Location: Home » Other Books » General AAS » A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)

The Oenophile Network Blog & Forum Links

Wine Blog
Wine Forum

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)

enlarge

Author: Betty Smith
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$16.95~~
Buy Used: $6.74
You Save: $10.21 (60%)

New (41) Used (28) Collectible (6) from $6.74

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

553 reviews
Sales Rank: 2701

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.1 x 1.5

ISBN: 0061120073
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780061120077
ASIN: 0061120073

Publication Date: June 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Low Price CD
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Paperback - Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Pavanne Books)
•	Audio Cassette - Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	School & Library Binding - Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Unknown Binding - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Library Binding - Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	CD-ROM - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Unknown Binding - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn (A Falcan book)
•	Unknown Binding - A Tree grows in Brooklyn (Popular library W1153)
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn: A novel (Armed Services edition)
•	Kindle Edition - Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A
•	Audio Cassette - Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn LP
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (HarperCollins Reader's Guide)
•	Paperback - Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Pavanne Books)
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Paperback - Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Mass Market Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Turtleback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
•	Paperback - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Unknown Binding - Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Perennial Classics)
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [UNABRIDGED]
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [UNABRIDGED]
•	MP3 CD - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Library Binding - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Audio Cassette - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn,
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn,: A novel
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn: A novel
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn: A novel
•	Unknown Binding - A tree grows in Brooklyn: A novel
•	Audio Download - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Unabridged)
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
•	Hardcover - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Similar Items:

•	To Kill a Mockingbird
•	Joy in the Morning (Perennial Classics)
•	The Secret Life of Bees
•	The Good Earth (Oprah's Book Club)
•	The Book Thief

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published over 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humor and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics--and in the hearts of readers, young and old. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Product Description

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.

Customer Reviews: Read 548 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Kimberly B. November 6, 2008
The title of the book that am reading is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bettie Smith. The main topic of this book as it states in the foreword."The best anyone can say is that it is a story about what it means to be human." Represents that the novel about a little girl named Francie and her little brother named Neeley that wasn't just about how they pulled through in a poor neighborhood. It was about the real life struggles families have to go through.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a novel. The author of this novel was born on December 15, 1896 with the name of Elisabeth Wehner. She married young with a law student from the university of Michigan. She then had 2 daughters named, Nancy and Mary. She wanted to finish her schooling but she didn't finish high school. Although she was able to take classes and she was focusing in journalism, literature, and drama. The foreward states that the novel isn't just a book about "social issues" nor "class struggles". Its a novel when you read it you recognize yourself.

The main topic on this novel is that Nolan family of 4. Living in Willamsburg, Brooklyn. Trying to make ends meet with the father, Johnny Nolan, being the head of the family. Working as a singing waiter, And drinking his tips away. The Nolan family were very poor. they bought penny worth stale food.

This work addresses to many audiences, but i think the problem relates to a particular audience which is the ungrateful audience. The type of audience that have enough and wanting more.

At first the book confused me a little. The reason for this because the way the story was written in which i liked. But it started with Francie and how her life was. Then the next chapter it was about Francie's meeting. i got that part but the part where it was a chin scratcher was when the part where Mary and Sissy came in. Until I read on and understood that Sissy was Katie's sister, and Mary was her mother.

The book in general is great. But the part that I loved. Was the part where Francie went up to the fire escape and started to read on a Saturday. I like this part because it made me understand the difference between kids from then and now.

I completely concur with previous reviews. In which they state "A profoundly moving novel, and an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart of life..." I recommend this book for all audiences to read.

5 out of 5 stars

Could relate well November 2, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. I was not sure what to expect from it. I actually found myself really relating to the main character. I really think it displays the thoughts of a girl who is growing up and trying to make decisions and observing all that is around her. I'm looking forward to getting more books by Betty Smith!

5 out of 5 stars

One of the best that I have ever read October 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I recieved this as a gift. I had heard of this book before, but when I started reading it, I was completely lost into it and could not stop reading it. it is rich and full of detail, and I can easily say that this book is one of the best that I have ever read.

5 out of 5 stars

an endless classic October 4, 2008
i missed this book in high school. twenty years later, i am so glad to discover this book. although it may be geared to young adults, everyone can relate to this family and francie, the young heroine. don't let this book get by you!

5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece September 28, 2008
I only recently got around to reading Betty Smith's 1943 memoir-cum-novel A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, mainly because it had a reputation as an Oprah Winfrey sort of book, meaning I thought it must be one of those tomes filled with good intentions but short on literary merit. After all, the first mention of it I can recall was a snide comment in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon from the 1940s. Boy, do I love to be wrong about things like this. The novel is a total masterpiece. At almost 500 hundred pages there is not a thing I'd cut- not a chapter, paragraph, sentence, nor word. It is a work of fiction the equal of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and some other great works like John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Charles Johnson's Oxherding Tale, and the best of Kurt Vonnegut and William Kennedy. In fact, it might be the best of the bunch.

In fact, it's more than great literature. It personally resonates with me because its depth and narrative immersion in a bygone world rivals that of the best of memoirs, including my own True Life series. I include it, now, along with Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass, Alex Haley's The Autobiography Of Malcolm X, Leonard Shlain's Art And Physics, Loren Eiseley's autobiography All The Strange Hours, and Terry Matheson's Alien Abductions, as the most personally influential and resonant books I have read. Aside from that it is a perfect example of what the publishing industry used to do right versus what it does wrong now.

In many ways ATGIB is a very similar story to 1996's Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. The later book follows a poor Irish American boy who will grow up to be a writer for his first nineteen or so years, while this book chronicles a poor Irish-German American girl who will grow up to be a writer for her first sixteen or so years. AA is set three decades later and the family goes from America to Ireland, and then Frankie goes back to America, while Francie Nolan remains in Brooklyn, until heading off for college at novel's end. Both books feature strong mothers who endure alcoholic husbands, and both books have colorful families to sketch, as well as great poverty, but ATGIB is a far superior book to AA. Primarily this has to do with editing. AA is a 450 page book that could have been 300 pages, and included far more. But, in it, McCourt tends to ramble on far too much, and recount far too similar stories, with the effect of boring you. His book revels in suffering for suffering's sake. ATGIB, was submitted as a memoir, but the editor urged Smith to make it a novel, which helped her flesh out the characters and smooth over rough spots. It worked, for ATGIB is a compelling, poetic, and multifarious work, where AA is a spotty work of unrealized potential. I submit these two books as Exhibits A and B in the case of poor editing for most current books' being so poorly written, rather than just bad writers.
The book ends with Katie Nolan accepting a marriage proposal from a retired police sergeant and widower who has long been enamored with her. He offers to adopt Francie's youngest sister Annie Laurie and to send Neeley and Francie to college. Francie readies to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the University of Michigan. As she stops past her old apartment building she sees the cut down but still growing Tree Of Heaven resprouting in the tenement yard. She sees a small girl named Florrie Wendy, for whom the tree will also come to represent something, just as it must have represented something to her older neighbor girl Flossie Gaddis before her. That all three girls have names that start with F is not coincidental. That the tree that is chosen as the titular tree is a nondescript tree is all the more apt. It is, along with Melville's white whale, one of the greatest metaphors in fiction. Yet, even as the book ends the reader wants to know more of what will happen in Francie's life, even though none doubts she will perdure.

I am eager to read other of Smith's novels, to see if this was merely part of a continuum, or some great work that rose far beyond any other in her oeuvre. The scenes she so deftly set in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn are indelible, and even if her other works are not on par, this book alone is one of those near-miraculous things that justifies the 99.9% of bad arts being out there. Now, back to the crap!

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

Customer Service

Contact Customer Service
Ordering
Tracking Your Package
Shipping Information
Domestic Shipping Rates
International Shipping Rates
Returns
Gifts & Gift Certificates
Privacy & Security

Subcategories

•	Mass Market
•	Trade

Untitled Document Disclaimer: This is an Amazon storefront - the products referenced on this site are manufactured and sold by parties other than the Oenophile Network. The Oenophile Network makes no representations regarding either the products or any information vendors offer about their products. Any questions, complaints, or claims regarding the products must be directed to the appropriate manufacturer or vendor, or to Amazon.com.