This was a lovely book that I am so glad to have read. Set just before World War I,
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith is the coming-of-age story of a little girl named
Francie growing up in New York. We meet her as a child, get flashbacks
to her parents lives to learn the circumstances into which she was born,
and follow her through her early teens as she experiences school and
work and life. In my version there is a forward by Anna Quindlen, who
explains that the plot of the book is hard to pin down, but the best way
to describe it is as a book about "what it means to be human." I would
agree, this novel is not just about a little girl growing up in a sad
family in a poor neighborhood, but it's about relationships with your
parents, learning about love, doing your best, making the most out of
life, and all those little lessons that life teaches you without you
really realizing it.
Read more >>
