A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I didn't take to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn right away. I probably would have given up about 100 pages in if a couple of close friends--whose reading tastes I trust--hadn't said this was one of their favorite books. It's not a grand epic tale by any means; it captures the everyday struggles and triumphs of Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in early twentieth century Brooklyn. And ultimately, it does so with as much heart as other beloved coming-of-age novels like Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.

It was about halfway through the 400-page novel that I really got sucked in: when (spoiler alert!) Francie's father died. It was written so realistically and honestly it was a cathartic experience. After I finished the book, I read an article saying this was an autobiographical novel and that Smith had, in fact, lost her father at an early age.

I feel like I'm one of the few book lovers who didn't read this book growing up, so I won't go too much into the plot. I do want to be a major book nerd for a moment and write about the beautiful Reader's Digest edition that I read. I found this book in a Friends of the Library used bookstore. I thought Reader's Digest only published volumes of several condensed novels. But after confirming this was the full, unabridged text, I bought it. It's a handsome hardcover with 2-color printing throughout, and it's printed on thick cream-colored paper of much higher quality than your typical novel. There are even full-page engraving-style illustrations every so often. I don't think Reader's Digest still releases books like this, but they sure had a good thing going when they did.