2025 Reading Challenge discussion

For discussion of chapters 43 - 56 of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I just finished the book last night. It was bittersweet for it to end. I fell in love with the characters. Each one of them was so special. The ending was so sweet. I almost wish there was a sequel to see where Francie and the family are in the future. I enjoyed reading this book and I am so glad it was this months book. I wouldn't have read it otherwise.

I didn't want it to end either.

I thought the ending was a little too nice and wrapped up (I like my books a little messier), but I also thought that it suit the rest of the book nicely and that I kind of needed it to end that way.

I just finished it last night and I also thought what it would be like if there was a second part to this book but I really loved the romantic and hopeful ending. I also thought maybe it was too clean an ending but I remembered how Francie started disliking the plays because of that "nick of time" aspect they always had. I feel like the nick of time character here was Mr. McShane and he didn't appear until 2 years after Johnny's death. Because of this I think it was a well-deserved happy ending for the Nolans, one that had come with plenty of hard work.

McShane was actually hovering in the background all through the book -- remember him at the Mattie Mahoney outing? And Katie is always attracted to him --if not sexually -- even when Johnny is still alive.
Re the ending, Betty Smith originally ended it with Johnny's death and Francie and Neeley solemnly declaring "to hell with God. ". The publishers wanted something less depressing and she went off and wrote the whole post-Johnny section. While the original ending might have been more. "real" I suspect that the longer upbeat ending is a big reason the book has always been so popular.

I read this book a couple years ago. I thought the book was school propaganda. School was not compulsory at this time. They wanted people to believe in the magic that school could provide an escape from poverty. Did it? For some. But you could be illiterate and also become a millionaire as well. (See The Millionaire Mind).

As we have testimony today you can go through college and be worst off. It is like a casino there are winners and losers. But at this time they need to CON- Vince parents to send their children to school. See Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling to help you see through the manipulation and heal from schooling.

Mia, that's interesting. I didn't love the book because it was a bit unrealistic. Given the time, it makes sense that they would've wanted it to end on a more cheerful note.

I don't know about the school propoganda thing. School wasn't always presented in a flattering light here. Frannie's first school was dismal and the 2nd had the awful English teacher who only wanted her to write happy stories.

If there was any propoganda going on here it was that literacy and reading really add to your life, but it seems like a book is not the most effective place for that message, know what I mean?

Mia, that's interesting about the original ending. It is a fair bet to say it wouldn't be the classic it is today if that were the ending.

I just finished and I loved the characters including Brooklyn, which was described so well that it was like another character. I don't see how the book could have been school propaganda. The first school she went to was awful and her English teacher in the second school treated her unfairly. The grandmother certainly thought that education was the key to success but a lot of Francie's education was self-taught.
I did not see the marriage to McShane as anything but inevitable. It seemed that the book was leading us to that end since the election picnic.

I was disappointed in the later part of this book. After Johnny died, I felt that the book got a bit repetitive and formulaic - less poignant scenes, more summary just to get to the end. I was glad it seemed like she wasn't going to hurry and marry, though I found her falling in love with the engaged guy completely infuriating.

I agree that this wasn't school propaganda, given the poor experiences that Francie had at school. And look how successful she was at age 14, making more than 40-year-olds were without any high school. All college seemed to get her was a boyfriend. Public education was great for me, especially from a social aspect, allowing me to open my mind by experiencing other personalities and ways of life. Of course, the system is very broken, but that doesn't mean it's not worth fixing.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and understand why it's a classic.

Did the book give any examples for Francie to pull herself out of her social status except through school?

What things did Francis teach herself?

In what way did Francis' social skill primarily come from school?

How much time do we actually see her in school? We know she goes but like most stories with school in them I don't think they spend a lot of time discussing her life there.

Sorry but I think school was a waste of my time. Taught me to trust authority and not my own intuition. It made me doubt that I could make decisions for my life that were valuable to my future plans. It took years to get over this indoctrination and exploitation.

Just finished this book and it I thought it was a wonderful read! Francie was such a wonderful character, it amazes me how much she went through in just her first 17 years of life!