A Tree Grows in Brooklyn By Betty Smith

Mary writes:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
By Betty Smith

The novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is about a young girl named Francie’s coming of age in the slum of Brooklyn, New York. Francie lives a hard life with her brother Neely, father Johnny Nolan and mother Katie Rommely. I noticed Francie visited the Jewish part of town to buy food and candy with the extra money. From this I presume that the Jewish part of town sells food cheaper and maybe a lot of lower-class people go there to get their food. The Nolan’s are low on money, causing them to lead a very frugal lifestyle. As a reader you are taken through an in-depth description of their family history and you really get to know the characters. Johnny is not what I would consider the best husband or father, he doesn’t have a stable job and of the money that he does make, he spends most of it on alcoholic beverages. This does not stop Francie from loving him with all her heart. It is very evident that she just adores him, the best part of her day being when he returns home. I noticed that family is very important to the Nolans. So far not much has happened, action wise, in the book but I have learned a lot about Katie’s sisters and Johnny and Katie’s childhood. A big event that happened was when we are taken back to the time that Johnny and Katie met and fell in love. Johnny had been seeing Katie’s best friend, but when they met they couldn’t avoid their attraction towards each other. Johnny ended up leaving his girlfriend for Katie, causing Katie to lose her best friend. The book so far has dealt with a lot of struggles and conflicts, it appears to me that the Nolans will be living hard lives dealing with many day to day traumas.

So far in the book the main characters I have been introduced to are Francie, Johnny, Katie, and Aunt Sissy . Francie is a scholarly girl who really enjoys to read. She goes to the library everyday and checks out every single book in alphabetic order. She is a sweet, innocent girl who sees the good in everyone, which is obvious in the fact that she absolutely adores her father, even though he isn’t the best role model. Then there is Johnny, the father figure of the family. Back in the day he was the most handsome guy around that all the girls went after. He had the looks, he could dance, and he could swoon any girl off their feet. He is still a kind hearted man, but somewhere along the way he lost some of his morals and alcohol took over his life and where most of the family income went to. He has a beautiful singing voice and he has an unsteady job as a singing waiter. Then there is Katie, the mother of the house. She is a pretty, hard-working, kind woman who is trying to make the best out of the family’s tough situation. She is a very family oriented person and is really close with her sister Sissy. Aunt Sissy is a very interesting character. She was fully developed at age 10 and all the boys were after her. Every lover she had, she called him John because that is what she had called her first husband. She has had three marriages but never had a single divorce. She was Catholic and did not believe in divorce, but she would get married at the town hall. She didn’t consider this real marriage so she found no need to get an actual divorce. She tried eight times to have a baby, but each time at the birth of the child, it would be a stillborn. This left Sissy absolutely heart broken, so she gave all her devotion and admiration to her sisters and their children instead. There are more characters I have been introduced to, but they don’t appear to be too important in the plot, at least yet. I am really enjoying this book and I am excited to read on!