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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
Book 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.
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E-Book Extra: Self-Reliance: A Reading Group Guide
Named by the New York Public Library as "one of the books of the century," A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan -- and her erratic, eccentric family -- in the turn-of-the-century Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn. Originally published in 1943, this true American classic has sold millions of copies worldwide, and includes a foreword by Anna Quindlen.
Customer Reviews:
Lessons in Life.......2007-09-27
This is the kind of book where there is no interwoven complex plot - just life, death, marriage, sacrifice and lessons learned. It's these simple writings that sometimes touch us the most and are the most thought-provoking. A girls life from childhood into womanhood, and all the dreams and devastations in between... Excellent.
Great book.......2007-09-24
This is one of the best books I have ever read...it has a great plot and a great setting too. Once I started reading it, i couldn't stop. The characters and problems they face seem so real! I recommend this book for people 13 and up because It does have minor "things" in it. BEST BOOK EVER!
Inspiring & Touching book.......2007-09-20
I'm so glad that I decided to read this book. I'd initially purchased it because it was on sale (and I really needed something new to read). Nonetheless, this book has become one of my, if not all time, favorite novels. The characters and situations are so real, and I'm a firm believer that ANYONE (male or female, young or old) can somehow relate to Francie Nolan. In this day and age where the youth seldomly read and are exposed to terrible mediums of entertainment (reality tv--Paris Hilton??) we need books such as "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." It's so genuine and full of spirit and heart, despite the characters' dismal situations. This book has the ability to inspire readers to live their lives with integrity and to persevere--especially in seemingly hopeless situations.
A Tree Grows..........2007-09-20
Like before...I am pleased to say your product was sent in a timely fashion and in very good condition. Good job...keep it up!
The Best Book Ever.......2007-08-30
This book was required reading by a Jewish teacher in my 8th grade English class, in Brooklyn. Being a know-it-all Black girl from Brooklyn, I never wanted to read it because I thought I knew it all. Fast forward 10+ years and I finally read the book as a semi-adult. Fast forward 10+ more years and I read it AT LEAST twice a year. This is, in my opinion, the best book for any young woman to read, EVER. It made me read everything else that Betty Smith wrote. It makes me check my local library's supply to make sure they have adequate copies for other young (or older, wiser) girls to read. I have searched and found a 1st printing of the book and I hold it more dearly that my most profound treasure. I would suggest this book to anyone that can read. It will surely teach you something about love, sacrifice and the complexity of the human heart. It is full of romantic love, child-parent love, hopes, dreams, fears, innocence, everything! I recently purchased the movie and I've watched it at least 15 times already. This is a really good book. Oprah thinks so too; she lists it as one of the few books that changed her life. I wholeheartedly agree.
Customer Reviews:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.......2005-12-12
This book is about a girl named Francie. She lives in Brooklyn with her mom, Katie, dad, Johnny, and brother, Neeley.
Francie loves to read and has vowed to read one book everyday for the rest of her life, as well as a page from the Bible and a page from Shakespeare every night. Her parents are very young and her dad is drunk a lot. Her dad is out of work a lot, and goes back and forth between jobs. Her mom works very hard to try to support her family. Katie starts Franice and her brother Neeley in school at the same time, even though Neeley is a year younger, with the hopes that they will do a better job fending of the bigger kids together. Francie doesn't last very long in the school though. The teacher is mean towards the poorer children, and Francie is one of them. While taking a walk one day, she sees another school, one that looks much nicer and more fun. She gets her dad to write a letter to the principal of her school, saying that she is going to live with some relatives, and go to another school. He writes that Neeley will continue to go to this same school. She loves this new school and with lots of encouragement from her teachers, has found that she loves to write.
I would definitely recommend this book. The book has lots of detail and the author does a good job putting into words kind of how it is like to be poor with a father who is drunk a lot the time. There are a lot of good adjectives and I felt like I was actually there.
This is a contemporary fiction book and I give it 5 stars.
Morgan Budihas
Customer Reviews:
a moving novel, my all time favorite.......2004-03-15
Mary Frances Nolan holds both our hands and our hearts, as she leads us through her childhood, beginning in 1900, on the impoverished streets of Brooklyn, New York. As innocent, illiterate children, Francie and her brother, Nealie, rise far above their surroundings, as they grow and flourish despite struggle. They do this with the help of their mother, Katie Nolan,their father, Johnny Nolan, and the Rommely sisters. Regardless of the hardships of poverty, shame, rape, and lack of education, Francie proves herself strong, and tough enough to eventually reach her dreams.
In the novel, a tree is placed to in the middle of Francie's tiny yard, acting as a significant symbol of inspiration and a hope to her, as well as her neighbors. They refer to it as the "Tree of Heaven". "The only tree in Francie's yard was neither a pine nor a hemlock. It had pointed leaves which grew along green switches which radiated from the bough and made a tree which looked like a lot of open umbrellas... No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree which struggled to reach the sky. It grew in boarded-up lots and neglected rubbish heaps and it was the only tree that grew out of cement. It grew lushly, but only in the tenements district... That was the kind of tree it was. It liked poor people." Like Francie, the tree shows vigor for life within the poor neighborhood.
Based around the author's own life experiences, Betty Smith raises the characters to life as she describes a lifestyle and ambitions that are both Francie's and reminiscent of her own. Throughout the novel, Smith develops a setting and characters that reflect her accurate, personal knowledge of life in Brooklyn in the early 1900's.
This book is outstanding and inspiring. It allowed me to enter into a child's head and her world as she was grow up, and experience her thoughts firsthand. As I read, I felt as if I was getting to know a childhood friend, with weaknesses, struggles, hopes and dreams. Francie's journey through her obstacles in life gave me inspiration to work hard in all aspects of my own life, in order to achieve my goals.
Life Lessons Revealed.......2002-11-15
This was the first adult book that I read when I was just eleven
years old, the same age as Francie, the heroine of the book. I
was intrigued because we were the same age. I remember sitting in
a rocking chair on my grandfather's country home front porch. My
feet, clad in moccasins, were propped up on the porch railing and
I fell, permanently, in love with all of the characters.
This book, the original 1943 version, was in my home library all
of my growing-up years. Periodically, I would take it out of the
bookcase and re-read it. When my mother sold our house, she,
inadverdently, gave this and many other prized books to the
local hospital. I tried to recover it, but it and the others
had been confiscated by patients. Later, when I was "grown
and gone" out on my own, with a household and children of my
own, I bought my own copy. However, regretfully, it was not
a 1943 version.
Over the years, as an adult, I have re-read this book at
least once a year, and sometimes more, especially if I
happened to be in a sentimental, nostalgic, yearning mood.
Everytime I read it, I learn something new about life and
human nature. I have had the "Ah-Ha" effect with the light
bulb going off in my mind many times.
It is my sincere belief that this book ought to be required
reading for every student, beginning at age eleven, and
then required re-reading every few years until high school
graduation.
Time does not allow me to delve into all of the life lessons
that I have learned from this book. However, I would like to
do so in a future further review. OPRAH WYNFREY AND I SHARE THE
SAME FEELING OF LOVE FOR THIS BOOK. IT IS ON HER LIST OF MOST
FAVORITE BOOKS, AS IT IS MINE.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: The Struggle of Life.......2001-04-16
Adolescence is a difficult time of life, but at the turn of the last century, young women faced much bigger problems than growing up. This notion was eloquently conveyed in Betty Smith's novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In this novel, Francie Nolan, the protagonist, grew up in the early 1900s, the early Industrial age. Her father was a waiter, who suffered from drinking problems, and her mother was a janitress. They lived in a tenement house in Brooklyn, New York. Francie's mother and father had started out as a poor, newly-wed couple who, after little more than a year of marriage, found themselves laden with a sickly new daughter - Francie. Francie grew up, experiencing the hardships of a poor family, and is forced after grade school to get a job to help support the family instead of going to high school. Reading was her way of getting away from the problems in her troublesome life. The writing style of Betty Smith is authentic and sentimental. She is honest in her descriptions and tells both the positive and negative aspects about urban life in the early 1900s. She is clear and concise in her characterizations. The title of the book comes from a metaphor that she surprises the reader with, when neighbors talk to Katie Nolan, Francie's mother, about Francie, her sickly baby. They tell Katie that it would be better if Francie died. " Katie held her baby tightly. ` It's not better to die. Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way. (Page 93)'" Katie Nolan has a strong will to keep Francie alive. Francie grows up much like the tree in her family's backyard in Brooklyn. She seldom got enough to eat, and experienced a hard childhood, but she survived, just like the tree growing out of the grating in Brooklyn. Before Francie attended grade school, she would walk to the library every day and check out a book. She would read one book a day, planning to read every book in the world. When she was reading, Francie would forget about the hardships of her life, and think about the lives of the characters in the books that she read. If one has the will and confidence to persevere, like Francie Nolan, one will succeed in life. Francie suffered the hardships of her young adolescence in working in a range of jobs, but her real dream was to go to high school and then on to college. At the end of the novel, Francie's hard work is awarded, as the family is finally able to afford for Francie to attend high school. This classic tale of a struggling family in Brooklyn, New York in the early Industrial Age is enhanced by Betty Smith's writing style, and truly tells the story of the problems that working class families were faced with at the turn of 20th century.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: The Struggle of Life.......2001-04-15
Adolescence is a difficult time of life, but at the turn of the last century, young women faced much bigger problems than growing up. This notion was eloquently conveyed in Betty Smith's novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. In this novel, Francie Nolan, the protagonist, grew up in the early 1900s, the early Industrial age. Her father was a waiter, who suffered from drinking problems, and her mother was a janitress. They lived in a tenement house in Brooklyn, New York. Francie's mother and father had started out as a poor, newly-wed couple who, after little more than a year of marriage, found themselves laden with a sickly new daughter - Francie. Francie grew up, experiencing the hardships of a poor family, and is forced after grade school to get a job to help support the family instead of going to high school. Reading was her way of getting away from the problems in her troublesome life. The writing style of Betty Smith is authentic and sentimental. She is honest in her descriptions and tells both the positive and negative aspects about urban life in the early 1900s. She is clear and concise in her characterizations. The title of the book comes from a metaphor that she surprises the reader with, when neighbors talk to Katie Nolan, Francie's mother, about Francie, her sickly baby. They tell Katie that it would be better if Francie died. " Katie held her baby tightly. ` It's not better to die. Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way. (Page 93)'" Katie Nolan has a strong will to keep Francie alive. Francie grows up much like the tree in her family's backyard in Brooklyn. She seldom got enough to eat, and experienced a hard childhood, but she survived, just like the tree growing out of the grating in Brooklyn. Before Francie attended grade school, she would walk to the library every day and check out a book. She would read one book a day, planning to read every book in the world. When she was reading, Francie would forget about the hardships of her life, and think about the lives of the characters in the books that she read. If one has the will and confidence to persevere, like Francie Nolan, one will succeed in life. Francie suffered the hardships of her young adolescence in working in a range of jobs, but her real dream was to go to high school and then on to college. At the end of the novel, Francie's hard work is awarded, as the family is finally able to afford for Francie to attend high school. This classic tale of a struggling family in Brooklyn, New York in the early Industrial Age is enhanced by Betty Smith's writing style, and truly tells the story of the problems that working class families were faced with at the turn of 20th century.
A delightful work with universal appeal. Don't miss it!.......2000-04-19
From the time a friend first lent "Tree" to me seven years ago, I have been reading the book every spring. Smith has a remarkable insight into human nature and a simple way of expressing herself that is a delight to read. This is one of those truly universal books--though it takes place in Brooklyn during the first years of the 20th century, the message is timeless and the characters transcend culture. It is an ode to human strength in adversity. May this book always be on Am. Lit. required reading lists.
Average customer rating:
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Manufacturer: Harper & Row, Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000BMXIG0 |
Product Description
Vintage paperback edition. A classic novel.
Product Description
Two Great Novels by Betty Smith.
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani, beloved by millions of readers around the world for her humor, warmth, and captivating storytelling in the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia, takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in Rococo, the uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected.
Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, Bartolomeo has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in OLOF, so when the renovation of the local church is scheduled, he assumes there is only one man for the job.
From the dazzling shores of New Jersey to the legendary fabric houses of New York City, from the prickly purveyors of fine art in London to luscious Santa Margherita on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, Bartolomeo is on a mission to bring talent, sophistication, and his aesthetic vision to his hometown.
Trigiani’s glittering mosaic of small-town characters sparkles: Bartolomeo’s hilarious sister, Toot, is in desperate need of a postdivorce transformation–thirteen years after the fact; “The Benefactor,” Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest woman in New Jersey, has a lust for French interiors and a long-held hope that Bartolomeo will marry her myopic daughter, Capri; Father Porporino, the pastor with a secret, does his best to keep a lid on a simmering scandal; and Eydie Von Gunne, the chic international designer, steps in and changes the course of Bartolomeo’s creative life, while his confidante, cousin Christina Menecola, awaits rescue from an inconsolable grief.
Plaster of Paris, polished marble, and unbridled testosterone arrive in buckets when Bartolomeo recruits Rufus McSherry, a strapping, handsome artist, and Pedro Allercon, a stained-glass artisan, to work with him on the church’s interior. Together, the three of them will do more than blow the dust off the old Fatima frescoes–they will turn the town upside down, challenge the faithful, and restore hope where there once was none.
Brilliantly funny and as fanciful as flocked wallpaper, filled with glamorous locales from New Jersey to Europe, from Sunday Mass to the American Society of Interior Designers soirée at the Plaza Hotel,
Rococo is Trigiani’s masterpiece, a classic comedy with a heart of gold leaf.
"A veritable crazy quilt of quirky Italian Americans ... Trigiani weaves all these subplots together with wonderful ease; every seam is perfectly straight, every pleat in place. Bartolomeo would expect no less. A-." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Clever ... Creating characters so lively they bounce off the page and possessing a wit so subtle that even the best jokes seem effortless, Trigiani is a master storyteller. Equal parts sass and silliness, Rococo is an artfully designed tale with enough brio to make Frank Gehry proud."-- People
From the Hardcover edition.
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Praise for Adriana Trigiani
The Queen of the Big Time
“Full-bodied and elegantly written . . . [Trigiani builds The Queen of the Big Time] around an old-fashioned love story. . . . Pure pleasure.”
–
The Washington Post Book World
“Moving and poignant . . . Trigiani has again defied categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a women’s novelist. She is an amazing young talent.”
–
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Lucia, Lucia
“This heartwarming tale is full of lessons about taking risks in life and love.”
–
Cosmopolitan
“Trigiani’s writing is as dazzling as Lucia’s dresses.”
–
USA Today
“Seamlessly superb storytelling . . . Trigiani never loses hold of the hearts of her characters–or of the wisdom that tragedy and redemption are also part of life.”
–
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Bleck.......2007-08-18
Ok, so it's set in 1970s. Maybe we can chalk the whole book up to qiana, leisure suits, and bad facial hair. But there's more than that. This is a badly told story. One reviewer described it as a book about B, who realizes that everyone in his family comes to him for help, and then realizes that the whole town loves him and will help him when he needs it. George Bailey, he's not. And the Irish Catholic painter friend is no angel Clarence. I guess the Priest is supposed to be Mr. Potter. Hey, just rent It's a Wonderful Life, and skip the wannabe.
And what's with the recipes printed in the story, and the catalogue numbers of fabric B used in his decorating jobs? Do we WANT to go out and order swatches of fabric (by inventory number) of items used in 1970s decor?
Don't get your hopes up on this one. I've not read the author's other work, but after this one I won't bother.
Painful.......2007-06-22
After getting a bunch of recommendations for Trigiani books, I thought I'd grab one. Apparently should've read some of the reviews of this book before I chose it. It was so painful to read, I didn't get the whole way through it. There are so many references to interior design and fabrics and Catholicism, it was hard to follow. I would never recommend this to anyone, but I still wouldn't write off Trigiani until I try another of her books.
Just plain fun...........2007-06-03
You can't help but fall in love with the characters in this book. Each has their own speical quirks and human conditions. I especially liked the main characters sister. She has the ability to be selfish, nurturing and downright hilarious - all at the same time. Rococo is the kind of book that I was sad to see end. A sequel would be great! Adriana's writing is the best.
INTERIOR DECORATING 101.......2007-05-08
I LOVE ITALIAN FAMILIES, ITALIAN FOOD, ITALY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. THIS STORY IS LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY AND PARTS WILL BRING A TEAR TO YOUR EYE.
I LOVE THE WAY ADRIANA TRIGIANI TELLS A STORY.
loved it.......2007-03-16
This is my first book by Adriana Trigiani and I loved it. The details were amazing even though I am not a big fashion person. The writing style was nice and kept my attention throughout. I can't wait to read her other books.
Book Description
These two works were best sellers when they appeared and were reprinted numerous times. The obvious link between the two works is the couple at the centre of both. With Wilhelmine (1764) Thümmel, a petty nobleman and court official, gave German literature its finest example of a mock epic among the many produced in the wake of Pope's Rape of the Lock. In telling of a village pastor's successful attempt to gain the hand of his beloved, Thümmel also showed what could be accomplished within the confining Horatian aesthetic of the German Rococo. Nicolai, a leading figure of the Berlin Enlightenment, took Thümmel's couple and showed their life after marriage. In tracing the misfortunes of Sebaldus and family, he delights in savaging church orthodoxy, idealistic philosophy, sentimentalism, and pietism. It has been called the first realistic German novel.
Books:
- Adsorbed Species on Surfaces and Adsorbate-Induced Surface Core Level Shifts (Landolt-Bornstein: Numerical Data and Functional Relationships in Science and Technology - New Series)
- Albert Einstein/Mileva Maric: The Love Letters
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- All the King's Men
- An Introduction to Lasers and Their Applications (Addison-Wesley Series in Physics)
- An Introduction to the Physics of Nuclei and Particles
- Angle of Repose (Contemporary American Fiction)
- Benchmarks for Science Literacy (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, Project 2061)
- Bleak House (Modern Library Classics)
- Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor
- Sovereign: A Matthew Shardlake Mystery
- Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy
- Repeat After Me
- Mckeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research And Theory for College And University Teachers
- Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener
- Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book
- Silent Screens: The Decline and Transformation of the American Movie Theater
- Nightclub Nights: Art, Legend, and Style 1920-1960
- In search of the wild asparagus
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
To Kill a Mockingbird
Joy in the Morning (Perennial Classics)
Rebecca
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Water for Elephants: A Novel
