A Tree Grows in BrooklynBy Betty SmithBook review by @jams.library, jamc.substack.comA Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of those quiet books where no single climax stands out. Rather, we go through the ups and downs of a little girl called Francie. It's a classic coming-of-age story, yet it is so nuanced that only a person who has lived through Francie's experience can write about it. This is what happens when an author writes what she knows. Tree is multilayered but the author writes about universal truths, which is why, 75 years later, this book continues to inspire.
I am blessed for having read the book. You can’t say that about every book you read. Nor can you say that about just a good read, so I guess I am saying much. Jaku wrote this when he was 100. He died when he was 101. Talk about being useful up to your last breath.
You have to wonder what sort of chap Arthur Conan Doyle was. By his writing: curious (knows all sorts of random things), has a sense of humour (in his own sardonic way), widely read and possibly a linguist (quotes Goethe in German), youthful to conjure sea-spanning adventures in his adulthood (run-of-the-mill won’t do), and surprising (I didn’t expect a romance involving Watson no less). I should love to invite him to my supper table to pick his brain.
What a great storyteller! I think more than the detective work, I enjoyed the rich and luscious storytelling. I imagine it would be great listening to it nightly and piecemeal in Audible - so sprightly, adventurous, and action-packed!
I watched the film adaptation of this when I was in high school. Many years later, as a bookseller, I was delighted at the chance of being able to purchase the play it is based on. It is published by Penguin as part of its Penguin Classics.