A tree grows in Brooklyn

Name: A tree grows in Brooklyn
ISBN: 9780061650499

by Betty Smith · first published 1943

6mentions

4recommended by

6HN commenters

2008–2024first – last mentioned

67% recommend33% neutral

Fiction & Literature

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and

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View on Open Library ISBN 9780061650499

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What Hacker News says

tokenadult · Sep 24, 2010 · Recommends

…the Harry Potter series, and other books much in that genre category. They also read "classic" literature as they get older, for example Oliver Twist or Tom Sawyer. Two of my sons have really liked A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (which I have never read) and I really liked The Chosen by Chaim Potok (which I reread a few years ago, and still thought was very good).
on “What are great books for boys?” ↗
garnerwoods · Dec 17, 2008 · Recommends

…winner "Herzog," by Saul Bellow "Love in a Fallen City," by Eileen Chang "The Lay of the Land," by Richard Ford Oprah Winfrey's Favorite: White Oleander by Janet Fitch The Color Purple by Alice Walker A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck For complete list visit http://www.famouspal.com
on “What books would you recommend reading? Why?” ↗
cheyp · Dec 9, 2023 · Recommends

Fiction: 1) Betty Smith "A tree grows in Brooklyn". Maybe a bit too sentimental, but still very pleasant to read. Apparently this book was a WWII classic, but I never heard about it before. 2) Kazuo Ishiguro "An artist of the floating world". Maybe,…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗
Arete31415 · May 28, 2018 · Recommends

Not the only one for sure, but A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The plain-spoken honesty in that book contains multitudes.
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?” ↗
_6khi · Dec 4, 2024 · Mentions

Literacy is essential to living in society without getting scammed or taken advantage of. There's a scene in Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" that illustrates practical necessity of reading comprehension for the average person, where a grandmother tells a mother to save enough money over time and make sure the granddaughter can read. An excerpt…
on “Nearly half of teenagers globally cannot read with comprehension” ↗
bookofjoe · Jun 13, 2024 · Mentions

…"Catch 22"; "The Catcher in the Rye"; "A Clockwork Orange"; "Dr. Strangelove"; "To Kill A Mockingbird"; "The Little Prince"; "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"; "Lord of the Flies"; "Charlotte's Web"; "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"; "All Quiet on the Western Front"; "The World According to Garp"; "Invisible Man"; "Flowers for Algernon"; "Sophie's Choice"; "The Road"; "All the Light We Cannot See"; "The Goldfinch"; "Atonement";…
on “Ted Chiang has won the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's short story prize” ↗