Book Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Friday Spines Book Review Number Two:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

I read this book when I was about 11. I was quite a prodigious reader for my age, but I doubt that I'd have stuck with it all the way through if I'd been reading. However, my mom purchased the audiobook, narrated by Anna Fields, and we listened to it in the car: This is perfect if you drive for more than 30 minutes at a time, and at least two or three times a week. It's best taken in large doses, to noticed the understated humor and pre-referencing, but the author includes just enough condensed summary to keep her inconsistent readers up-to-date.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn needs a patient and sensitive reader. It begins in 1902 and follows Francie, or Mary Frances Nolan, through the slums of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The book is narrated in third person, but we get frequent peeks into the minds of Katie and Johnny (Francie's parents) her brother Neeley, and the people they encounter. It could be described as a coming-of-age story, but that phrase is overused: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn doesn't just illustrate Francie's coming-of-age, but also her mother's childhood, her childhood, her brother's birth (and how Katie admits to the reader how much more she loves her son), her first kiss, and her father's death. Betty Smith tells of Francie's world with sincerity, clarity, and objectivity, without any wavering at her protagonists's tears or broken dreams.

In one of the most poignant and subtle metaphors I've seen, the author suggests a parallel between Francie and the irrepressible tree that sprouts up in all Brooklyn tenements: The Tree of Heaven. Without saying, "Francie was like a tree: small, delicate, but unbreakable," or even "Francie was a tree," Betty Smith opens the book with a description of the Tree of Heaven, slipping in images of the tree's growth over the years. Each time the Nolans move to a new home, the tree is included in its meticulous (but never tedious) description. In one tenement, the tree grows up and overshadows the Nolans' balcony, providing book-devouring Francie with a private, shady retreat where she can read, savor precious peppermint candy, and spin lives for the people passing below. She often watches from her balustrade as older neighbor girls preparing for their dates, taking incredible delight in watching their intimate ritual. The story closes as Francie prepares for her own date, looks out the window and sees her young neighbor seated on a balcony opposite the Nolans' own, with a book in her lap and a bag of candy by her side, watching Francie in the dim light.

Although A Tree Grows in Brooklyn contains some material unsuited for the squeamish younger reader (i.e., Francie encounters a sex predator who is then shot by Katie), the un-flinchingly honest narrative and Francie's reaction to the events subdues the more mature aspects of the book. I'd recommend it for ages 12 and up, although the audiobook will hook younger readers who are ready for the content but not the physical aspect of this book.


Other things I like about this book:

• The pace is slow enough to be relaxing, but quick enough to be mesmerizingly engaging. 
• The characters are realistic and easy to identify with, and the author gives us a thorough view of their thoughts-not just the "correct" ones.
• Even if you read the book ten times (I have), it's long and detailed enough that more insights can always be gained from it.
• It's a semi-autobiographical novel: The author lived her story, in a way, so the setting and characters seem all the more vivid.

Other books you might like: Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, and, for younger readers, All of a Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor.

Coming up next: The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett. It's hilarious--start reading now!