A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smithby Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger 14 Jan 2008 10:59 PM I've heard this book mentioned frequently over the years, usually with the words "modern classic" attached to it. It's written in a literary style with somewhat of a rambling plotline, but at the end you see how all the seemingly loose threads do come together. It's the early 1900s and our focus family is the Nolan clan. Johnny, the father, is a singing waiter and also an alcoholic. He's charming, funny, handsome, and completely unreliable. He is tolerated by his adoring wife, Katie, who works cleaning three apartment buildings so they can have their rent free. His oldest child, a girl named Francie, is our main character, and she loves her father fiercely. She doesn't like his drinking, but she endures it because of her love for him. Last in the family is Neeley, a brother just a year younger than Francie. Katie loves Neeley more than she does Francie, and Francie knows it, but it never enters her head to resent it. The Nolans are remarkably poor. Every day they scrape together whatever pennies they can to buy their dinner, but there's never enough dinner to keep them from being hungry. The children gather scrap and sell it to the junkman. They give half their money to their mother and the other half is theirs to spend, and for thirty seconds every week they feel treated as they eat their small piece of candy or whatever thing they were able to buy. Johnny goes out looking for jobs but can't find them regularly, and when he does, he spends his tips on whiskey. Katie works herself to the bone every day trying to keep a roof over their heads. Katie's mother taught her the importance of education, and she is determined that her own children will finish school. Neeley doesn't care one way or the other, but Francie is a voracious reader and she knows how important school is. She does her best and gets good grades, but that doesn't put food on the table. And when Johnny passes away in his mid-thirties, leaving his wife pregnant, Francie and Neeley both have to leave school and go to work to help their mother. Portions of the story are a little earthy, but not overwhelmingly so. This is a story of abject poverty, rising above the stigma to create something beautiful with one's life, and fighting with all you've got for the things you really want. (This book was published in 1943.) Related Blogs: Learn more about Tristi Pinkston  I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006. Relevantmedia tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Discuss this article
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