Wow, this is a month late! Oopsies!

I’m running super behind on my blog posts because of a number of reasons! I spent most of March going back and forth between taking care of a sick boyfriend, being sick, and repeating that cycle for many weeks. We also had several events at my job that occupied my time and mind! In April, I went on a journey to Costa Rica (extremely magical and will circle back to this later), and turned my brain off regarding everything except my getaway with Hayden. When we got back from Costa Rica, we had more events at my job and even more events at my second job! Plus, we were trying to land a major client at my third job! Things just got so crazy and I very much appreciate your patience in this little experimental book club, I really am enjoying it so much.

With that being said, I wanted to throw in my review for the March book, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. Two other people read it with me, so thank you so very much! Only one person submitted a review, which I’ll include below! In the future, reviews will be required to receive your swag bag!

“I found it to basically be a memoir of her life. Not terribly exciting but poignant at times. It did keep my interest but was by no means riveting. I’m satisfied in reading it as it could be considered a classic-ish book.”

— Tanja

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Thank you to my mommy for reading and reviewing! (: ❤

Here is my review:

Unfortunately, I did DNF (did not finish) this book. I thought the concept of a classic that’s also a fictionalized autobiography would be super interesting coming from a Jewish woman growing up in the early 1900s. I knew it was unlike any other book I’ve read, but I wanted to give it a try.

While I admire Francie’s journey as a young woman growing up in an early, developing New York, the overall slow-moving plot and reliance on anecdotes are not a style of writing that can keep my interest. By reliance on anecdotes, I mean I felt that the novel was just a series of short stories about days in the life of a growing Francie, and while some of them felt relevant to the plot, some of them seemed too irrelevant, thus dragging on for too long.

However, I also realize that there’s a certain style of writing that comes with any classic novel, that I usually do really appreciate. For example, some of my favorite novels of all time are WUTHERING HEIGHTS, LITTLE WOMEN, and GREAT EXPECTATIONS, which some would argue are hard to get through. I even read THE BELL JAR last year and though I struggled a little with the same anecdotal storytelling type of writing, I felt that the pacing of THE BELL JAR was nice. I know it’s unfair to compare Smith’s novel to other female-written classics, but I was truly trying my best to analyze what went wrong for me here, so my mind naturally goes to comparisons.

I think the overall pacing issues mixed with the drawn-out anecdotes made for a lost plot, with generally uninteresting characters. I really thought we were going somewhere regarding Francie’s relationship with her dad, but I felt like even that plot-point was too open-ended. Granted, I did not finish the book, so I’m unsure if that plot point ever comes full circle. I might be willing to pick this back up in the future, but I don’t think it will be any time soon, unfortunately.

I realized a few things during this read, though. One, if you’re starting a book club, don’t start with an intimidating, historical classic from the 1940s; and two, in the future, I will not DNF a book club book! I will push through even if I’m not enjoying it.

I have to rate one star, as I did not finish the novel.

Rating: 1 out of 5.