Author: Betty Smith
Narrator: Kate Burton
Publisher: Caedmon
Publication Date: December 2004
Genre: General Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century.
From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often-harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty.
Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.
My Thoughts: Originally published in 1943, this novel is an American classic coming of age story that follows Francine Nolan and her life in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn with her parents, Katie and Johnny and little brother, Neely. Francie has a vivid imagination, loves to read and thinks she will be a writer when she grows up. Francie and her family also live in abject poverty, barely making enough money to survive on.
The author does an excellent job of illustrating early twentieth century Brooklyn for the reader, which is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. The adoration Francie feels for her father and her non-judgmental assessment of his drinking and lack of monetary success was sharply demonstrated throughout the book, as well as Francie’s realization that her mother cares more for her brother than for her. As we watch Francie grow, begin school, begin working and experience her first heartbreak, my admiration of her grew.
My Final Verdict: Overall, this was a story that I enjoyed quite a bit, but I didn’t love it. The majority of the story depicts the struggle to live and survive in a world marked by hardship, poverty and the first world war looming on the horizon. I enjoyed the author’s ability to bring Brooklyn to life with such skill that the reader feels transported there. I recommend this story to all readers for the lessons we need to learn about appreciating every opportunity we are blessed with as so many people, then and now, have it so much harder.
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