A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty SmithMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
When asked "what it's about", Anna Quindlen writes in the forward to the 75th anniversary edition, "The best anyone can say is that it is a story about what it means to be human." I've given many a five-star rating to books over the recent years - often figuring they had to be a five-star book for me to hang in there and finish them - but this one rises far, far above most of those other five-stars. I had heard of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" for many years, and fortunate enough to have received it as a gift this past holiday season, I dove in and had a hard time stopping, through its nearly 500 pages. Through laughs, tears, and more than a few pauses to look up words or cultural references from 100 years ago, I have never enjoyed a book more than this one. It is hardly a surprise that it found a place on the recent "PBS Great American Read Top 100" list.
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