We made it to the end of our reading of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! Yay! Good for us! We made it to the end! Boo! No more weekly Cool Bloggers Book Club!
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| Source: Katie B Cartoons |
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I have a hard copy of the book with a foreword written by Anna Quindlen, who, as it turns out, is an author I've read exactly nothing from. However, as I was reading this foreword before I even started reading chapter one, I was so excited to read this essay from someone who clearly loves the book as much as I do.
Consider the first paragraph:
As much as any other beloved book in the canon, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn illustrates the limitations of plot description. In its nearly five hundred pages, nothing much happens. Of course that's not really accurate: Everything that can happen in life happens, from birth and death to marriage and bigamy. But those things happen in the slow, sure, meandering way that they happen in the slow, sure, meandering river of real existence, not as the clanking "and then" that lends itself easily to event synopsis. (vii)
Or consider the first paragraph of the very next page:
When it first appeared, in 1943, it was called, by those critics who liked it, an honest book, and that is accurate as far as it goes. But it is more than that: It is deeply, indelibly true. Honesty is casting bright light on your own experience; truth is casting it on the experiences of all...(viii)
If you don't a copy with the Quindlen foreword, it's worth seeking out.
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ATGIB questions:
1) What makes this book so indelible and powerful? It's not the writing, which can be a bit lazy. It's not the plot, which is wavering and slow. There have been criticisms that this book is sentimental or trite. What makes this book a classic that has lasted the test of time?
2) Last week, Lisa asked about the title. What is the tree a symbol of? Francie? The entire Nolan family? All the residents of Brooklyn?
3) What do you think your take-home messages will be from this book? Will it be a particular scene or moment? A theme? Green hats?
4) What genre do you classify this? I have a "genre" label on my spreadsheet and labeled it "historical fiction," but it wasn't written as historical fiction, was it?
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Cool Bloggers Book Club questions:
1) How do you think the format of the book you read (audiobook, paper, ebook) changed or impacted your reading experience?
2) If you read this book before, how was your experience reading it this way (only 50 pages a week with a critical lens) different than your usual reading?
3) What did you gain from reading this book in community?
4) If we did another Cool Bloggers Book Club (maybe next summer), what book would you be interested in reading? Another Betty Smith book? Maybe another classic young adult book like A Secret Garden or Black Beauty?
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Movie versus Book:
Beckett wrote up a nice review of the 1945 Elia Kazan directed film based on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Apparently James Dunn won an Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny. As far as I can tell, this movie isn't streaming anywhere, so I got a DVD from the library and made my husband unearth our DVD player. As many of you may know, I don't watch movies very often (we were trying to remember the last movie I watched in its entirety and came up with a rewatch of Serenity (the movie post-Firefly, the Joss Whedon series), early in 2020?). Anyway, not to leave you in suspense, but I have basically the opposite opinion of Beckett.
1) The actress who played Sissy was so over-the-top and loud that I closed my eyes as a defense whenever she came on screen.
2) The book is so character-driven that the lack of plot in the movie would have been absolutely bonkers to me if I hadn't just read the book. You just can't get the internal thoughts in a movie.
3) I liked that the librarian was a lot nicer to Francie in the movie than in the book.
4) The hats were wonderful. I was obsessed with the hats.
5) My husband was very disappointed that the scene where Katie shoots Francie's attacker in the hallway wasn't in the movie, so take that for what it's worth.
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Thank you!
And that's a wrap. Please feel free to discuss anything you'd like about ATGIB and its associated media offshoots in the comments. Definitely feel free to keep emailing me ATGIB ephemera and a sincere thank you to everyone who peppered my inbox with awesome photos of your first edition books and newspaper clippings.
And the biggest thank you to everyone who kept coming back week after week to participate in this book club. It was a highlight of my summer and I love that this blogging community has so many people with varied backgrounds and smart, thoughtful things to say. You're the best and I had so much fun reading this book along with all of you.
I am so sad that this is over as it has been so much fun to relive the book again, not just through my own eyes, but from everyone else's as well! I saw things that I had never seen before, despite having read this book at least three times before, if not more! Thank you so much for having this great idea and for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAGTIB:
1. The book IS sentimental! However, it is a book about grit and about overcoming obstacles! It is a book about the love of books! It is a book about love. It is not trite! How dare they!?
2. I think the tree is a symbol of endurance, and in that case it is a symbol of the entire family, neighborhood and era!
3. My take home message when I was younger was that I was so lucky to not have to struggle through some of the things Francie does. After reading it again now, I would say that I still feel the same but I also relate the same feeling to the parents and the neighbors now.
4. I think it could be called Historical Fiction, as it does portray a time in history!
CBBC:
1. This time I read it as an audiobook; I think that I did not get some of the small details that those of you who read it got and I did have to go back during some of the discussions to reread in order to answer.
2. I won't lie, I cannot read a book only 5 chapters at a time, so I did go ahead and finish it and then would revisit each week to make sure I did not accidentally spoil something! However, I did love the critical lens! I often just read for entertainment and do not delve so deep into the story and characters.
3. See above! Seeing everyone else's thoughts and especially in so much detail was so fun! I have not been in a book club in years and it reminds me of how much I enjoy it!
4. Funny enough, I have never read another Betty Smith book, despite loving ATGIB! I would love to read The Secret Garden again and in fact, I think I still have a copy of that from my childhood! I also remember liking Gulliver's Travels and Swiss Family Robinson and all of those books about islands and boats! Whatever we read, I am sure the discussion will be fun!
I have been on the defense ever since I read a review of the book calling it cliched. I mean..it's not? Like, so much stuff happens that is bonkers - getting assaulted in the hallway, Sissy being Sissy, Johnny dying, Katie being a single mother. I feel like something unexpected happens in every chapter!! So, I don't know why people call it trite? Maybe because sometimes Smith dips into purple writing a bit?
DeleteI think it's interesting that you didn't catch some things as an audiobook. I think it's so hard to take notes when listening, as opposed to reading in print, so I can see exactly why this happens. Or you just tune out for twenty or thirty seconds when you're focusing on something else.
I've never read any other Smith books, either! I'm keeping track of what people say for another book club and will see what the majority of people want.
The scene with the shooting wasn't in the movie? I loved that scene, how disappointing. Well, I'm not planning on watching the movie anyway so I guess no big deal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this, Engie. It was very fun! My two cents is that next summer would be great, or even in the doldrums of February or something. I loathe The Secret Garden so I wouldn't vote for that.
I did overall enjoy reading this book, particularly slowly and with lots of blog discussion. Some parts of it I did not like in the least, but the parts I loved I really loved. I have always thought the tree was symbolic of Francie, but I guess it could also be the whole Nolan family.
My take-home scene when I first read the book decades ago - and it was the only one I really remembered clearly - was the vaccination scene. I don't know what it will be now. Probably the ending, where she is looking at her home for one last time. That was beautiful.
My husband said if he'd watched the movie without reading the book, he'd have said the main plotline was how Katie got together with McShane, so the movie does not focus on Francie nearly as much. I think you can skip it without missing anything.
DeleteHmm.. winter book club does sound enticing. I loved The Secret Garden as a girl, but haven't read it as an adult, so I wonder. Your antipathy makes me very curious.
Wow! I haven't seen the movie but if the main plot is about Katie and McShane...it really diverges from the book!
DeleteAs long as it's not Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre I'll be here for the next Cool Bloggers Club (just kidding, I'll show up for those too)!! Thank you so much for hosting this, Engie.
ReplyDeleteI had the same forward and it was lovely and really set the scene for the whole book.
If we're keeping our reflections honest and transparent, I didn't enjoy ATGIB nearly as much on this read-through. I found some of the depictions so sad and hard to read. This is fascinating to me since I read this shortly after being married but before becoming a mother. I wonder if that is the reason I found this so sad this time around? The first time I read it I was obsessed and quickly declared it to be one of my favourite books ever. I don't think I'd classify it the same way anymore. To be fair, I said the same thing about Jane Eyre and found it HORRIFIC to re-read this year. I also didn't like The Grapes of Wrath nearly as much the second time around. Perspective changes a lot. Also, apparently, I should never re-read any books I love?!
That said, the book is masterfully written and I adore Francie and really do feel like Katie and Johnny, like most parents, were truly trying to do their best. Life is messy. Parenting and marriage are tough relationships. And so many amazing quotes! (You know how I feel about quotes).
Can I just say: I love that you loved all the hats in the movie.
Elisabeth, I find it fascinating how much your perspective on this changed. And I'm curious - was it that you actively *disliked* it on this reading (as you apparently did Jane Eyre when you reread it)? Or, is it that it made you sad, and that was not a reaction you had before? Basically, do you hate it now? It doesn't sound like it but I am not in your head (obviously), so... :)
DeleteElisabeth, ME TOO!!!! I found so much of it terribly depressing and sad, mostly the "North Pole" game, and also Johnny's alcoholism. I also found the misogyny really hard to handle, along with the racism/ antisemitism. (also, we've talked about this, Jane Eyre is absolutely horrifying!)
DeleteI have yet to be able to finish Jane Eyre. It just seems like torture to me. Jane is terrible, what happens to her is terrible, the whole of it is terrible.
DeleteBut I didn't have that reaction to this book because there are moments of levity. Imagine the scene after the hallway shooting when Johnny and Katie try to "help" Francie and end up hurting her even more! But I'm not a parent, so who knows if my deep abiding love for this book just makes me think it's a mother-daughter love story more than anything else.
I didn't actively dislike it (great question Anne), but I just felt heavy and sad reading it. And I feel like the book wasn't supposed to read as so sad? Or maybe, again, different audiences just get different things out of it.
DeleteI also wonder if I had read it more quickly if it would have changed my opinion? I definitely paid far more attention to details, flagged favourite quotes/returned to them etc than I would in a normal reading of a fiction book. The first time I read it would have been at a MUCH faster pace. I still think that I would have found it much darker reading it as an older adult + mother now, but do wonder if I was more sensitive because of reading it more slowly?
I second the no Jane Eyre/Pride and Prejudice vote! If we are going to do a classic, let's make it a FUN one!
DeleteThanks for hosting this, NGS! Even in weeks when I couldn't complete the reading, I always enjoyed reading your prompts and everyone's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia (for some of the historical aspects and all the different ages I remember being reading and re-reading this book) figured strongly for me.
And FWIW, ATGIB is such a testament to good writing and storytelling. I was perhaps all of ten when I found this book on my grandmother's bookshelf, lived a privileged life in a tropical metropolis, had no idea of where Brooklyn was... but Francie's story got to me. It spoke to me. Our lives were so different--but her grit, her belief in the possibility of reinvention, and her determination to make something of herself was truly formative.
It IS good storytelling. I think the setting is CRUCIAL to this book. It wouldn't be the same if Williamsburg wasn't detailed so thoroughly. Those early chapters when we go through all the shops and Francie and Neely spend a Saturday wandering around really make Brooklyn a central character and the specificity of the time and place make this book just a true delight.
DeleteYes, absolutely! I had such a good sense of it from the book, I could recognize it in the journals of my partner's great-grands who arrived from Europe to Brooklyn at around the same time.
DeleteFirst of all, yes! Yes! Another book club next summer (or earlier, ha!) It will be hard to find a book to follow ATGIB though- this was the perfect choice.
ReplyDeleteI realized my book does have the Anna Quindlen forward, but I haven't read it yet (thanks for the reminder.) On a side note, Anna Quindlen wrote one of my favorite books in recent memory, Every Last One. I highly recommend it!
It's hard to put into words why I loved this book so much. The characters all rang true for me- even when I was disagreeing with something Katie did, I still understood her character. I love how Betty Smith captured the nostalgia of childhood, how Francie and Neely still look back on their childhood with fondness despite the hardships. I read it thinking "yes, that's exactly how it is."
I've said a couple times that I read this book a long time ago, in my late teens (I think) and the only part I remembered was when Francie clips the newspaper headline when the war starts. This time I'll obviously remember much more, but the part I'll probably think about the most is when Francie and Neely agree that Laurie will have an easier life than them, but not as much fun.
Do people think this book is sentimental (no!) or trite (no!) because the ending wraps up so neatly? Honestly, I was preparing myself for a sad ending but I'm glad it ended the way it did. These were all good people who deserved a break. Okay, maybe it wasn't completely realistic but I don't care! The ending made me happy.
Putting Every Last One on my TBR. If Quindlen appreciates ATGIB this much, I'm sure her writing has something to offer me.
DeleteI do think ATGIB was the perfect choice for a book club and fear that any follow-up will be a pale imitation. We'll see what the people demand!
I remember the scene where Francie walks by the house that they use the address for her school and she'd hang up the trash bag on the fence. The couple who lived there thought she was a weird kid and I remember that scene so vividly because it was one of the first times I thought about how OTHER people might perceive a story differently. I think now I'm going to think about the scene when Francie was attacked and the cascading comedic actions by Johnny and Katie. Such a traumatic and horrifying scene, yet I was chuckling at the paramedic.
Drat. No Anna Quindlen foreword, and it's not available online. I'll have to stalk the library version(s) to see if they have it...
DeleteI really enjoyed this experience, though I forged ahead when I couldn't help myself, and sometimes didn't comment due to blogger not liking my iPad. My version also has the Anna Quindlen forward, which I really enjoyed. I have read her book, Every Last One, which I really liked, and I'm pretty sure I've read a few others as well.
ReplyDeleteI would totally be up for another book club, whenever, though we know my participation rate is questionable. I remember Black Beauty being a rough read, emotionally. So much abuse. And I adore The Secret Garden, but it is certainly problematic. Sometimes those things are interesting to discuss in our modern times.
Thank you again for hosting, this was a lot of fun and a great idea!
I think a lot of people read ahead, which makes me think that maybe 50 pages a week was too few pages! I honestly just don't know what the reading pace is like for the average reader and I didn't want anyone to feel left out because we were going too fast! I think I would probably do it in six weeks instead of ten if I could do it again!
DeleteI do think some of the problematic aspects of Burnett's writing are fascinating to think about. Hm...
I'd definitely move through things a bit more quickly. I liked having multiple weeks (instead of a "typical" bookclub with just one meeting), but think that 4-6 weeks sounds PERFECT!
DeleteI feel like the trio of YA books in my life was A Secret Garden, ATGIB, and Black Beauty for a long time. Then eventually Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. Hm. I'll have to think on that and maybe set up a poll sometimes after we've all digested this experience.
ReplyDeleteI know I read the Secret Garden when I was a kid; as I recall I found it very depressing?!
ReplyDeleteI re-read the entire AOGG series a few years ago. Some books are very much a miss but the first three are wonderful. I think I've read Black Beauty twice, but it has definitely been decades.
My favourite as a kid was Swiss Family Robinson, the Boxcar Children and The Trolley Car Family (very obscure Scholastic book, but I hope to own my copy FOREVER).
Anna Quindlen - I'd never heard of her before seeing her name on the forward.
Thanks so much for organising and hosting. As I wrote at the start, I had never heard of this book before (wrong hemisphere) but I really enjoyed it. I just love getting a window into another time and place and this provided that and more. This was good read prior to us heading off to NYC. I actually found the 'voice' of Francie to be unique and refreshing, so not trite at all. She had such an interesting perspective on life.
ReplyDeleteIs the tree Francie? Continuing to be grow into itself despite the hostile environment.
I think my take home will be that your perspective on things can make a big difference in what happens next.
I read the kindle version on the ipad app and would have preferred a paper version. I always try to read paper books if I can get a copy. I liked the slow reading. It was manageable even if I had a lot of other things on. I didn't comment every week because blogger doesn't let me log in to comment on my ipad. Even when I didn't comment it still enriched my experience reading through other people's thoughts. I'd be keen to read through another book.
You should do a ATGIB tour and report back! I'd love to know what that looks like in modern Brooklyn. I think that the setting is so crucial to this book. It just wouldn't be the same if it were A Tree Grows in Anonymous Suburb!
DeleteThank you so much for hosting this! I'm not the avid reader as I once was (I blame the internet) so I had to remind myself, or MAKE myself stop other things to read so I wouldn't be behind. See, peer pressure DOES work!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the book and will keep a lot of the scenes in my brain for a long time.
Movies are always disappointing when it comes to the books, right? How could they take out the murder scene?? This was huge!
In my mind, the Tree is Francie, Francie IS the Tree; she could grow and flourish in the crappiest of circumstances.
Since retiring from teaching English, this was my first real opportunity to talk about literature in depth with others, and I really looked forward to it each week.
ReplyDeleteI think the power of this book lies in how we grow along with Francie. She starts out so awestruck and unconditionally happy in the face of poverty, accepting her life as normal and fine, even wonderful at times. She loves nearly everything about Brooklyn and her family. She sees very little coarseness or wrongness in any of it. But little by little, she begins to understand more as she gets older and is exposed to more outside of her family. She becomes more worldly: she learns Life isn't fair, and she learns more of how things must work if she is to get ahead. The great thing about Francie is that she suffers so many disappointments, and she truly does suffer, but she finds her way out and prevails. She's not leaning on a man to rescue her, and she doesn't luck into anything, but she manages and uses her brains to save herself. And when she feels bitter, she goes ahead and acknowledges it but moves ahead with purpose and grace.
I was quite young when I first read this book--probably way too young--and I've read it several times since. This time, reading it more slowly and in chunks, critically, was much different. I watched for more literary devices and appreciated it differently. Each time I reread a book, I get something new from it, however; I found that to be true even when I taught books over and over and over again. I always read them with my students, chapter by chapter. I read this one in hardback, which is how I prefer to read books, if I can. I like the physical heaviness of books.
Francie is the Tree of the title, I think. After all, Johnny died, Neeley was given more advantages/favour by his mother, and Katie (although she worked so hard and sacrificed so much) was rescued by McShane. Francie was the one who thrived all on her own despite setbacks and tragedies. She is the one who comes full circle, as evidenced by the last chapter where she is now the one being watched by a little girl much like she was in the first chapter.
As far as another book club, I'm in, but it would depend on the book. I have no interest in The Secret Garden or Black Beauty. I'm laughing about the Anti- Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights votes. Those choices would guarantee that I'd be in. I was a BritLit major with a Victorian novels specialty. LOL
I really enjoyed your contributions, Nance. It was delightful to have an actual professional around here to guide us through.
DeleteI definitely will NOT be leading a Victorian novel book club. LOL. Those books just don't appeal to me. Oh, well, I'll keep an eye and ear out for other beloved novels on the interwebs. It just seems like ATGIB fills a niche that it is relatively well-written and almost universally beloved. I might not be able to come up with another title that hits that same sweet spot.
Thank you for your kind remark, NG.
DeleteThe Victorians are definitely not for everyone, that's for sure. There are some V novels that are even too bleak for me (Tess of the d'Ubervilles, I'm looking at you!).
ATGIB questions:
ReplyDelete1) I don't think the writing is that lazy, honestly. Granted, I am not as in-depth as you are in my analyses of books but... this seemed pretty tightly written to me. Lots of description, yes, but to me that makes the book. Definitely NOT trite. And I think part of the reason it has lasted is that everyone can see part of themselves in Francie. I think we all identify with her in some way - either her grit, or the things she went through as a child, or her independence, or... really, pick your Francie Factor and go with it. ;)
2) I think the tree represents the whole family but ALSO Brooklyn as a whole. That is part of what makes the book what it is. Each character, in their own way, is the tree growing, and regenerating, out of the stones. Think of the ways in which the characters all evolved throughout the book - even Johnny, and Uncle Willie. Maybe not the way we would want them to evolve, but they all grew and changed. That's the tree.
3) The idea that we can all overcome. We can change. We can evolve. We can be the tree - cut back to its roots but still growing, and persisting. (Side note: The Maui banyan tree has new growth! I just saw it in the news! :))
4) Coming of age fiction?
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Cool Bloggers Book Club questions:
1) I read the paperback - my well-loved version - and since it started falling apart during this summer's reading I think that highlighted just how much I love, and have loved, this book. <3
2) TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I didn't skim. I dug in. I thought about it. I went back and reread passages. And I dog eared so many pages. (I need a better print book method for marking pages...Now I have to go back and un-dog-ear the pages...)
3) This was my first book club and I LOVED IT. We all see things differently. Things I never, ever would have thought of were discussed. People were engaged. I loved every minute of it.
4) I think we definitely should do another one, but man, it's going to be hard to hit the sweet spot like this with another book. I would prefer non-Victorian lit, thanks. (Sorry, Nance.) Some other tween/young adult book? I would have gone with the Secret Garden but had no idea that there was antipathy towards it! Hm. I'll have to keep pondering, and tracking the conversation...
I think there were a handful of times when Smith's writing tics came through - the constant green hats, a description that was reused twice in just a few pages, etc. - but I wouldn't call it lazy most of the time, either. I wonder how many of the criticisms of this book come from just plain sexism - Francie has a female protagonist that a lot of male critics just can't get behind.
DeleteI would definitely love to host another book club, but you're right that we may never be able to capture the magic of ATGIB again. Oh, well, I'll think on it and ask my librarian friends and see what I can come up with!
I fell off the wagon when we went camping, and I'm a little sad, but still looking forward to finishing my reread and reading over the discussions at leisure. Rereading has only cemented my opinion of what a wonderful book it is.
ReplyDeleteYou can still go to the discussions from the weeks you fell behind to see what everyone had to say!
DeleteI remember the first part of The Secret Garden as very sad, but then she meets Colin and it's all good? Is that not accurate? I haven't read it since I was a teenager!
ReplyDeleteI feel as if people use sentimental as a pejorative, but it's really not! To love one's family deeply, even with their faults, even when you feel like they don't love you as much as you want them too, to be able to feel and see things clearly even when struggling - there is something really strong about the way Francie does that. You might feel bad for her, but you never *pity* her.
ReplyDeleteI think for me, much of the appeal is the minute details of what life was like for an ordinary girl in the 19-teens. It reminds me of that Virginia Woolf saying about (paraphrasing badly) how books set in drawing rooms are not seen as important as books set on the battlefield.
I started reading this book on ebook, then switched to paper. I think I find paper easier to read deeply. My copy is full of post it notes and folded over pages. Even though I made some highlights in the ebook, I find I can't go back and savor those excerpts as much; they seem disconnected. Whereas when I go back in my hard copy book to pull quotes, I find myself re-reading several pages again.
I looooved reading this book as a community! I was reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time. To hear everyone's perspective and all the different ways people interpret and understand and relate to the characters and events in the book - definitely made think about what I was reading. I've never been in a book club, so this was quite lovely. THANK YOU, Engie!!!
I would definitely do another book club. There were some weeks when 50 pages seemed like a lot and there were some weeks when I read two weeks' worth in one week. I feel like for me, it really depends on what else is going on that week. What about Judy Blume? (I'm trying to think of books I haven't read, but everyone says I should read, and the only Blume I've read is Superfudge.) Other books I've never read: I Capture The Castle? Animal Farm? Emily of New Moon? 1984? Jayber Crow? For the record, I *love* Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden
So I listened to the Cast recording of the musical version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - SOOOOOOO different from the book. The first act is all about Katie and Johnny and how they meet, and get married, and also about Sissy (who is called Cissy for some reason), and her attempts to get a baby. Then the second act is where Francie appears and details Johnny's decline and the musical ends with Francie graduating from school. It's only very barely like the book - no librarians or teachers or Laurie or Katie shooting anyone, or McShane. None of the good bits! And there's a plotline with Johnny winning a piano in a raffle at work, but not being allowed to win because he's an employee.... Smith apparently had a hand in creating the musical, so I guess it must all be okay.
You can read the plot synopsis on wikipedia - its pretty wild: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tree_Grows_in_Brooklyn_(musical)
Anyhow, the music is nice enough - mostly songs about getting a man, or keeping a man, or being in love.
The musical version sounds so interesting. How did you get the cast recording? Is it easily accessible? The piano plotline sounds confusing!
DeleteI Capture the Castle is a good idea! I'm adding to my brain to think about it. Did most people read that as a younger person. I read it in 2016 for the first time (people told me that it was a good follow-up to ATGIB, but I found the main character to be a tiny bit insufferable), but maybe people have rose-tinted glasses on it from reading when they were young. That could make for an interesting discussion point!
I found the recording at work , but I think you can find around - I feel like it's on YouTube. Or maybe from your library?
DeleteOh, you're right! The whole thing is on YouTube. I'll have to listen to it sometime!!
DeleteThank you so much for bringing us all together to read this fantastic book, Engie. And what a spectacular group of book clubbers -- I have enjoyed this book club more than any other book club I've been part of. People are so thoughtful and insightful and I have loved reading everyone's different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have sort of been taking a blog break lately, I did finish the book and will definitely go back to read the discussion I missed. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. Francie is such a vivid character, someone you can really root for. I love having a protagonist who is fully good (not tragically flawed like so many protagonists seem to be these days -- although I do also like that trope), who has gentle interests like reading and writing, whose days are marked by hard work and astute observations of the world, who exemplifies the ideas of grit and perseverance. Even though some wild and awful things happened (that boat trip will haunt me forever), I loved how most of this book was about the day-to-day minutiae of life and how meaningful and beautiful those small things can be. I don't know that I loved the writing, but the world-building and the character development were excellent and I really enjoyed reading this book again. (Especially because it turns out I remembered almost nothing from my first read of the book.)
Cool Bloggers Book Club questions:
1) I am finding it very hard to read real, physical books these days, so it was a bit of a struggle to finish the last few chapters. But that's just circumstance. I otherwise liked having a hard copy, and am pleased to now own this novel.
2) Last time I read this book, it was via audiobook in the car with my husband. I enjoyed it, but I think it mainly flowed over me rather than getting inside me. Reading it in hard copy, and doing it slowly, and thinking about each grouping of chapters really helped me take the whole thing in. I enjoyed that. I'm usually gulping down books as fast as I can, so it was nice to take my time. And -- while I do not particularly MISS college/grad school -- it was kind of nice to approach literature in a critical way, which I haven't really done in decades.
3) LOVED EVERY MINUTE. So much fun to read others' thoughts and to see what stood out to different people! Fantastic group of readers!
4) I would be on board with joining another Bloggy Book Club! I don't think I have any preference for what we read, although I am loving reading others' strenuous objections! So many of the books people have mentioned are books I've never read (or don't remember reading, like Black Beauty and The Secret Garden). Little Women jumped out at me as a book I'd love to reread (and probably discover how little of it I remember!) but it would also be fun to read something brand new (to me; I'm not necessarily advocating for a contemporary work).
(Some other thoughts: A Wrinkle in Time, To Kill a Mockingbird, anything by Toni Morrison, Harriet the Spy, The Yearling, something by Anna Quindlen)
Thanks again for leading the charge, Engie, and for coming up with thought-provoking questions every week and keeping us on track, and for making the word "hat" pop out at me every time I encounter it!
I am FASCINATED by what images people will remember. The boat trip had very little impact on me beyond confusion about why that little girl character was introduced only to never been heard or seen from again! But I absolutely can see why it would stand out to other people!
DeleteI am so glad that people seemed to enjoy this book club! I was so nervous to start it because it seemed somehow...bossy? to demand everyone read a book on a schedule I created and yet everyone did it and it was so much fun and everyone is so smart and I think it may very well end up being the highlight of my year.
The last time I tried to reread Little Women, I was astonished at the moralizing and didn't get through very far. Maybe if I redid it in the context of a book club, it would be better! Oh, wouldn't it be fun to do something by Anna Quindlen, though, since she wrote this foreword? What an interesting suggestion!
Oh no, please not the Yearling. I think I threw up the last time I read that. Of course, I was a kid. And maybe I'm thinking of Jodie, not of me. Ugh. Too hard!
DeleteNo Yearling for me, either. I was so traumatized by that book!
DeleteOh! I just found this article in the New Yorker "Why Mark Zuckerberg should read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" It's kind of a deep dive into the whole spy in the clipping office incident.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-mark-zuckerberg-should-read-a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn
What a great find! I found that scene so confusing (and still kind of do), but it's interesting to think about what the spies were getting from those articles about the Panama Canal!
DeleteAlso team no Bronte/Austen. Ha. I did like Jane Eyre but haven't felt compelled to re-read it or any of her other works. I have never read an Austen book that I liked!
ReplyDelete1) I did not find the book overly sentimental or trite. She wrote about the experience of people living in that era but in an accessible way. She did not shy away from the hard things. And for me, it's reminder of that long history of intolerance for others (I'm thinking of that Christmas Eve or NYE scene where they shouted terrible things out the window).
2) I think it was probably representative of the people of this time, but especially the Nolans. They experienced so much hardship but still they persevered.
3) The take home for me is the resiliency of humans.
4) I would consider it historical fiction now but it wasn't historical fiction when it was written but I don't know how to classifying it. It doesn't feel right to call it YA since it has such mature topics!
1) I read the paperback version of the book which I had in our house. I don't read many physical books so it was enjoyable to have a tactile reading experience for a change!
2) I don't remember much from when I last read the book but I remember loving it so much that I kept a copy (I own very few books). I think reading it more slowly made it more enjoyable!
3) I gained a lot of insight from others! I am a math major so analyzing a text is not something I've done a lot of!
No worries, Lisa. It will not be a Victorian novel from me, I promise!
DeleteMy husband and I debated genre for a good long while. He thinks it's just a coming of age story and that may be true, but it feels like it's so much more than that!
I also don't own a lot of paper books these days, so it was exciting to read a brand new copy just for me. It feel like such a special treat!
I'm glad you enjoyed reading through the book with such a critical lens. It just goes to show that a good book club can appeal to a lot of different types of thinkers.
I'm so sad our book club is over! Thank you so much for hosting and bringing us such thoughtful questions every week. I hope we can do it again. I actually really liked this slow pace because it meant I could read other books while reading ATGIB. But I can see how the pace was too slow for other people. I don't really have any other suggestions, but I don't know if I could handle people being critical of Anne of Green Gables, lol, so probably not that book.
ReplyDeleteI really loved reading along with everyone and seeing what stuck out to people! I was always thinking about what questions you'd be asking, Engie, when I was reading!
I'm so sad, too! What will I do next Monday? Probably mope around. I thought this pace was a tiny bit too slow and if I did it again, I might move slightly faster, but still at a slower pace than I would normally read. I guess it will all depend on the book.
DeleteOh, I should have made all of you ask questions! Maybe I'll have to reconsider the format the next time around!
I am coming here to the last blog post to confess that I fell off the bandwagon and haven't been able to keep up with the reading schedule. My loan expired, there was a waiting time to re-borrow it and then life got in the way... but I am still planning to finish it. Thanks so much for hosting this bookclub, Engie. What a fantastic idea that was!
ReplyDeleteI hope you do end up finishing the book, San, and report back to us what you thought of it!
DeleteI will finish it (and this is a re-read, so I know that I loved the book the first time around)... thanks again for hosting. <3
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