This is Vague Because I Don't Want to Give the Plot Away
"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound, but you couldn’t fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it; especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer." -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith (First published in 1943)
Most people have a book that follows them the rest of their lives. It's a work that they always think back upon with fondness or the feeling that it has changed something within them. For me that book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I passed it by in a used book store yesterday and instinctively picdked it up before moving on. My junior year of high school I lent it to my American History teacher and a few weeks later she had it permanently added to the curriculum. I think it is one of the most powerful and overlooked works of English literature. Dan Schneider accurately says that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has "a reputation as an Oprah Winfrey sort of book, meaning I thought it must be one of those tomes filled with good intentions but short on literary merit." It is given to young people, particularly girls, as one of those books that they should read, like Anne of Green Gables to show them what plucky young girls like Francie Nolan can accomplish if they try. It is marketed as a book with a message an agenda and because of this its craft is sidelined.
The world of pre-World War I Brooklyn is rich and Smith is able to hint even outside of Francie of the larger world and the ways which environment and culture do not conspire, for that implies agency and intent, but converge to stifle or feed the lives of men and women. Smith uses her characters, both central and incidental, to illustrate the world of the novel rather than just give a laundry list of social conditions and historical events. The story does not deviate from Francie's story and her point of view, but her perceptions, her experiences, her fancies, her joys and her shames allow the reader to see the greater society around and withing her.
Since I first read it, at the age of twelve or so, I have returned to it every so often and found new depth and lessons in it. The older I get the deeper I gain an understanding of womanhood-its strength and its vulnerability. It portrays subtly and powerfully the neccesity of both keeping one's family close and of divorcing one's self from it and the joy and pain that those action bring. It exquisitely paints growing up and losing illusions and innocence without surrendering vision and imagination.
Most people have a book that follows them the rest of their lives. It's a work that they always think back upon with fondness or the feeling that it has changed something within them. For me that book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I passed it by in a used book store yesterday and instinctively picdked it up before moving on. My junior year of high school I lent it to my American History teacher and a few weeks later she had it permanently added to the curriculum. I think it is one of the most powerful and overlooked works of English literature. Dan Schneider accurately says that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has "a reputation as an Oprah Winfrey sort of book, meaning I thought it must be one of those tomes filled with good intentions but short on literary merit." It is given to young people, particularly girls, as one of those books that they should read, like Anne of Green Gables to show them what plucky young girls like Francie Nolan can accomplish if they try. It is marketed as a book with a message an agenda and because of this its craft is sidelined.
The world of pre-World War I Brooklyn is rich and Smith is able to hint even outside of Francie of the larger world and the ways which environment and culture do not conspire, for that implies agency and intent, but converge to stifle or feed the lives of men and women. Smith uses her characters, both central and incidental, to illustrate the world of the novel rather than just give a laundry list of social conditions and historical events. The story does not deviate from Francie's story and her point of view, but her perceptions, her experiences, her fancies, her joys and her shames allow the reader to see the greater society around and withing her.
Since I first read it, at the age of twelve or so, I have returned to it every so often and found new depth and lessons in it. The older I get the deeper I gain an understanding of womanhood-its strength and its vulnerability. It portrays subtly and powerfully the neccesity of both keeping one's family close and of divorcing one's self from it and the joy and pain that those action bring. It exquisitely paints growing up and losing illusions and innocence without surrendering vision and imagination.