Book Love: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a classic American novel.  A classic American novel that I think I had some recollection of but didn't know much about.  The first time I really remember reading about it was when reading When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II where A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was named as one of the most popular books for soldiers (and the end pages of the library copy of A Tree... that I read had a picture of the war paperback that was made for soldiers).  And my best memory of When Books Went to War was when I was able to ask my Grandpa, who served in World War II, if he remembered these books.  Which he didn't.  But it was nice to be able to ask him!

After finally reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I understood how it could be such a favorite of the soldiers off fighting a war in a foreign land, grateful for any remembrance of home and normalcy.  I also understand why it's an American classic and so many of my friends on Goodreads have read it and generally rated it very highly.  It's about a normal girl's normal life in Brooklyn in the 1910s.

Francie is about 12 when the book starts, following her as she collects junk to trade in for pocket pennies with her younger brother.  How they can spend the pennies immediately or try to save a few up for something bigger, but they also always save a nickle for the bank that their mother keeps nailed down in a closet at home.  Francie enjoys the little things, like reading on the fire escape with a bowl of hard earned candy and a good book, that she picks out at the library every Saturday.  Just beyond the fire escape is a tree that mostly obscures her from view but gives her a good vantage point for watching her neighbors, being curious about their lives.

Francie's whole world revolves around a few blocks in Brooklyn for the first couple years the book covers.  She lives with her younger brother and parents in a small apartment; they are poor.  Her parents married young and had the kids young and things have been hard.  Her father is a musician who also likes to drink although Francie's love for him is very obvious.  He doesn't make things easy on the family but you can also tell he does love them.  To make up for their father drinking up most of the money he makes, Francie's mother, Katie, works very hard as a janitor to help make ends meet.  It was fascinating reading how Francie would help her mother make their food dollars stretch as Francie was dispatched to run many of the errands.

There is a decent cast of supporting characters, mostly Francie's aunts and their husband and oft mentioned but little seen kids.  There are also neighbors that pop up continually and you can really feel the community that exists in this neighborhood.  These people mostly lived their lives in a few block radius but they also had everything they needed there.  

The book covers about 5 years of Francie's life.  Through her tough years in elementary school, finding a better school on her own and getting her parents to let her switch, even though it was a farther walk for her.  How she has to step up and help make money herself as soon as she finishes grade school and how proud she is of her job where she makes in a week about what minimum wage is currently.

Most of us live pretty ordinary lives and while the details of our lives don't seem very interesting to us now, in 100 years, what we consider normal now will seem strange then.  That's not the only appeal of the book, since it has endured as a classic for so long and was immediately popular when it was published in 1943, about 15-20 years after it was set.  That is part of the reason I found it so fascinating though.  I don't live in Brooklyn, I don't live in poverty, I don't worry if my kids will be able to continue schooling after 8th grade.  (I do however like reading and seeing what neighbors are up to, it's a casualty of being a SAHM and being home A LOT.)  If I worry about what we're eating for supper it's because our oven broke and my careful plan went out the window (that happened last week - cereal for supper!).  I don't have a lot in common with Francie other than being female but I still empathized with her and rooted for her to succeed.

I hesitate to say too much about where the book goes, don't want to spoil a book that is almost 80 years old! But also, because not knowing what was coming and how the family would do really kept me reading.  There was no safe ending guaranteed for Francie, there were many things working against her to thrive in her circumstances, partly just being female and living 100 years ago.  However, Francie had spirit and she is a determined character.  She was making the best of her hand in life and doing what she could to get what she wanted out of it.  There is something very inspiring about that.

The novel was a little slow to get started, it took a couple times of picking up and reading a couple chapters to really get into it, but then I read 75% of the almost 500 pages in one day (it was a Sunday where it just worked out that I got A LOT of reading time).  I had put off reading this A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for awhile because it was so long but when I reached the end I was a little sad to let Francie go.  I don't recommend a lot of fiction because fiction seems to have a narrower appeal than non-fiction, yet, this book has a wider appeal than a lot of fiction books.  It's certainly stood the test of time.  If you've read it, I'd love to hear what you think!  If you haven't read yet, I highly recommend.