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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)

by Betty Smith (Author)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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8,777219322 (4.35)1 / 547
20th century (91) alcoholism (50) American (104) American literature (141) book club (44) Brooklyn (220) childhood (57) classic (359) Classic Literature (31) classics (196) coming of age (265) family (94) favorite (46) favorites (41) fiction (1,093) growing up (37) historical (32) historical fiction (120) immigrants (55) literature (107) New York (231) New York City (113) novel (143) own (64) poverty (175) read (132) to-read (116) unread (52) USA (34) young adult (151)
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    FutureMrsJoshGroban: The style of writing and realism in the portrayal of the characters is very similar.
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English (212)  Spanish (2)  French (1)  Chinese, traditional (1)  All languages (216)
Showing 1-5 of 212 (next | show all)
I can't believe I'd never heard of this book before! What a poignant and honest tale of a girl's growing up out of childhood, in a tough, poverty-stricken Brooklyn. It was slow reading at times but gradually sucked me in until its powerful end. I wonder what I would've thought of it had I read it as a teenager? The story seems so wise, and real, addressing even a young girl's budding sexuality, which must've been controversial topic back in 1943.

I was particularly struck by Katie, the mother: straight-forward and sharp, fully embracing responsibility for her children's well-being, her alcoholic husband, and also for her own choice and determination to marry said-husband, with both feet on the ground. I hope I can be as honest with my own kids, as Katie was with Francie, no matter how hard!

Reading the book somehow reminded me of reading To Kill a Mockingbird: the feeling that the world may have its ugliness, but that one can still have faith in the goodness and beauty of humanity. ( )
  emanate28 | Jun 4, 2013 |
One of my favorite books of all time. Must read. ( )
  morribro | May 9, 2013 |
A lovely book. Some might say that nothing happens in this novel, but that is not an accurate description of the story. Francie's not fighting a marauding army or anything, but she's growing up and learning the life lessons that we all (hopefully) learn. This novel is really about the human condition and what it is to be human, and about the transition between child and adult and how bewildering that process can be. Everyone should be able to relate to that. The novel is set in the very early 1900s, but some things never change. Uncomfortable and unpleasant family dynamics never go out of style. ( )
  psychedelicmicrobus | May 4, 2013 |
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I have never cried so much during reading a book as I did with this one. Not that it was sappy - far from it. It is deep and emotional. Because I love my father as much as she does, and I sympathize with his hard life, and I thank the Lord he is not an alcoholic, but I know what it means for your father to be your hero and wanting nothing more than for him to have a life as wonderful as the one he's given you but being powerless to do anything about the world in which he lives. ( )
  seekandfind | Apr 29, 2013 |
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I have never cried so much during reading a book as I did with this one. Not that it was sappy - far from it. It is deep and emotional. Because I love my father as much as she does, and I sympathize with his hard life, and I thank the Lord he is not an alcoholic, but I know what it means for your father to be your hero and wanting nothing more than for him to have a life as wonderful as the one he's given you but being powerless to do anything about the world in which he lives. ( )
  seekandfind | Apr 29, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 212 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (29 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Smith, BettyAuthorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Fields, AnnaReadersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded-up lots and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows lushly. . .survives without sun, water, and seemingly without earth. It would be considered beautiful except that there are too many of it.
Dedication
First words
Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York.
Quotations
Francie came away from her first chemistry lecture in a glow. In one hour she had found out that everything was made up of atoms which were in continual motion. She grasped the idea that nothing was ever lost or destroyed. Even if something was burned up or left to rot away, it did not disappear from the face of the earth; it changed into something else—gases, liquids, and powders. Everything, decided Francie after that first lecture, was vibrant with life and there was no death in chemistry. She was puzzled as to why learned people didn’t adopt chemistry as a religion.
Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well-dressed. Let me be sincere- be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Book description
Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive.
Haiku summary

Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0061120073, Paperback)

Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published over 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humor and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics--and in the hearts of readers, young and old. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter

(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:51:29 -0500)

(see all 9 descriptions)

Young Francie Nolan, having inherited both her father's romantic and her mother's practical nature, struggles to survive and thrive growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century.

» see all 12 descriptions

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