Review: Tomorrow Will Be Better
Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Tomorrow Will Be Better takes place in the same setting as Smith's beloved landmark novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the Williamsburg and Bushwick neighborhoods of 1920's Brooklyn. The story largely focuses on a young woman named Margy Shannon, newly eighteen years of age and seeking her first job, her first beau, and escape from the grinding life of poverty faced by many Irish American's in the 1920's. With occasional flashbacks to Margy's sterile and largely unloving childhood, we see her desperately strive for a better life as she takes a job and tries to become more independent in spite of her mother's every effort to stifle her. Part of her plan involves an early marriage to leave her parents' home. Frankie Malone, a young man who diffidently courts her, comes from his own oppressive family. Their ill-fated marital relationship provides a stark look at hopes, dashed dreams, and gender-role expectations of the era. Though the novel shows Margy's depression over a stillborn daughter, it still manages to end on a note of hope.
I read this novel many years ago and it is now being reissued (along with an audiobook edition) by Harper Collins. I'm especially struck by the novel's frank depiction of marital problems in all the families in the story, its look at the divisive role that religion and immigrant status (new immigrants, first and second-generation immigrants) play in families, and most stunning, its inclusion of an asexual character and that character's frustration in their marriage. While not as endearing as a story as Francie Nolan's in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tomorrow Will Be Better provides a sharp look at the pre-Depression era in Brooklyn and the often caustic relationships between people in those times. Though I read the book as a teen, I think I was too young to truly appreciate some aspects of Smith's insightful writing.
The newly released audiobook, narrated by Nicola Barber with accents and all, was lovely.
I receive a digital review copy and a digital audio copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Tomorrow Will Be Better takes place in the same setting as Smith's beloved landmark novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the Williamsburg and Bushwick neighborhoods of 1920's Brooklyn. The story largely focuses on a young woman named Margy Shannon, newly eighteen years of age and seeking her first job, her first beau, and escape from the grinding life of poverty faced by many Irish American's in the 1920's. With occasional flashbacks to Margy's sterile and largely unloving childhood, we see her desperately strive for a better life as she takes a job and tries to become more independent in spite of her mother's every effort to stifle her. Part of her plan involves an early marriage to leave her parents' home. Frankie Malone, a young man who diffidently courts her, comes from his own oppressive family. Their ill-fated marital relationship provides a stark look at hopes, dashed dreams, and gender-role expectations of the era. Though the novel shows Margy's depression over a stillborn daughter, it still manages to end on a note of hope.
I read this novel many years ago and it is now being reissued (along with an audiobook edition) by Harper Collins. I'm especially struck by the novel's frank depiction of marital problems in all the families in the story, its look at the divisive role that religion and immigrant status (new immigrants, first and second-generation immigrants) play in families, and most stunning, its inclusion of an asexual character and that character's frustration in their marriage. While not as endearing as a story as Francie Nolan's in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tomorrow Will Be Better provides a sharp look at the pre-Depression era in Brooklyn and the often caustic relationships between people in those times. Though I read the book as a teen, I think I was too young to truly appreciate some aspects of Smith's insightful writing.
The newly released audiobook, narrated by Nicola Barber with accents and all, was lovely.
I receive a digital review copy and a digital audio copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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