A Tree Grows Straight

by Percy Marks

A esteemed writer has an idea for a novel based on the concept that our strengths shape ourlives, both positively and negatively. . He finds an young man who has not been warped and has lived a balanced, positive life, and asks him to telll his life story.

339 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1936

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought about A tree Grows straight, published in 1936, when reading a sci-fi short story by Amor Towles about an institute that allows parents to select their future child’s temperament. It’s kind of stretching out current genetic selection, like he data base of Ivy League sperm donors. A quick read explores the ways our innate temperamental strengths enrich our life as well as create stumbling blocks, which sometimes, are insurmountable?

I read A Tree in my teens, and it has stuck with me. It is about a guy who’s characteristics are such that they do not warp his future. He is good looking but no much that he becomes a movie star, athletic but not so much that he becomes a pro athlete. He has always been good enough at everything but not so good that it warps his life, “tree.”. I suspect the book well predates concepts of nature/nurture.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oldie, but goodie. Some may find things objectionable and maybe even offensive..I know I did. But if you keep in mind when this was written and published, it is easier to take. This is a coming of age story about a boy who enters adulthood during the Great Depression. Simple and easy to read, I found it quite a pleasant story. And I loved the thick paper pages, with its slight musty smell...old books are the best. :)