Customer Reviews

Joy in the Morning (Perennial Classics)

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!!...

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.

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.

Having read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" back in high school I was very excited to find that Ms. Smith had another book. From the opening paragraph to the very last page I fell instantly in love with both characters. Annie's innocence and Carl's steadfast belief in there love. My heart stopped when her professor asked her into his class and it soared with the praise of her first play. When she found out that she was pregnant I cried knowing that her and Carl must make a decsion for the future of there love and there marriage. I will recommend this book to everyone I knowand to everyone I don't. It will be placed on my shelf alongside my other all time favorite books.

"Weeping my endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning"-So begin the pages of Betty Smith's novel, Joy in the Morning. Within these pages we meet Annie and Carl, a young couple struggling against the tide, to make the first year of their marriage work. Carl is a twenty year old law student, who gets cut-off financially from his family when they learn he has married Annie, an 18 year old girl from an uneducated, and poor family. The story chronologically walks us through the first year of marriage for Annie and Carl in an extremely simple, yet touching way. The writing style is simple, but effective. Annie is an optimist and though she feels that she doesn't fit in amongst the college students and the scholarly life, has an innocent zest to learn and adores books and writing. Carl, more of a realist, is a hard-working student who struggles to find time to be a good student and husband as well as provide financially. Blended in, are a rich cast of characters from the local grocer, Henry to the caring landlandy, Mrs. Hansmon, each adding a touch of humanity and warmth to the story.

This book should not be compared to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but based on its own merit. It is a feel good, comfort book, best described as wholesome, yet insightful. Yes it is simplistic at times, but it works. What the reader is left with is that love can endure, through sacrifice and trial. We can't do it all alone, it is only through the help of friends and community as well as faith. It reminds us, that if we are patient, we can all look toward tomorrow and find joy in the morning.

In the Elizabethan era Christopher Marlowe wrote the famous line "Comparisons are Odious." However, when an author such as Betty Smith is so famous for one work, comparisons are very difficult to avoid. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was such a powerful novel that anyone who has ever read it is going to find it difficult to read Joy in the Morning without at least being vaguely reminded of the first book and possibly just a little disappointed in this one.

Joy in the Morning is the story of Annie, who leaves Brooklyn just after her 18th birthday to marry Carl, a young law student at a Midwestern university. The first year of their marriage is the stuff of subtle drama as Annie and Carl work out their cultural and educational differences.

The work is strongly autobiographical. Like Annie, Betty Smith left school at the age of 14 to work in factories and retail. Like Annie, Betty Smith (then Wehmer) left Brooklyn for the Midwest at age 18. At Ann Arbor, Michigan, she married George Smith, a young law student. In the book Annie is a writer trying to find her voice, and finds it in playwriting. Betty Smith was also a playwright-she attended Yale Drama School and had over 70 plays under belt before she wrote her first novel.

With that much stage experience, it is no wonder that Betty Smith is a virtuoso of both pace and dialogue. The underlying structure of Joy in the Morning is every bit as well-crafted as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. But it is every bit as different from the earlier work as a college town in the Midwest is from New York City. It is lighter, more sentimental, and less condensed. The grit of the Brooklyn streets is softened here. Though there are allusions to her stepfather's behavior in her bedroom being part of the reason Annie fled Brooklyn, Smith doesn't show the reader anything truly ugly as she did with Nolan's drinking and death in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Joy in the Morning is simply a kinder, gentler read, a sweet story about the first year of marriage in a new town.

This book is an account of the first year of marriage for Carl and Annie and the trials they (like so many others) endure, including an unexpected pregnancy, financial troubles, and adjusting to living with one another. Smoothly written with detailed characterization. I was, however, disappointed that this book lacks the beautiful prosaic quality, imagery, and nostalgic feeling that is so wonderful in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Much of the book is dialogue, which does not 'flow' as well as the author's narrative writing style. Worth the read, but not Betty's most enchanting book.

Having read a Tree Grows In Brooklyn I had set high standards for Joy In The Morning and I was not disappointed. I don't know if it is because I can relate to the situation or because Betty Smith herself can write a book in such a way that you feel that you are part of the story. I didn't want the book to end. The power of love can do anything that this young couple set their minds to. I was speechless when Annie and Carl exchanged Christmas gifts and I felt Annie's fear when she thought she might be pregnant. This book is so emotional and insprational. While it may not be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I feel it is a wonderful novel of true love. They were able to accomplish the impossilbe. Annie is a wonderful character. She has such a zest for life. Like Francie, she is an unforgetable character in an unforgetable book.

By the time I'd read the first paragraph, I knew I was going to love these characters. As she did in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith creates realistically flawed yet beautiful human beings. It is hard not to think of this as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Part II. Annie is so similar to Francie and also to Katie. I have always suspected that Smith's works are strongly autobiographical, and this work feeds that suspcicion. Beyond being a touching story, this novel would provide a few chuckles to anyone who tries to write. Smith remembers her days as a green writer, and vividly paints the mistakes we all make.

This is the only book I've ever read at least four times. It is a book that is almost impossible to put down. You live the story with the young couple, savoring their joy, anguishing in their suffering, or laughing at their innocence. Over my 23 years of teaching high school English, I convinced many young girls that reading can be enjoyable by loaning them my paperback copy of this book. Needless to say, it is now held together with a rubber band. Time to buy one of the lovely new editions. So glad it is back in print. Although I enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, it does not hold a candle to Joy in the Morning.