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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn chapters 1-17
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Jenn, moderator
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Jan 08, 2015 08:20AM
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I started today somewhat reluctantly, after I read the reviews of emotional readers and young adults who were very affected and sentimental from reading the book. I'm not such a reader (no disrespect), I prefer to learn from well-articulated ideas and observations, so i wondered if i could appreciate the book. Then I read a raving "masterpiece" review of someone with similar worries, which convinced me to start it:http://www.hackwriters.com/brooklyn.htm
I'm now on page 85 and i love it. It's quite like Proust with similar troubles of boredom that some people have, in that not much drama happens, but the interest lies in the wonderful description, feelings and observations about life, that are quite universal. Like him, I feel that no word could have been cut from the novel so far.
Has anyone else started yet? What are your initial thoughts?
Coincidentally started reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn last month as a bedtime read with my daughter. I read this book years ago and remember almost nothing about it. Only remember thinking it was a slow read, and then feeling awed by the time I'd finished the book. That's it... today could not name a single character or say anything at all about it so it didn't leave much impression. Hoping the bedtime read and the discussion here will remind me why I thought this was a good book. We are still in the early chapters and not always excited to pick it up at night. It is as a well drawn view of a time and place, but not a riveting story yet. We will keep reading.
I am reading “When Books Went to War, the Stories that Helped US Win World War II” by Molly Guptill Manning. In the introduction, the author quotes from a letter written by a malaria-stricken and battle weary marine to Betty Smith about what “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” meant to him. He wrote “I can’t explain the emotional reaction that took place, I only know that it happened and that this heart of mine turned over and became alive again. A surge of confidence has swept through me and I feel that maybe a fellow has a fighting chance in this world after all. I’ll never be able to explain to you the gratitude and love that fill my heart in appreciation of what your book means to me. It brought laughter and joy and also tears although it was unusual for a supposedly battle-hardened marine to do such an effeminate thing as weep over a piece of fiction. I’m not ashamed.”
I have only read the first few chapters, not enough to have an opinion, but I am really enjoying it. It's so detailed and the characters seem to be really good built up. It reminds me a little bit of Angela's Ashes.
I really feel that the strength of the first few chapters are the beautiful observations of daily life. It's not about what happens, but how poignantly it's described. This is a later example:
It was a beautiful peaceful second when both golden plates were stilled and stood there in perfect balance. It was as if nothing wrong could happen in a world where things balanced so stilly.
(p. 137, HarperCollins, Kindle Edition)
Though i have to say i miss this observational quality in most of the chapters starting from the ones that detail Katie's and Johnny's back story, how they got to know each other, and how they moved, up to the end of chapter 17. The quote above is almost the only such impressive observation I found. Still, I'm quite interested in the story and the characters, which these chapters focus on, and I still enjoy the read very much and at a pretty quick pace. The writing style has a high quality and admirable conciseness for its wordiness, it couldn't be any shorter.
heh yeah, i really liked that description, how Francie's mother could cook such delicious things creatively from so little.
