A Tree Grows in Brooklyn || Review (Spoiler Free)

How can any sensitive, politically literate reader read this book and see it as anything but a celebration of " OUR democracy " among the poor immigrant neighborhoods at the turn of the century ? It is really impossible to sentimentalize the social reality of the BOOK . The novel can be compared with dark stories of Zola, Theodore Dreiser , James T. Farrell , even the realism of Stephen Crane . Whatever the gifted author's political blinders this story is raw material explaining the turn of the century SOCIALIST movement in the United States . I need to know more about author Betty Smith . Is there something " inspiring " about the Darwinian social struggle in Upton Sinclair's " The Jungle " ? Holy Jesus will make sure all is well in the end ? Leave it to Hollywood to sentimentalize a social nightmare !