Recent Journal Entries

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn -- Summer Reading Series Part 3

 

All summer I'll be writing about some of my favorite books as my tribute to the Great Summer Read

 

Here's the scene: I'm about to be transported from my house to an isolated room for a period of no less than 1 year. I can bring five books with me. Now, even though I easily own more than a thousand books, the choice for me is pretty simple: one of them will be my Bible, and one of the others would be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

It's not a new book, by any means. It's probably best known as a gag from a Bugs Bunny cartoon (it's in the window of a bookstore and a bunch of dogs are piling over each other to get at it--ha, ha). I admit, it was seeing it as the butt of this kind of joke that made me really want to read the story. So, one day when I was in High School, I did...and have been absolutely hooked ever since. It's one of the few books I read over and over--usually every other summer. Last summer I got an audio version and listened to it on a solitary drive from San Antonio, Texas to Riverton, Wyoming.

It's the story of a girl, Frances Nolan, growing up in excruciating poverty at the turn of the 20th century in New York City. She has a rough life, she and her little brother Neely, but the author Betty Smith does a masterful job of creating this narrator keenly aware of how dire her circumstances are, and she accepts them with a wisdom beyong her years. Francie is the voice of the unwashed, uneducated, and would-be hopeless poor--but she somehow finds hope in the midst of it. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is not a Chrisitian novel--Francie doesn't find that hope in God. She finds it in education. In knowledge. In knowing that if she learns to read and write beyond the pittance that her public education system is willing to give her, she'll rise above her poverty status. She finds hope in a little suburban school house. She's willing to live a lie to go there. She goes against the pragmatic advice of her bitter mother and maintains fierce loyalty to her idealistic, yet hopelessly (and fatally) alcoholic father.

This is a book frought with so much pain, but growing up out of it is this tiny little sprout of hope--like the single tree allowed to grow in the middle of the tenement where Francie lives--that comes out of every page. 

If you are able to read, read this book. It will tell you, in the unfolding life of this amazing girl, why you ever bother reading anything in the first place.

July 8, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments

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Summerland--Summer Reading Series Part 2

 

All summer I'll be writing about some of my favorite books as a tribute to the Great Summer Read.

 

Now, for those of you who stick around to read this entire article, thank you. For those who are going to be completely outraged, disgusted, disillusioned or compelled to offer spiritual guidance, relax. I am first and foremost a Christian woman. But this next salute to the Great Summer Read doesn't really fit any of the usual criteria associated with being a good Christian woman. So indulge me, let's open our minds, and let me tell you about Summerland by Michael Chabon.

I love, love, love, love this book. OK. That part's done. Summerland is classified as a YA novel, and indeed I "read" it as an audio book that kept our entire family enraptured during a cross-several-states drive to Atlanta, Georgia last year. Mikey had read it a couple of years ago, and we figured it would be a good choice for the boys, and I could just tune it out if I wanted to.

But I couldn't.

Summerland is like Chronicles of Narnia, only here the alternate universe is ruled by and answers to one thing: Baseball. It tells the story of a very unlikely hero chosen to restore order in an other-dimensional world where he meets, battles and defends creatures of all shapes and sizes. Doesn't sound so far like the first choice reading of a good, Christian woman, does it? Well, it is, and for a few good reasons:

1. The writing. Oh, my goodness...the writing. Nothing twirks my hide worse than poorly written books marketed to our kids. Summerland is sophisticated and smooth. And...just beautiful. The prose is like a freshly-mowed infield on the first day of play. Vivid imagery, perfect dialogue, and the obvious love the author has for his story and characters just spills through his words.

2. The tale. Yes, it's a perfect hero's journey. Heroic tasks, obstacles, victories--all of them lived through the prism of faith, family and friendship. The relationship between Ethan and his father is one of the most heart-wrenchingly organic ones I have ever read. I love the way the father loves his son, and vice versa. The story line between the two is a testament to sacrificial love.

3. The spiritual message. Unlike Lewis' Narnia, I kind of doubt that Chabon intended Summerland to be a spritual allegory. (You know, I need to email him and ask...I'll let y'all know...). But--not to give too much of the plot away--there is a definate spiritual truth to the core of the story. The world that Ethan has been called to save is in a state of dangerous ruin because of one entirely satanic character--Coyote, a master of deception and trickery--who, years before, ushered the downfall of his realm by introducing two previously unknown elements: the designated hitter, and the concept of choice. Now, not even the most modern Bible translation is going to offer discourse on the evils of the designated hitter, but choice? Go to Genesis, to the garden, to the serpent. He plants the idea in Eve's head that she can choose whether or not to obey God, and you know the rest of the story...

 

So, if you have readers in your house between 12 and, let's say, still living, you might enjoy a trip through Ragged Rock with Michael Chabon's Summerland. And if you've read it already, or if this inspires you to, I'd love to hear from you!

 

Check back in a couple of weeks for my take on the one book that I think should be required reading for anybody who...well...can read! A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Happy Reading!

 

June 20, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments

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