Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: At first this book seems a little slow, but once you read into the second chapter you are mezmorized. I love this book so much, and i think it is a must read for everyone out there. This book is about a young girl who you see grow up throughout the book. She overcomes difficult times in her life with her family. This book is in a way inspirational. I have recommended this book to soo many people and they all have loved it, from male to female, and everyone else inbetween. Read this book, trust me, you wont regret it!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite book!
Review: I absolutely adore this book and recommend it to everyone every chance I get! I identified so much with Francie in her relationship with her family. I also admired her strength through all that happened. My favorite part is when they are getting the christmas tree chucked at them and they have to stay standing to win it. Francie was always thought of to be frail and weak b/c that's how she looked while her younger bro. looked strong and healthy but when the tree hit them, the bro. went to his knees and Francie jerked him back up even tho it hit her in the head. The book has great insight and narrative. It is a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: My All-Time Favorite Book
Review: I first read this book in 5th grade and have read it again every few years since. Now, even after having majored in English in college and become an English teacher, this remains my favorite book of any genre, any time. It is the kind of book you can enjoy as a child and enjoy even more as an adult, appreciating nuances you hadn't noticed before. The characters are so well-developed, so vividly portrayed, so multi-faceted, and so REAL that they become a part of you. This may be a work of fiction, but it is most definitely a "true" story, if you know what I mean. Don't miss this wonderful book!

Rating:
Summary: Magical
Review: I honestly don't know how this novel has become a classic. As an avid reader I had to practically force myself to get through this book and only did so because my book club was reading it. I wasn't the only person in our club who was disappointed. It was a miserable story and pointless. It was a great discription of life in Brooklyn during that time period but Betty Smith never made me care about the characters enough to care about what happened to them. This novel needs more character development to be a classic. I only give it 2 stars instead of 1 because it really is a great description of life in Brooklyn.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful classic!
Review: I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn when I was about twelve years old, and I decided to give it a whirl once again. I recommend that adults who loved this book as a child return to it because the magic of reading it is as wonderful and beautiful in your adult years as it was when you were a child. The story of Francie Nolan and her family will most likely have a different and interesting effect on the reader, or at least it had a different effect on me this time around. Francie is a bright young girl growing up in a poor, but hardworking family in 1912 Brooklyn. Although her life is a constant struggle over money, she still manages to eke out much joy. The novel, which does not really have a plot, is rather a collection of vignettes about Francie's life. While so much of her life appeared to be conspiring against her success, she never gave in to defeatism. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an inspiring and beautiful story that people of all ages will love. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Rating:
Summary: Not just for girls
Review: I read this book while home from school and ill in 1960. I was 12 and very certainly male. I still remember this vivid, moving, enthalling story while I have forgotten most any details from the usual 'thrillers' that I read in those days.

I am not surprised to find that most of the reviewers are female. The central character is a young woman, but her coming of age and coping with the realities of the human condition are pertinent to anyone, anytime.

Rating:
Summary: Not for young adults only; quite simply, a masterpiece
Review: I'm not one to gush, but I consider this one of the finest books ever written. I've read a decent percentage of the "great books" and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" deserves to be on the list.

It can be read and enjoyed by young people, but so can "Huckleberry Finn." Like "Huck Finn," this book is even more rewarding to the adult reader.

I read it for the first time at age 47 and was blown away. The characters, even the minor ones, truly leap out from the page, they're so real. The writing is seemingly effortless (which we all know is the hardest thing to do!); nearly every word is perfect. The insights into human relations and human pscyhology are startling and profound.

The book is also incredibly modern. Published in 1943, describing life in the 1910's, yet, like any true classic, the dilemmas are timeless and the author's viewpoint, especially about women, speaks to us powerfully even today.

Among its many strengths, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a completely truthful portrait of the effect of alcoholism on a family. It also tells us about how poverty really affects people and about the immigrant experience.

I can't speak to how men will respond to this book, but I believe that any woman of any age will be thrilled by it.

Don't miss it. And if you read it as a teenager, read it again and rediscover one of the greatest books of 20th century American literature.

Rating:
Summary: Life lessons
Review: It is the first book that I read that really made an impression on me, and I was only 13 years old the first time I read it (That was over 40 years ago!). I did not even realize how strong an impression it made until years later, as I began to grow and mature as a person. I recently (1 year ago) sought out and bought a new copy for my two teenage daughters to read.

I identified with Francie's plight, growing up in a 'poor', but rural, area, and becoming 'aware of life' at 13, when I first read the book.

Betty Smith's portrayal of a 'survivor' of a disfunctional life and time is 'universal' and timeless. Her poignant reflections of a young girl struggling and learning 'against the odds' are heartfelt and enduring.

(I believe she was a strong influence in my love of writing and story-telling)

Rating:
Summary: Read it. Just read it.
Review: It's no wonder that this book is truly loved by practically everyone who reads it: it's a story of growing up and innocence, life and love, caring and the way things go. You might not have a lot of money, but you can do one thing that's free, and that's to love. Francie Nolan is inside of all of us, the eleven year old girl who has her life set out for her: flowers in a brown bowl, read a book every day in alphabetical order until you reach the Z's, have a lot of children. She wants to win everything on a board that she spends a bit at every Saturday; right down to the skates and the doll with real hair: she yearns for what she may never get. Her family is poor and lives in the tenements of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She and her brother Neeley do not know to be ashamed of their father and Francie has scant knowledge that her father has a bad reputation. Her mother works hard and her aunt "gets around", as the writer calls it. She may be poor, but she has a loving family. She wants to be an author when she grows up and pay attention to children; she is upset with the librarian at the Brooklyn library who does not even look up at the poor little girl who comes in every day to check out a book that is good for an eleven year old. Francie is pleased when a book she loves is chosen; she symbolizes an everyday, American girl. We grow up with Francie; book one chronicles the life of an eleven year old girl that is so everyday, repetitive, that it shows everything is all right. The customs and the traditions prove that Francie's life has a rhythm to it, nothing bad happens. Book two chronicles life early on, as her parents meet and have their children and Francie grows older as things happen. And book three proves that you must grow up, as Francie enters college and begins a new life that only the reader can imagine what happens next. So read this book. Just read it, and you'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Timely Classic
Review: Smith's timely classic of coming of age story was suggested to me by Oprah's BC. I found it to be just as magnificant as when I first read it many years ago. Also easing its way up the Oprah's list is the novel, LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Rolyat. An engaging, compelling, riveting, enlightening pageturner. A story about a corrupted district attorney, Nick Alapapalaus, who finds himself caught up in scandalous activities. This novel has sexually explicit scenes, but I guess that accounts for its title. A highly recommended novel with enlightening messages through and through.