I read it when I was 17. I didn’t read it for school although it was recommended by my English teacher. He also recommended Up the Down Staircase.
I loved both books.
Thanks, Freudian Slit and drpepper! I love the heck out of this book and I’m glad to see so many others who do, too.
Markxxx, i think you are being far too literal. I don’t think Smith expected the analogy to be 1:1 or taken quite so strictly. Francie grew up in Brooklyn and became the amazing young woman she is both despite of and because of her hardships (and the benefits too – her life wasn’t relentless misery). She grew up hardy and ambitious enough to seek whatever it was she needed; passionate enough to find first love and live through its attendant heartbreak; and creative/compassionate enough to become a writer (presumably).
It seems that you’re only thinking of her growth as evidenced in the final chapters of the book, whereas in fact we’ve seen Francie grow since page 1. We see her go from being ashamed of being a ragpicker to teasing other kids in turn to finally giving up the business altogether because she gets a real job. She goes from romanticizing that young unwed mother, to snubbing her when the girl smiles at her, to finally atoning for this behavior by returning the baby carriage once the mom is taunted off the streets. All these steps in her development are shown by Smith to be part and parcel of her inheritence, her upbringing, and her environment.
Of course the job she gets in Manhattan is exciting and enriching, but that’s only one other step of her growth. Sure, she leaves that specific tenement in Williamsburg, and a big part of her childhood too (her last words are “Goodbye, Francie,”) but her destination – while a better class of home – is still in the borough. It would be a depressing book indeed if Francie was never shown leaving that shabby little apartment. Like the tree, she has roots in Brooklyn and she seems to indicate that she’ll always want to go back there. But unlike the tree, she can move around and experience everything.
I dunno. You’re free to think the analogy doesn’t work, but it just seems like a very narrow reading of the theme. It’s like a step away from complaining because Francie doesn’t actually use photosynthesis to grow. 
We just recently read it for (church) bookclub and all enjoyed it. My friend said it’s one of the best books she’s ever read.
I first read this book when it was assigned in 9th grade English, back in the early 1980s. I would never have picked it up on my own, as I was more into science fiction at the time. IIRC, the paperback edition I read was also subtitled “A diary of a young girl,” which would have ensured that I would never have picked it up on my own.
Anyway, it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’ve re-read it since at least ten times.
I’ll add that this book was one of just two books that I was assigned to read in school that actually resonated with me. (The other was Watership Down, which I’d picked off of a school-assigned list of books–yes, I thought it was about a sunken ship or submarine. It wasn’t. 
)
I love the book and discovered it on my own when I was in middle school and have re-read it countless times since. I even wrote a paper on it for one of my college history classes.
Since I enjoyed it so, I gave my daughter a copy a couple years ago and she too adores it. She was re-reading it during some free time at school and got a little sniffy. A teacher came up to her with a wholly sympathetic look on her face and inquired
Oh are you at part where her Johnny dies?
So, 14-year-old girls in 2009 read it and love it, as confirmed by my daughter.
I love the scene where Francie gets the letter from the now-wife of the boy she thought she was in love with. It’s so perfect and heart-wrenching. And it gave rise to one of the best lines in the whole book, as far as I’m concerned:
(My apologies if a word or two is off. I loaned my copy to a friend and haven’t gotten it back yet, though I really need to reread it! This may be the excuse I need to get a nice new edition.)
Yipe, it’s lucky that this was a re-read … otherwise that’s one helluva dumb question for the teacher to ask! (I mean, what if she’d been wrong?)
apollonia, your quote was 99.95% correct. Excellent memory!
Well, a person can cry only so long. Then he has to do something else with his time.
And yep, it’s a great scene all around.
Great thread…I read the book amny years ago, and liked it. Any opinion on the Elia Kazan film version? I thought it was good, but bit of a tear jerker.
Oh, I love the film! It’s of course vastly truncated and many characters/subplots are perforce ignored, but the casting is absolutely spot-on (God, James Dunn rips my heart in two, as does the marvelous Peggy Ann Garner) and in general the production is stark, unsentimentalized and honest, which is to be expected from Kazan.
I would like to see a version that shows Francie’s full arc, but I don’t know if it’s possible due to the aging issue. (Back in the day, Jena Malone would’ve been perfect for Francie.)
I’m 31 – and I read it when I was in high school. My school librarian reccomended it to me. I absolutely fell in love with it.
I’d love to re-read it again, but unfortunately, my copy recently fell apart, and I had to throw it away. 
So I’ll have to get another one. sigh
I’ve also read Maggie-Now, and that was another one. I have to say, I liked Paddy, especially how he’s always shouting, “I’ll bury yiz all!!!” And the part when
He finally whispers to his dying wife, “I love you, Mary”
Gets me every time.