This Week in the Mercury
Friday, April 27, 2012
Books On A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Posted by Alison Hallett on Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 2:44 PM
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my all-time favorite books—it's in that great old tradition of books about children that are written for adults, though I think many adults wrongly assume it is for children. I reread it every few years, and each time I read it I am newly surprised by how great it is, which is the best thing you can say about a book.
On The Rumpus today, Molly McArdle has a pretty lovely essay about her own affection for Betty Smith's classic:
Everything happens. People are born and die, people get married and others don’t, people have kids, people take kids, abortions are offered, periods arrive, school is taken up and put on hold, jobs are acquired and lost, money is painstakingly saved and spent. (Did I mention there’s a serial killer? There is also a serial killer.) Most of all, there is Francie herself, so often brave and stoic and unapologetically literary. How can you not love a girl who writes in her journal, “Am I curious about sex?” The narrator goes on, “She studied the last sentence. The line on the inner edge of her right eyebrow deepened. She crossed out the sentence and rewrote it to read: ‘I am curious about sex.’” This book is so intensely about being a woman, being poor, being alive, and I have not read another one with its breadth or accuracy..
Oof. So good.
Also, if you're a fan of Brooklyn and haven't read Dodie Smith's similar but lesser-known I Capture the Castle, do it. Now.
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
Gloaters Gonna Gloat by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey
-
Scenes from the the No on Fluoride Party. Which Is Winning by Denis C. Theriault
-
"Tin-Foil Hat Parade," at City Hall Tonight, Celebrates Fluoride Defeat by Denis C. Theriault
-
Do Spoilers Really Matter? The Relative Importance of Storytelling in Film by Bobby Roberts
-
I Don't Think Superman Actually Eats Like This by Bobby Roberts
-
Hey, Slackers! Your New Arts Tax Deadline is Monday, June 10 by Denis C. Theriault
-
The Pope Doesn't Understand the Point of Atheists by Paul Constant
-
Scientology's Shiny New Church/Giftshop by Alex Falcone
-
Union Way by Marjorie Skinner
-
If You Missed KBOO's Election Roundup (with Yours Truly as a Guest), Listen Here by Denis C. Theriault
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
RSSGoing to Seattle?
