A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

So far, 2019 has been a year of disappointments and unmet expectations. Or maybe it's just a string of books that haven't matched my mood. Maybe I've had a hard time enjoying books because my real life has been so stressful and exhausting (though books are supposed to help with that). Or maybe I'm just working through some of the chaff on my TBR and it all hit at once.

There are a bunch of books on my shelf that I'm really excited about, after all. I just need to get to them.

Whatever the reason, I didn't like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn nearly as much as I expected to. Which was a letdown. This story seemed right up my alley. But it reminded me a lot of Angela's Ashes, another book that took me entirely too long to read.

I found the story to be entirely too slow and a little bit disjointed. I could never really seem to get invested in any of the characters or in what was happening to them. It probably didn't help that I was in the middle of this when I went home for Christmas, where I suddenly couldn't find time to read for a whole week. And then I had to put it aside to get my book club book in before the meeting. And by that point, I just kind of wanted to read anything else.

I stubbornly stuck with this one, and maybe I shouldn't have. Forcing myself through it didn't really improve my chances of liking it. I might have been better served to put it aside. Maybe I'll try again someday. Someday when I'm actually able to focus a bit better and devote real time to appreciating the story. Some books work fine being shoved into the corners of my life. This one required a bit more of me, and I couldn't give it.

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