YMMV / A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

• Periphery Demographic: The book was huge with American troops overseas in World War II (one of the very first of the military issued paperbacks, and easily in the top 5 in popularity). Apparently, troops liked their tales of the home fires warts and all.
• Squick: When Evy and her family are described, there's an incident mentioned where Evy signs her three children for violin lessons. Just before they leave for a lesson soon after, her daughter is washing her feet and reveals their violin tutor made her take off her socks and shoes and stared at her feet for the hour. Evy is horrified at this, and takes said daughter out of the lessons. It turned out that the tutor does this with only his female pupils.
• Tear Jerker: Has its own page.
• Values Dissonance: The "balloon" incident sounds embarrassing but funny today but disgraced the Nolans to the point that they had to leave the neighborhood. Smith's original manuscript had Katie and Johnny being denounced from the pulpit by a priest who lost all his siblings to malnutrition but the publisher didn't want to alienate Catholic readers.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion, Marital Rape License, No Periods, Period... there's a lot of Values Dissonance in this book if you look for it.

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