A Favorite Thing

I just can't think of anything to write. I just can't. So I'm going review a book that I've read at least four times. I think. Maybe five, but I cannot verify that. Without further ado...the book is...A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

So the question is, why? Why would I read it that many times when there are so many many lovely books out there that I haven't read? It's just that good. It's beautifully written, of course. But there are a lot of books that are beautifully written. It's a story about coming of age, again a genre that I adore. It spans over a decade. I love stories that encompass a large span of time...if done well, of course.

But while all that is nice, I don't think those things are the reason I love the book or why it is one of my top three books. Probably top two, coming in a close second only to Jane Eyre which is, after all, the greatest book ever written in the English language. This is the reason I think I love it so much. I grew up in a very small town in Utah. I grew up, actually, outside the town in a farming community called Leland. My best friend lived about a half a mile away, and she was my only playmate unless a cousin (or two) was living with Grandma and Grandpa Fish. And I was born in 1975. My parents were (and are, for that matter) happily married, and I have six siblings. Ours was a stable, happy home.

In other words, I have nothing really in common with Francie Nolan. Except this. I grew up poor-ish. But if I think about Francie Nolan's story, I have to admit that I didn't know poverty because I never went hungry, never worried about freezing in the cold of the winter, never gathered soda cans to get pennies so that I could help pay for rent. And yet...even if we have nothing in common, I felt like I was Francie in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. I related to everything about her life.

My life could not have been more opposite. Brooklyn in the 1930s is not Smalltown Utah in the 1980s. Not even close. Obviously. And even though her life was filled with poverty and hardship, the story made me want to be Francie Nolan. How can that be? How can an author write a story in one era that speaks to generations of readers? Because Betty Smith is nothing short of a genius, that's why!

I admit this is not much of a review...still, if you get a chance to read it, I think you will love it. Really. LOVE it! So go read it!