4.5 / 5.0

I feel 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' endures because of its honesty about periods, and lovemaking, and sorrow and childbearing and parenting and everything in-between. But what really makes the novel a lasting work? The characters.

The sister/aunt, Sissy, is quirky and hilarious and fabulous and oh-so-very human. The whole scene with the tricycle? So. Funny. And then with the teacher? The grandmother, Mary, is wise and interesting. The father, Johnny, the mother, Katie, Neeley, really just ...