A lightly fictionalized memoir, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is Betty Smith’s story of growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early 1900s. Her mother’s family are German immigrants, her father’s family are Irish immigrants, and both sides are poor and lacking formal education. When her mother, Katie, is 18, she marries her charming musician boyfriend, Johnny Nolan. Their firstborn, Betty’s stand-in Francie Nolan, arrives less than a year later and is followed quickly by a son, Cornelius called Neely. Johnny is a beautiful singer but not a reliable income earner, and so the family moves frequently and lives paycheck to paycheck.
Plot-wise not a lot happens, and much of the novel is made up of descriptions of rather routine day to day events. The slowness of the plot isn’t a criticism though- I was never bored, and I liked the characters so much that I was happy to trade off nothing happening so long as nothing bad was happening. My heart really went out to Francie/Betty, a smart but lonely little girl who quietly perseveres through the obstacles and circumstances she was born into. The small scale means that small victories are really poignant- Francie going to a better elementary school is another stepping stone to help her maybe escape the hardships that are constantly knocking them down. Caring about the Nolan family’s success is made easy because of the way that Smith writes about her family and their flaws- all of the events are filtered through a lens of love and you come away appreciating the goals and dreams that Katie, and her mother before her, had for their children- a better life, farther away from the hardships of poverty.
Reading this book in 2019, more than a century on from the events Smith writes about, shines a stark spotlight on the things that have changed (out with horses, in with Uber) and the things that haven’t (the price of an education and the hard/ heartbreaking decisions that those with limited income are forced to make).