A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Betty Smith – certainly no pretension there, in her name. 

Why does a book like this, or any book, achieve “classic” status – read and recommended by millions – timelessly, decade after decade. 

There’s no, for all books, one single answer.  Every classic will have its own genesis.  For the Brooklyn book, I am a proponent of the following reasons. 

There is the classic memoir style of personal exploits, romances, tragedies, and successes.  This starts with Odysseus by Homer millennia ago and continues to this day as the most popular form of relating stories.  With the semi-lyrical form of crafting her stories as though told around the kitchen table, Betty Smith captures the metrical, the choral, and the familial moral essence of all story-telling.

This memoir style works best in modern {written} times, when the primary subject is the major upheaval of the majority segment of society.  Classical subjects have been: class change: serf to urban worker; urban to intellectual worker {yet to come}; political upheaval – governing ideas; wars; technology; and the inclusion of women, racial differences, and sexual preferences {in process}.  A sub-stylistic aspect is the incorporation of local argot, which she does very well – no bias.  The writing is at a generic, common-man level:   gender,  race,  religion --- all are included at the table.

Well, these criteria still allow for tens of thousands of texts.  How do I keep filtering?  It is very hard, but oh, so important, to be able to age with your protagonist as a story begins to span years.  Betty Smith has used the writing devices available to her.  The pre-teen girl recounts her adventures in perfect memoir style: recounting all the well-researched specifics that will please her middle-aged audience.  Her romantic “PaPa” is her icon of this period.

Betty’s writing about her teen years tended to drift into the play scripting of O’Neill and Wilder, with revelations sort of like Dreiser’s.  Her stories became more dramatic and less factual.  Practical “MaMa” became her icon for these years.  There is no dis-associating the author from her personal history.  This is still memoir.

And finally, when she writes, for her older audience, about America going off to WW-I, the ethos is far more about WW-II.  She’s grown up as an author and really can’t capture those thoughts of 25 years before.  But why should she? 

Do all women have the Lee vs Ben conflict?  Francie has moved on, well beyond “on” by the end of this book.  I have been reminded, from this reading, that all women have this Lee-Ben quandary.  I get no vote: I’m neither Ben nor Lee.

But this is another thing about being a great classic, the story must pose questions, and Betty’s does,  dangled throughout, that are never answered:  Ben or Lee; Michigan or Brooklyn; marriage or not; children or not; writing or working; career or children.

"Her" a Film with Joaquin Phoenix

An unusual set of random circumstances: completely drained me of energy on Saturday; then was re-energized by the SF 49ers on Sunday morning’s win, and then with an early game end, I took an early nap, leaving me with an unfilled 7-9pm timeslot, which was when “Her” was playing at the Airport Stadium 12.

What a fascinating movie.  I was interested in what was going to be happening soon in the computer relationships world.  Joaquin Phoenix is the main character, and he is almost Chaplinesque in playing the meek, downtrodden soul that finds no successes in his life, especially with women.  Amy Adams is his ex-wife [a successful author], Rooney Mara is his best friend [a computer games authoress], Olivia Wilde is a hot-babe his friends try to set him up with, and Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha, his computer friend.

This is not a Sci-Fi theme, no more so than “You’ve Got Mail” with Meg Ryan was 15 years ago.  It’s a girl meets boy tale [loses; then finds], but I won’t give away who.  He has imperfect relationships with all four co-lead women.  He comes to understand each relationship as the 2-hour movie unfolds.  There is no “film time” to develop other male characters.  The two they couldn’t write out of the script were clearly MCPs.

I enjoy the author William Gibson’s take on futuristic ideas, usually ten years out.  This film is just a clean and neat short story that could be this year or next, but it also could be a Gibson short story.

Paris was the Place by Susan Conley

I’ve been doing much more reading of late.  2013 held me captive to a number of one-time activities: saving KGGV, the Big Read, and a Sonoma State graduate course in fundraising for nonprofits.  Now I’m reading some good books for a change.  Susan Conley’s book, which takes place mostly in Paris, struck just the right chord with me. 

I’ve visited Paris dozens of times – alone, with friends, with lovers, wives, my father, and my child, Patricia.  Conley writes this book as a short-term visitor; that matches my experience.  She is a broader, world traveler: peripatetic, me too.  It is a rare gene that allows one to “go native” in a foreign land and become quite settled in and comfortable.  I passed that one on to my daughter, Patricia.  Susan Conley’s Paris is all about people and relationships: mine too – shared fond memories – good times in retrospect, but bad things happen as well.

There are aspects of her character’s personality that are completely opposite of mine.  Willow Pears, the protagonist, is flighty; totally driven by emotion, little room for logic.  It is an endearing quality to the men in her life: brother, lover, father, and friends: at least after they calm down following one of her escapades.  She lacks focus in every area of her life, except for poets and poetry. 

The most minor plot line, “girl meets boy; girl loses boy; girl finds boy” is far and away pre-empted by the major plotlines: brother dies of 1980’s AIDS; pregnancy; Indian independence.

Sarojini Naidu, known by the sobriquet as The Nightingale of India was a child prodigy, Indian independence activist and poet. Naidu was one of the formers of the Indian Constitution. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress, and, as the Governor of the United Provinces from 1947 to 1949, the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state. Her birthday is celebrated as Women's Day all over India.

This isn’t the end.  The book keeps giving of more plot lines: the French legal system; Child sex trafficking, French cooking, poetry in general, teaching, wines?

A book with something for everyone: even some gourmet cooking.

I suspended disbelief.  I bought into Willie.  I wanted to protect her as did all males in the story.  Willie is worth doing whatever is necessary to make her succeed. I feel the same way about my daughter, see above.  Patricia has moved the mark a milestone further.

Paris, poetry, and pathos: It makes for a good read.