Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner, March 4, 2002
I couldn't believe that I didn't pick this book up immediately when I was sick with the flu ~~ this is one book you cannot just put down and go do something else. You have to devote a day to enjoy the rich characterizations that Betty Smith created with this book! It is incredibly romantic and upbeat!! Just like Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, you'll fall in love with Annie. Annie moves west to Chicago from Brooklyn to marry Carl, her sweetheart. And the story is about her first year with Carl, getting pregnant and making new friends in a strange town and making do with little money. And throughout this whole book, Annie faces every challenge with an upbeat and cheerful spirit. And she will steal your heart too!! I am almost afraid to watch the movie because the book itself is absolutely wonderful!! It's incredibly romantic and wonderful. Please don't hesitate to buy it ~~ it's a good buy and one that will warm your heart forever!!...
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended book for newlyweds, June 24, 2000
By A Customer
In light of our terrible divorce rate in America, this book lets you know why those older couples you see who celebrate their 50th and 75th anniversary make it that long. I was married not too long ago and this book actually pointed out things I could have done with my new husband to improve the quality of my marriage. You will love both the characters: a determined law student (with a little temper) and an Irish-American girl with dreams and hopes (and a secret past involving a stepfather). In most modern books, the guy would have ended up being a wife beater and the girl would have had issues regarding being molested. This book could have been like Terri McMillan's "Disappearing Acts" with dsyfunctional characters trying to make it. Instead, we truly believe the characters love and respect one another and the author is not afraid, even in her time, to allude to subjects that have become standard fare in recent years. The girl, is thankfully not a wait-on-your-man-don't-express-a-single-thought-of-your-own type of gal. And the guy is not of the all-men-are-dogs type. She has opinions and he has drive. She seems to have dreams of her own and her husband slowly comes to accept it. He makes his sacrifices for the family to stay together. They argue and make up. I recommend giving this book to an engaged couple so they can learn how to start their marriage right with committment and respect. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this is the same author of the book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", a book I've never read but a movie I've seen. It turns out that "A Tree..." is one of my mother's favorite books, although she remembers it being behind the library desk and not on the open stacks due to a rape scene. In typical Betty Smith fashion, obviously, she doesn't see the world in rose colored glasses. I will be honest. Not only did I read this book within a couple days but it also helped put my marriage back on track. As many non-fiction books I read about marriage, none helped so much as this one. The basic message I got out of the book is to establish little rituals that show your love to your spouse. It goes a long way toward setting a foundation for feeling good will toward your spouse.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Brooklyn Tree goes west, June 21, 2002
This is one of my favorite "youth" novels. Annie McGairy has a lot in common with Francie Nolan of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and even more with Betty Smith, the author. This is more autobiographical novelization, this time, chronicling Annie's move west and her marriage to Carl at a young age. While Carl studies law at a big Midwestern university, Annie must cope with the changes marriage brings, plus the stress of little money and a burning desire to get an education. Annie's solution is to camp outside a classroom at the university and listen in. The events that follow are, indeed, joyous. Some readers find that "Joy in the Morning" is less enjoyable than "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Some of this may be due to the fact that "Joy in the Morning" is a novel about a transitional time in the author's life. Novels and autobiographies that deal with times of change and transition are often less "jelled" than ones about childhood. I sometimes compare "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" with "Angela's Ashes" by McCourt. "Joy in the Morning" shares some qualities with McCourt's sequel "T'is" for the same reasons--it's that time of growth and transition. If you keep that in mind, it explains the difference in quality from the previous work. I had the amusing experience of reading "Joy in the Morning" for the first time while I was attending a big midwestern university myself. When Smith began describing the campus and the classroom in the novel, I could clearly visualize all the locations she wrote about. I began to have my suspicions and ran to the library to look up Smith's biography. Yes, she was writing about University of Michigan, where I was going to school at the time.
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