A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Review

I recently received a first edition of A Tree Grows In Brookly from 1943. When I compare this to the new classic edition, there are some differences. I notice that some of the sexual scenes are not as descriptive in the first edition as they are in the newer editions. 

 Reading this book gave me the opportunity to once again began to read my favorite story, in the pages of this old book. Francie Nolan, the little girl who comes of age in this story, suffers from hunger and poverty in the slums of Williamsburg Brooklyn. She and her brother Neely survive on the pennies they make as they collect junk, and work with their mother. Francie is what we would call today a gifted child, she loves to read and school is so important to her. Her mother encourages this gift by reading each night from the Bible and Shakespear, one page every night. ( In the new edition, the children had read the bible and Shakespear many times, while in the first edition, they were only in the first part of the book, yet they had been reading for all of their lives)

The Nolan's enjoy feasts on the late nights when their father comes in with left overs from parties where he is a singing waiter. Johnny Nolan is a dashing Irish man, full of joy and song, but he loves his drink and is all too often "sick" as Mama calls it...

The story of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is somewhat of an autobiographical look at the young life of Betty Smith, the author of this 443 page book written in 1943.
This is a story about Francie, her immediate family and her eccentric extended family. Her Aunt Sissy is a character that is someone we all can admire. She is impulsive and fun in the hard times of this era. The wife of many husbands, and mother of many dead babies she finally has a baby in a hospital and her baby lives. She is Francie's hero in many ways. Sissy shows Francie that there are many ways to live and judging others gets us no where. Sissy just lives.

As I reread this story, I sat again on the fire escape with Francie, with her mint candies and her cup of ice water as she reread her favorite story. I imaged the apartment windows with young girls all standing at their sinks preparing for their night out on the town. Washing themselves.  I thought about the librarians I used to know when I was young.  The librarians who gave suggestions about books. I remember one in particular. 

When I read about Francie and her junk deals, I wondered if my own children would be able to handle themselves like the poor children of Brooklyn. These children seem so old for their age.  They are true survivors.

I cried again when I learned of Johnny Nolan's death. I was able to transform myself into the pages of the book, just like I did the first time I read it, when Francie walked into her father's barber shop to get his mug, I walked with her. I cried as she and Neely sat on the curb and cried together when their beloved drunken father died. Johnny Nolan did not realize how much he was loved.

Annie Laurie, the baby sister was born and Francie helped her mother to deliver the child. I remembered back to the first time I had read this book, this was the first book I had read that told me about the harsh realities of womanhood and the history of womanhood. The young girl on the street with her baby, with no father, and how women threw rocks at her. I was shocked at that, shocked at the way women treat each other.

I have always found the way women treat each other to be questionable, in times when women have to work so hard for so little, and to fight for everything they had, and here they were belittling each other and judging each other. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was my first real glance at that.

This story is a timeless classic, it may have been set in the depression era, but the struggles, the violence, the hunger, the hard work, it all still exists today in America. Albeit, disguised by cell phones, women's rights and credit card companies. There is fear in the immigrants as they struggle to survive, and judge each other fiercely. Really no different than some of us are today.

I was so happy when in the end the wonderful police man Officer McShane comes and saves the day and Katie Nolan remarries and has a man with a good income who can take care of them. Sadly, in those days that was all Katie could have done. She never would have been able to do it on her own. Marriage of a man with money was her savior after Johnny died. Annie Laurie would grow up never knowing her father like Francie did, but she had the name Annie Laurie, which was Johnny Nolan's favorite song.

Francie wanted to be educated and she fought for her education. Her father helped her to lie about going into a different school. Clearly education took a back seat to survival. (I wonder sometimes if this might still be the reason we have districts in need of improvement, families are still trying to survive alas, maybe this book could teach us a thing or two)

Francie went to a new school, and graduated from the 8th grade. The new school was in a richer community, where people took pride in education and the teachers were treated with respect, and passed respect on to the children. Except for Miss Gardner, Miss Gardner is a teacher who stands for all of the teachers who squash children's dreams...but Francie's family helped keep her dreams alive. (Again, maybe we could learn something here about educating our youth...family is more important than school, could that be the lesson?)

From the 8th grade there she went right to college courses! Francie learned by reading. She had to drop out of school to help her mother after her father died. Neely wanted to drop out, so he was not allowed to. Katie Nolan knew that education was not important to Neely. In the end she would leave Brooklyn and go to college in Michigan, but Brooklyn would always be in her heart. The Tree in the middle of the dirty slums would grow and thrive and continue on!

The characters in this book are truly memorable.  Aunt Cissy with her wild ways, and granda Rommely with her ethnic mannerisms.  Johnny Nolan the alcoholic father who loved his children so much he didnt know what to do.  This is a family with courage, and the ability to survive in pitiful surroundings. 

This is a story that I recommend highly. It is one that will capture your heart and keep you reading for more. You will read it more than once and you will go away from this story with a new set of friends. The Nolan Family will be a family you always remember. They are hard to forget. You will look at the struggles of our current immigrants in our inner city with new ideas, as you remember that many of your own ancestors were very much like the Irish Nolan family, struggling to survive. You will learn the real reason that a union was an important part of America! You will even read about teachers, that in some cases are not much different than teachers today!

This is a story that should be on every book list. I recommend it highly.