A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

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Format: Ebook

Category: Classic with a Place in the Title- Back to the Classics 2020 (Books and Chocolate) 

"Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong." 

    There is a lot of hype surrounding this book, and I just don't get it. I mean, I get why this has a place as a classic, being as it is a slice of historical realism. It is semi-autobiographical, about an impoverished Irish-German family living in Brooklyn during the early 1900s. I just couldn't get into it. The pace was too slow. It was like it was in real time. There were several pages dedicated to shopping at candy stores, butchers, etc. Every mundane detail about purchasing a pickle was laid out. My eyes started glazing over. There are also a lot of things that just don't make sense about the characters. For example, they are Catholic, and the grandmother is afraid that if she doesn't bless the house that demons could be there if Protestants lived there before, but then she tells her daughter to read the Protestant Bible to her children because it's better than the Catholic Bible. I had some other issues with this book as well, but I'll say that the one good thing about this book is that Francie, the main character, is able to experience joy, and see the good in life even after some of the terrible things she's been through, and witnessed. 

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