A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1988, Paperback, Reissue)

This is the story of an Irish immigrant family, living in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century. The story opens like a camera lens, now wide, looking at the politics or social issues, now closer, looking at a small event in the life of a young girl.

Betty Smith vividly touches all the senses with her writing. You can feel the impact of the Christmas tree the children catch at midnight, as it scratches Francie's cheek; you can hear the sounds as it reaches them, then settles; you can smell the pine.

The writing style is at times stream of consciousness, as the author names the types of food in the Jewish deli, or describes the procedure for turning in recyclable metals for cash. Other chapters are like evesdropping- the men in the bar heard through snippets of conversation about women voting and Tammany Hall, the possibility of going to war in Europe. Then the core story is usually a narrative description of the life they live in poverty, and the hope they manage to maintain despite the father's alcoholism, the mother's exhaustion at having to work so hard, and the children's observations of their world and the adults in it. You get a real sense for how it was to live at that time, and the characters are very well drawn, the story well constructed, and dense, but engrossing. The whole range of human conditions is there. It reads like a soap opera, and yet has deep symbolism of the meaning of becoming an American, and attaining the American dream.

I found this book in my mother's books in the attic when I was 13, and some of the subject matter was too racy for my understanding at that point. I still enjoyed it. I later re-read it several times, and gained more from reading it each time. I recommend it for all types of readers. There is also a movie made in the 40s, and it is worth watching, but since it barely touches on the intricacies of the plot, it is not a good barometer for assessing whether you want to read the book.