never read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, it has quite a bit more language and sexual content than I expected. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Language: Jesus’s name is used in vain and various other curse words are used throughout. It’s not packed with gratuitous curse words, but more than I expected, and certainly more than I wanted to be reading.

Sexual Content: I was honestly surprised how many references to sex there were in this book. Despite t I enjoyed this book almost in spite of the book. If you’ve never read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, it has quite a bit more language and sexual content than I expected. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Language: Jesus’s name is used in vain and various other curse words are used throughout. It’s not packed with gratuitous curse words, but more than I expected, and certainly more than I wanted to be reading.

Sexual Content: I was honestly surprised how many references to sex there were in this book. Despite this book being about a young girl, after reading it I would certainly say it was written for adults. There is an aunt who is known to sleep around, and that causes trouble for the family. There is “the talk”, an attempted rape, references to perverts and child molesters, someone copping feel on the El, and a situation where the main character is tempted to sleep with her beau. All of these things were mostly talked about discreetly by the characters, and seemed to serve the story, but typing it all out - yeah, that’s quite a lot of sexual content, although granted, not explicit (though the attempted rape scene had more details than I wanted). What bothered me most about all this was that it was mostly just spoken of as if all this sleeping around or potentially sleeping around is just what is “natural”, and it was only referenced negatively in the context of what it could do to reputations. No statements were made about the morality of any of this sexual activity, and the main character even regrets not sleeping with her beau. It’s certainly not a book to look to for any good examples in this arena, and I personally would certainly not hand it to my teen.

Other: One of the characters leaves a couple of her husbands without divorcing them, and then remarries. Many lies are told by the characters, many of them brushed off because they are for the “greater good”. The father is a drunk. The characters are mostly Catholic, with some mysticism thrown in there, so many doctrines and practices that are mentioned are not biblically sound (praying to Mary, Purgatory, etc).

Wew, I think that’s it.

Despite all this negative content, I did actually quite enjoy the story. The characters, with all their many flaws, were so well developed and realistic. They seemed like real people, with parts you loved about them, and some things you hated. What particularly struck me in this story was Francie’s relationship with her dad - despite his being a drunkard, he tried so hard to be a good father, and he was always there for Francie in a way that her mother couldn’t be. I couldn’t help loving his character. If anyone was to be admired in this book, I think it was Francie’s mother though, for being so strong and faithful despite poverty and a difficult marriage. The ending of this book was so satisfying to me, and was pretty happy, which I always love. I am a sucker for coming of age stories, and I really thoroughly enjoyed this book.

So would I recommend it?

As a book to teach good morals - no. I would not hold this book up as a support for good moral decisions because I felt any statements on morality were either wrong or completely lacking.

But as a book to discuss human nature, to spark some deeper thoughts on what makes you YOU, and to meet characters that you’ll fall in love with? Yes, I think so. ...more

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