A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

This is a story set in Brooklyn about Francie growing up in abject poverty during the early 1900s. I appreciate this book because it gives a clear sense of life during the Gilded Age. It is along the same vain as The Jungle, but does not have as much of a political spin on it. Other themes of the book beyond poverty are adolescence, alcoholism, feminism, sex, and love.

Apparently, the book is largely based on the author's own life. This is Betty Smith's only widely known and read novel. The book had immense success and publicity. Part of the publicity was the shock value of one of the themes of the book- sex. Apparently, during Smith's day, sex was not talked about as openly as in the book. The author explores Francie's thoughts and emotions regarding having sex for the first time, adultery, and even rape. Although sex has relatively low shock value today, I can understand why it may have shocked people sixty years ago. The book addresses the idea of unwedded mothers and sex before marriage.

I am happy that I read an American classic because I have a better image in my mind of immigration and poverty at the turn of the century. However, I was expecting more from the last 100 pages of the book. I was waiting for the book to take me on a specific journey. Instead, the novel is a story about Francie's life that does not necessarily have a resolution, or satisfying resolution, at the end of the book.