day 7 of the 30 day book challenge

Day 07. Most underrated book

My mom insisted that I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" before I reached high school. I'm so thankful she did. The main character, Francie, seemed like my best friend or like myself or like a snapshot of a life any of our grandmother's could have experienced.

The book made me terrified, excited & anxious for life. I wasn't the only one that felt this way: the book is considered a modern classic. But I've yet to meet someone my age who has read it. I hope that those of you reading this will take the book into consideration. It's perfect for young readers, but it becomes even more moving when we've been through gritty, difficult & damaging life experiences ourselves.

Some readers didn't agree–they found the author's use of her own experiences & her presentation "unsavory" aspects of the entire human experience. Here's an excerpt I found on About:

Betty Smith drew from her own experiences in growing up in Brooklyn to create the character of a tenacious little girl, Francie Nolan. Because Smith wrote about some of the more unsavory aspects of human existence, some critics found the book unacceptable. One Boston woman even wrote a letter to Smith saying that the author of such a book should live in a stable.

So, let's look at the Powell's synopsis

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.

A lot of emotion is packed into this novel, but the writing is humble & welcoming. Each page is inviting, with a language that's easy to read & follow without limiting itself to a young audience. I would love to hear that my readers have read Smith's most famous novel. I can't imagine a reading of this book that doesn't leave a mark on the reader.