by Betty Smith
ages: adult
First sentence: “Serene was a word you can put to Brooklyn, New York.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
I’ve heard about this book for years, mostly from people who absolutely love it. So, while I knew next to nothing about this going in, I did know it was beloved by many, many people whose opinions I respect.
Happily, it lived up to my expectations. As the Anna Quindlen pointed out in the forward, this book is both about nothing and about everything. It’s so hard to summarize: how do you take a childhood and distill it down into a few pithy sentences? It’s semi-autobiographical, Betty Smith’s childhood was probably not unlike that of her main character, Francie Nolan. It’s a childhood in Brooklyn, New York; but it’s not a glorified childhood: Smith holds nothing back. There’s poverty, discrimination, abuse, drunkenness, attempted rape, murder, death. It’s life, in all its griminess, for all to see. And yet, for all that, it’s not depressing.
In fact, while I hesitate to call it lyrical, it is thoughtful and very evocative, of both a life and a place and a time. There were parts to make me laugh, parts to make me think, and while I think it kind of petered out at the end, it petered out in a hopeful note (I was actually very happy there wasn’t an epilogue; that would have killed the book entirely). I found it to be a very touching portrait of a life, and now I understand what everyone is talking about.
The Book Nut 
I read this a couple of years ago and thought it was one of the best books I'd ever read. Glad you enjoyed it.
LikeLike
I love this book a lot. I first read it when I was a young teenager and one of the things that struck me at the time was how Francie came to see her mother as a fellow human being, because I had recently come to that same epiphany myself.
The other thing I love, of course, is that this book “works” whether you are reading it for the first time at 13 or 38.
LikeLike
I'm with mouseprints – one of the things I love about it is that I find different meaning in it every time I read it. I loved it for different reasons as a teen than I loved it as an adult – but still, I just loved it. So glad you did too 🙂
LikeLike
I read this years ago now! One of these days I need to reread it…
LikeLike
If I picked favorites, this book would be my favorite childhood book. I loved reading about Francie's life because it was so different from mine. Can you imagine reading books on the fire escape in the shade of a solitary tree? or selling things to the ragman every Saturday? or saving pennies in a can nailed to the closet floor?
LikeLike
Embarrassed to admit, I still have not read this.
LikeLike
#1 book for me. My in-person book group is reading it right now, and I'm afraid of attending in case even ONE person doesn't love it. Every time I read it it's about something different. I think it's perfect.
LikeLike
I know how you feel, Cami; I purposely didn't choose Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day when I last hosted my in-person group, because I couldn't handle it if everyone didn't LOVE it. 🙂 We all have books like that.
LikeLike