Book 36 of 2015- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

I figured I should read some substantial books once in a while.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't know if I would make it through this book for about the first half. It was SO sad! Francie is a girl growing up in a poor area of Brooklyn, and it talks about her growing up story. Her parents met and married when she was 17 and he was 19, and they got pregnant right away. Francie's dad couldn't handle the responsibility he had, so he got drunk and worked random nights as a singing waiter. Francie and her brother, Neeley, were always hungry and never really fit in with their peers. Their mom had to work hard and find ways to make ends meet. It really reminded me of a lot of people that we have met here, that don't have high levels of education and don't have much of a way to get out of their circumstances. The lowest point is when their dad dies on Christmas day of alcoholism and pneumonia. They have hardly any money and their mom is going to have another baby in May. Francie just turned 14, and so when she finishes grammar school she has to join the work force to help her mom out. Now, this seems like rock bottom, but this is when the story started to turn around for me.

Francie found a job that she needed to be 16 for, so she said she was 16. This paid her enough that her family was able to save again, and she eventually got promoted to $20 a week. This was in 1916, so that was huge. Their new baby thrived, and they were able to get out of that hole they were left in. Then, a police officer who had always liked Francie's mom (but both were married so he would never have done anything then) asked her to marry him. She did, and the book ends with them moving out of their neighborhood and into a nicer one. Francie also was able to get into college in Michigan and moved out that way.

I am SO glad I stuck with this book. I was sure Francie was going to die. When I found out the mom was pregnant I was sure the BABY was going to die. I couldn't have handled that.

I wish there was a way that everyone could get into college and get the education so that they can get out of poverty. Not even college, just some skill or level of education so that they don't have to work 3 jobs to make ends meet. This is loosely based on the author's life (from what I understand), and I hope that she helped enable her children to rise even above that.