A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my book club's May selection. We wanted to read a classic and only one if us had read it before. I found it very interesting and it gave me a different perspective of life in Brooklyn in the early 1900's. it is remarkable how people managed to survive and even thrive in those conditions. The forward included in the version I read let me know that this work was actually the author's autobiography, but her publisher recommended having it published as fiction to sell more books. Having read that before I started the novel made it an entirely different story. I really liked Francie. She was so determined yet kind of innocent. When my daughter, the English major, read the cover of the book and asked what it was about, she said, "Is it about a tree?" I told her not really. There is a tree, but the story is more about Francie. "Then Francie is the tree?" she said. Leave it to an English major to come up with that without even reading the book! Yes, Francie was the tree. They tried to cut herdown and keep her from growing, but just like the tree that kept coming up through the cement, she kept trying and finding ways to survive. This is truly an Amefican classic and one everyone should read at least once.