A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, 493 pages

"A profoundly moving novel, an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart of life...If you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn you will deny yourself a rich experience...It is a poignant and deeply understanding story of childhood and family relationships. The Nolans lived in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from 1902 until 1919...Their daughter, Francie, and their son, Neely, knew more than their fair share of the privations and sufferings that are the lot of a great city's poor. Primarily this is Francie's book. She is a superb feat of characterization, an imaginative, alert, resourceful child. And Francie's growing up and beginnings of wisdom are the substance of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." -New York Times (back cover)

My favorite character was Katie Nolan, Francie's mother. On pg. 97 it says this of Katie: "Katie had the same hardships as Johnny and she was nineteen, two years younger. It might be said that she, too, was doomed. Her life, too was over before it began. But there the similarity ended. Johnny knew he was doomed and accepted it. Katie wouldn't accept it. She started a new life where her old one left off. She exchanged her tenderness for capability. She gave up her dreams and took over hard realities in their place. Katie had a fierce desire for survival which made her a fighter. Johnny had a hankering after immortality which made him a useless dreamer. And that was the great difference between these who loved each other so well."

The author said this once in a magazine: "To live, to struggle, to be in love with life - in love with all life holds, joyful or sorrowful - is fulfillment. The fullness of life is open to all of us." I think that sums up the characters in her book. They made the most of what they had and lived every moment. Not much happens in this book and yet everything happens in this book. It's a book about life and the joys and sorrows of growing up and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

(There is some language.)