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Book Review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
reviewed on
Helpful Score: 1


I read this book in 5th grade, and then again at age 45. I always knew that this book helped form who I became, but it wasn't until the second reading at age 45 that I realized how much it formed who I am, how I perceive things, and how many passages still reverberate through my life regularly.

The views, lessons, and depiction of realities & mentalities (in particular for anyone that has every experienced grinding poverty and how the world works from that perspective) are as true today as they were at the turn of the last century; in fact, frightenly still accurate.

I passed this book on to my best friend's (since we were 10) 11 year old daughter as required reading. I chose this version without the foreword from Anna Quinlan because I wanted her daughter to form her own perceptions from what she read, and not be predisposed to anyone else's take-aways from the book.

To me, this is one of the most important works I've ever read.