Author: Betty Smith
Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Rating: 4.5
Reviewer: rosee192 Grade: 7
Review:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is worth its reputation as a classic. It is a book that has truly stood the test of time. Though written in 1943, this book still accurately portrays a girl's emotions as she struggles to grow up to be a mentally and physically healthy young woman, despite the many hardships and burdens placed on her.
Francine (everybody calls her Francie) Nolan does not lead what you would call a glamorous life. She lives in Brooklyn with her hard-working mother, a father who is drunken most of the time but whom she adores, and her brother, Neely, who is one year younger than she. The book begins with Francie 11 years old,but goes back to when she was 6 or 7 shortly after the first few chapters.As Francie grows up, the author tells many anecdotes on Francie's hard life. It is very interesting to see the different value system the people in Francie's life have. For example, Francie starts school a year later than she was supposed to so that she will start the same time as her brother and they will be able to protect each other.
At The Nolan family's lowest points Francie has to eat oatmeal for all her meals, and sleep in coat and hat because they couldn't afford to keep a fire burning all night.Her father is many times "in between jobs" and gets "sick" (drunk) WAY too often. We cringe at these descriptions of a young girl's poverty, but Francie manages to stay happy with little pleasures, such as a penny's worth of candy that she earns herself or a library book. The book continues all the way to when Francie is almost 17, and its great to see how her life unfolds and improves.
I loved this book, but found it was hard to get into. Once I did, however, I found it VERY hard to put down. I have to admit, I thought some parts of the book were boring, but the quality of the better parts of the book more than balances the boring/good ratio. This book is pretty long (430 pages!) but is well worth the effort to finish it.
8/30/04
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