Author / Writer / Book Lover - which
are you?
SC ~ I
am a book lover who loves to write. I
have many novels written in my head.
Title of Fiction book and year published ~ A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, published 1943, a classic.
Author ~ Betty Smith
Type of book ~ Fictional novel.
What is it about this book that
pulled you in?
SC ~ I
was pulled into this book first of all, because my mother had a copy of the
book and recommended it to me when I was about 12 years old. The main character is Neely, an 11 year old
girl living in a tenement in New York. I
immediately connected with the character, even though our lives were very
different, because we were close to the same age. I think I also connected with Neely because
of how she saw her living situation, and her view point on her parents and
family from the eyes of an 11 year old.
However, I have read this book about 4-5 times at various ages and have
connected with different characters as I have aged, such as Neely’s mother,
Katie, when I was raising children. So
every time I read this book, I saw something new and different. That is why I love the story so much. It has such depth and meaning about the human
condition, relationships, and reactions to situations they are powerless to
change.
Is there a relationship in the story
that resonated with you?
SC ~ Yes, the
relationship between Neely and her father, Johnny, who was an alcoholic,
resonated with me deeply. His behaviors
were so destructive to the family, but Neely only saw the wonderful side of her
father. I have always had a very good
relationship with my father, and put him on a pedestal. As I have aged, I was able to see some of his
humanness, but it never tainted how much I loved and respected my father. I think this was similar to how Neely saw her
father.
Do you think that relationship was
portrayed realistically?
SC ~ Yes
I do think the relationship was realistic.
Alcoholism is a complex disease, if you subscribe to the philosophy that
it is a disease. I often think that
people on the outside of such situations oversimplify the relationships and the deep
connectedness of children to their
parents. I used to work in child
protection for a county and this book taught me not to overlook the
parent/child relationship in alcoholic families. It was never easy for me to remove children
from homes or to make a permanent plan to keep children from alcoholic parents
based on my awareness of the deep connectedness in those relationships. Betty Smith did a wonderful job of
demonstrating how much Neely loved her father Johnny yet showed how much his
abuse of alcohol hurt other family members.
When I was 12 years old, I knew nothing of these things.
Anything else you want to tell us
about the book without giving away too much of the plot?
SC ~ When I read
the book, Orphan Train, I thought about this book, though the trains had
stopped running before this book was written, it brings to life the
poverty and struggles of living in tenements in New York. This book touches on many more issues than
the ones I have described. The extended
families and other characters are well developed and give depth to this story.
JHA ~ Thanks so much, Susan, for taking the time to recommend a great classic to us!
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