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Comments: I picked this up because I grew up near NYC, and have always considered it one of the world's most significant and interesting cities. Even more importantly, my dad was born and raised in Brooklyn (about ten years later than the time period covered in this book), so I was interested in a glimpse of what life might have been like in that place and time.
The book paints a detailed picture of daily life in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, at least for the author and her family, who were impoverished, first-generation immigrants. It's hard to wrap one's mind around the struggles they faced - the constant uncertainty over where the next meal is coming from, the search for decent jobs, the prejudices, and the unrelenting class consciousness. But there are joys as well - the occasional few pennies earned selling junk, the family times and holidays, and, for the author, the opportunity to lose herself in her writing.
Ultimately, it's the classic story of the turn-of-the-century American immigrant. A family leaves kith and kin for the chance to start over again in the Land of Opportunity. The first generation struggles to stay afloat, with Mom and Dad sacrificing everything for the chance to give their children any head start they can. Ultimately, with hard work, education, and a bit of luck, they're able to pull ahead and establish a new generation of Americans. Then, in the 1960's, their grandkids go to Berkeley and learn that everything they've achieved came from exploiting the lower classes, so they drop out to become pot farmers.
OK, that last part wasn't in the book. Also missing from the book is how the struggling immigrants of the 1910's raised a generation of kids with strength and character, who grew up to become the Greatest Generation. However, along with that strength came an obsession that their own kids would never have to face the kinds of struggles that they did. And so it went - the next generation grew up protected and indulged, never achieved quite the same level of character, and suddenly we're a nation of people who get our current events from Comedy Central. Thanks for asking.
You may not have the family or geographic reasons I had for reading the book, but you might enjoy it nonetheless, as a peek into a part of history that doesn't seem to be taught much any more.
1 comment:
My favorite part of the book was how it looked at poverty and how people rise out of it. The part where she chooses to stand up and lie to get the doll, the way her mother reacts to "hand outs", etc. That rising above poverty can be humiliating and alienates you from the surroundings you came from.
And I loved how it explored the concept of dignity, female relationships, etc.
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