This struck me the most when she was attending her friend's wedding and thought that she "didn't love Tony now. But later on, when Miss Kelly pettily informs Eilis that she knows her secret, she's reminded of what else life with Jim will mean--living in a town where everyone knows who you are and what you've done, without any chances to start over.

This is when a life with Tony in Brooklyn becomes more appealing, because now she's realized that she had adapted to life in a big city in a new country, and enjoyed her independence too much to forfeit it now. I certainly hope that she really does love Tony, but even if she doesn't then I imagine that she would grow to love him more with time.

Is this a clean book? Could a 12 year old read this. Patrick Yes, a twelve-year-old could read this. When he or she gets to the benign sexual scenes, talk to him or her about it. It's hardly something that …more Yes, a twelve-year-old could read this. It's hardly something that should be hidden or banned. See all 21 questions about Brooklyn…. Lists with This Book. Jan 03, Angela rated it it was ok Shelves: It's hard to read anything about books without hearing gushing praise for Brooklyn , so I settled in for a brilliant work about immigration and America and New York and alienation and crushing hard work and etc.

Set partially in ish Ireland and partly in Brooklyn, the novel follows spineless and benign Eilis through her voyage to the United States arranged by her sister and a kind priest , where she receives a job, is enrolled some classe It's hard to read anything about books without hearing gushing praise for Brooklyn , so I settled in for a brilliant work about immigration and America and New York and alienation and crushing hard work and etc.

Set partially in ish Ireland and partly in Brooklyn, the novel follows spineless and benign Eilis through her voyage to the United States arranged by her sister and a kind priest , where she receives a job, is enrolled some classes, is encouraged to do volunteer work, is set up with lodging at a boarding house, gets picked up and courted by a faultless Italian American, etc.

All passive voice intentional. She doesn't really make any decisions on her own until the end of the novel, and even that was basically for lack of realistic alternative options. Other than a tragic death in the family and a little homesickness, nothing bad ever happens to Eilis and there isn't any real conflict. At some point she has to choose between her life in New York and a roughly equivalent life back in Ireland, but she studiously avoids finding out anything that could force her to form an opinion. We are teased with tantalizing potential plot threads: But no worries, these aren't pursued into anything that would risk causing conflict.

In defense of the novel, I found myself very compelled to finish it, the prose is serviceable if not brilliant, and it is in general a thoroughly pleasant read. And now I'll go back to Henry Roth. View all 76 comments. Dec 22, Jim Fonseca rated it really liked it Shelves: A young Irish woman emigrates to Brooklyn. Back in Ireland, she has three brothers all working in England and an older sister who will now stay home to take care of their aging mother.

Navigation menu

The older sister, who happens to be more attractive, athletic and ambitious, sacrifices her possibility of a normal married life for her younger sister. Our heroine chooses the US over England because those who went to England missed Enniscorthy the Irish home town whereas those who went to the US did not.

The younger sister tells us her story including incredible seasickness and homesickness episodes. She gets a job as a retail clerk in a department store and begins experiencing the contrast of life in a semi-rural Irish town to that in a thriving American metropolis. So much happens, and she experiences so much newness, that she feels she needs an extra day to go through the events and happenings, scene by scene, storing them away and getting it out of her system as she dreams each night.

She has an episode with a female boss who is a lesbian, and although she does not accept her advances, she accepts her orientation and continues to treat her respectfully. All this is fine, although at times I started thinking that all her political correctness was a bit overdone and seemed like set-pieces. For example, when she helps out at church-sponsored Christmas banquet for homeless men, I thought the story started taking on the tone of a YA novel.

And maybe it is — it certainly could be. Our heroine falls in love with an Italian man. But tragedy strikes and she has to return home. She feels the pull of Ireland once again and she gets into a position where no matter what she does, she will hurt someone. A line I liked: Top photo from brooklynpix.

View all 35 comments. Nov 13, Cecily rated it it was amazing Shelves: The first part is a delightful picture of small-town Ireland in the s. Then she is unexpectedly summoned home. The situation and dilemmas arising could be crass, predictable and dull, or overly sentimental, or just implausible. They are none of those things. The ending was brave and brilliant, and pushed the book from 3. The most powerful aspect for me was view spoiler [big spoiler coming up: I hope Toibin is never tempted to write a sequel. So Much Unsaid There is a gradually intensifying theme of important things going unsaid: Appropriately, the plot hinges on someone who DOES speak up, but whether the consequences are good or ill is suitably ambiguous.

Toibin has consistently demonstrated the problems of what goes unsaid, but he stops short of recommending honesty at all times, because there is no single answer. We each have to decide for ourselves when to hold back and when to open up. Either way is risky. Inertia, manifested as silence or omission, often seems easier, as Eilis knows so well — yet she does it again and again. Nothing meant anything… She… tried to think… of something she was looking forward to, but there was nothing… It was as though she had been locked away. Or maybe it was secondary because I identify with it too strongly: However, Eilis learned to fit in in America, and having found that chameleon quality, I am hopeful for her.

Plot view spoiler [Eilis is a young woman in a small town in s Ireland, studying bookkeeping. Her older brothers live and work in England, and her older sister, Rose, works to pay for Eilis and their widowed mother. With little prospect of local employment, Eilis is despatched to Brooklyn, with the aid of Father Flood, a friend of Rose. She lives in a boarding house, headed by Mrs Kehoe, has a job in a department store, and goes to night school to qualify as a bookkeeper, all arranged by Fr Flood, who also organises Friday church dances, from where she gains an Italian boyfriend, Tony.

A sudden death sends her home for a short visit. Emotional and practical manipulation inevitably extend the trip. Time to fall in love, perhaps: Seasickness, homesickness, new people, strange food, love, death, love triangle, Catholic guilt. It was understated and looked and felt "right" to me. The luminously ethereal Saoirse Ronan is perfect as Eilis, and the screenplay and cinematography included lingering shots of her pensive face, showing something of her inner doubts and struggles about what to say and what to leave out.

Julie Walters is excellent as Mrs Kehoe, and dinner at her lodging house is suitably on the knife-edge between fun and awkwardness. Inevitably, some things were missed out: But none of that impairs understanding or changes the nature of the story. My one gripe is the one I feared: Not only did she definitely view spoiler [ return to Tony, but view spoiler [the photo of her and Jim on the beach was never taken, let alone packed in her case back to Brooklyn hide spoiler ] hide spoiler ]. However, there was one really good addition near the end, view spoiler [on the boat, she gets talking to a young Irish girl heading to Brooklyn for the first time, and she takes on the role of advisor, as Georgina had done for her.

That's when the cameras should have stopped rolling, imo hide spoiler ]. Instead they were happy there and proud. She wondered if that could be true. In Italy it would be bad manners not to look. View all 93 comments. A simple but universal coming-of-age story, beautifully and gracefully told Usually I read the book before seeing the movie, but in this case I saw the movie first.

I only now caught up with the novel. In s small town Ireland, Eilis Lacey has few prospects in life; A simple but universal coming-of-age story, beautifully and gracefully told Usually I read the book before seeing the movie, but in this case I saw the movie first. In s small town Ireland, Eilis Lacey has few prospects in life; there are no available jobs and even fewer available men.

So when a priest offers to sponsor her to emigrate to the U. That eases up when, with the help of that same priest, she takes night school bookkeeping courses; she also meets a charming Italian-American man, Tony. I like that Eilis is studying bookkeeping. When exciting things start happening in her life, she wants to be left alone to reflect on them.

This is the new world, with opportunities for all. But the spirit of book and film are the same. The story of journeying from one place to another to build a new life for oneself is universal. Brooklyn is exactly why I love a certain type of literary fiction: Am I stoked to read it? Pardon my faux Irish curse. Of course I am. View all 72 comments. Some books are worth sticking with. To call this book a slow starter would be to evoke a drastic understatement. After around a hundred or so pages, I was beginning to wonder if this book was actually going anywhere.

There was a completer lack of plot, as the mundane life of an ordinary girl unfolded in all its blandness. However, as the novel progressed it built up momentum, ever so slowly until the point where it became a heart racing crescendo of uncertainty. The true shame of this book, an Some books are worth sticking with. The true shame of this book, and perhaps its reason for such a mixed reception here on goodreads, is how many readers such initial storytelling would put off and even lose altogether.

Decisions are always important, but every so often a decision so powerful will come along that either direction you take will completely alter your life hereafter. And this is what the book builds up to in its eloquent simplicity. For Eilis her decision is vast and unpredictable. This becomes such a crucial part of the storytelling.

See a Problem?

Sometimes something, or someone, comes along that threatens to change the game completely. Your life becomes something else, and your reaction to it may come to define the rest of your days. Eilis becomes torn between two lives, one she has grown to love and one that is undoubtedly her comfort zone. Her coming actions will stay with her forever, as she ponders what could have been. The novel also chronicles a huge part of modern cultural history. As a historical novelist, Toibin has captured many of the viewpoints of the s along with various social transitions.

The world is becoming more modern; thus, there is a shift in attitudes towards race, sex and marriage. The older generation characters are more conservative, and remain resistant to this asserting sense of newness. Some of the younger characters, but not all, are more open and accepting.

We see a multitude of opinions and attitudes, ultimately, recognising which ones will become dominant. So here is a book that has very little in the way of actual plot, but I urge other readers to look beyond that. The story is a mere vehicle, a means for the author to capture these intense moments of confliction and uncertainty.

In this sense, it chronicles a large part of what it is to be human. View all 18 comments. Then Eilis, the younger of two sisters living at home with their mother, has a whole new life arranged for her in New York. It took rather a stiff upper lip for a young woman to cross the stormy seas and settle in a foreign land where the only person she knew was the priest who arranged the whole thing.

Sea sickness gave way to homesickness, but her strength of character prevailed. The story then settled into how she built her new life, complete with a job at a clothing store, night classes to learn bookkeeping, relations with her catty fellow boarders, and ultimately with Tony, his brothers, and the Dodgers. It was a more innocent era even in the big city.

9 Brooklyn-based novels, and where in Brooklyn to read them

People were generally nicer; more thoughtful. Then again, I wondered whether an era like that when polite behavior and higher standards were de rigueur would be more likely to come down hard on subtle deviations. Would social acceptance be too narrowly defined? I was happy enough with the manufactured, third-order conflicts. It helped that despite her passive nature, Eilis was likable and observant. Then, towards the end, BAM! Which way will the wind blow? Will Eilis be blown with it?

It was a story simply told and all the more forceful for it. But the screenplay was clever Nick Hornby is apparently good at these things and the acting was first-rate I hope Saoirse Ronan scores an Oscar nomination. View all 42 comments. Jan 31, Carol rated it it was ok Shelves: Will probably still see the movie and hope for the best. View all 40 comments. Jun 16, Will Byrnes rated it really liked it Shelves: Brooklyn is a wonderful character portrait and captures as well the struggle of an Irish immigrant to the US in the post war world. Eilis Lacy is a twenty-something in a small Irish town, frustrated at the sclerotic nature of her environment.

Her life lies ahead of her in a single, entirely predictable line and she feels suffocated. She wants to study, to learn accountancy, or at least bookkeeping, so she can rise a little above her lowly economic situation. Seizing an unexpected opportunity she Brooklyn is a wonderful character portrait and captures as well the struggle of an Irish immigrant to the US in the post war world. Seizing an unexpected opportunity she sails for America and begins to make a life for herself in Brooklyn. His portrayal of boarding house life in New York is classic. Ultimately Eilis must decide where her future lies.

Saoirse Ronan as Eilis - she dazzles in the role Eilis Lacey is a fully realized character you will be able to relate to, someone you will remember. Her concerns may have been set in a particular time and place or places as the case may be but the issues she faces are no less true for people of many eras from all over the world who take on the huge challenge of immigration.

This is not an action-oriented page turner, no shoot-outs or car chases, literal or figurative. Instead it is a beautifully written, patiently paced tale that is well worth the reading. Writing is always a battle against your own laziness Saw the film on Tuesday. View all 19 comments. Jun 01, E Sweetman rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Recommended to E by: I read it because I loved "The Master" so completely.

I expected far more and only in minute passage did I find it. There were small moments of brilliance: I could not identify in the least with Eilis, she was so one-dimensional, barely the Well I could not identify in the least with Eilis, she was so one-dimensional, barely there and characterized as mostly bored when she was present in this book.


  • Review: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín | Books | The Guardian;
  • O Dem Golden Slippers?
  • More books from this author: Colm Toibin.
  • Vietnam: The Initiation (A Shadowy Passage Book 1).
  • Get a FREE e-book by joining our mailing list today!.
  • The Underground: 6 (Left Behind: The Kids)!

Her mother and glamorous older sister decided she must go to America, so she does! A priest manages a hard-to-get passage, work status and job but how? She ends up in a rooming house in Brooklyn with a job as a salesgirl in a department store Life in the rooming house was pleasant but bland, her job was almost non-descript except for the reader learning how salesgirls made change via pneumatic tubes--that was described in exquisite detail despite her being launched from a tiny Irish village into the incredible diversity and cultural whirlwind of life in New York City!

Eilis just waltzes in an smiles pleasantly at times when Mr. Toibin wants us to know what she's doing. Well, there's loneliness--we're told of a day she spent with a crooked smile because she's lonely! Halfway into this I realized she's a Mary Sue! That's great for Mr. Toibin but rest assured there is very little emotion or connection on the reader's part for this girl. The author just points and shoots her to the next scenario which she scurries through successfully--there was no way I could identify with this character or care much for her trials few or triumphs many.

The secondary characters also needed more time, more development to come to life for me.

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

They were barely two dimensional. Occasionally, again, that glimmer, but overall, it was just words telling me about these people, the life they were marching through. Most disappointing to me, really lacking in insight and in truism was the ending. I don't want to spoil this more than I already have, but there was no feeling of The ending, while putting on the face of happiness rang hollow. It makes me wonder if Mr. Toibin schemed to pull a great private joke over all of us who really want to gush about it and hug it to our heaving bosoms ala "Bridges of Madison County" gag-gag. The most interesting thing about this book was looking over the accolades from those who reviewed it.

I couldn't wait to relish every word when phrases like, "A Triumph! I was surprised when I finished it and reviewed the praises, wondering if I had read the same novel? If I had enough time and had a tick more crazy in me give me maybe 10 more years , I promise you I would send a hand-written note to each reviewer suggesting they either didn't read the book or jumped on the love-train while pretending to have read it.

I seriously think I will write to a certain Ms. Toibin "writes about women more convincingly I beg to disagree. View all 22 comments. Jan 16, Peggy L rated it it was ok. Although I vacilated between sympathizing with the main character and wondering at her thought processes, in the end, I was disappointed in her behavior, choices and the ending of this book. It reminds me of the writing of Anton Chekov, just life happening. And in the hands of a skilled writer, that is enough to keep you reading. The novel moves quickly, although it covers a span of two years it is only pages. Things happen, big things, without any fanfare, as they do for all of us, every day in real life.

Toibin puts us in her head moves the novel along. When Ellis goes on her first date with an Italian named Tony that she recently met at a dance I was stunned by the great writing. It was astounding, and romantic. And the ending is true, quick, honest, and brutal all in one. When I look at major moments in my own life they just happened, and then they were done. The consequences long outweigh the action and this novel captures that truth of our humanity perfectly. Oh, what a lovely novel this is. It is the story of Eilis, a young woman from small-town Ireland who moves to America in the s and finds herself all alone in the strange city of Brooklyn.

If you have seen the movie version, a beautiful film starring Saoirse Ronan, you know the basic outline of the plot: Eilis rents a room in Brooklyn and finds a job in a shop. She becomes so homesick that she makes herself ill. She starts taking night classes, and later meets a nice boy at a dance.

Eventuall Oh, what a lovely novel this is. Eventually, she has a difficult choice to make: But this is one of those novels in which there is greater feeling and emotion than the simple story would imply, because we are following the heart and mind of an independent being. Eilis is a character who is fully formed — we know her thoughts and desires, and we silently urge her on her journey. I was excited to read this book when I saw a quote from the author, saying he was inspired by Jane Austen and her "method of examining a single psychology, using an introspective, sensitive heroine, some comic characters and some romance.

The result is charming and heartfelt, loving and bittersweet. At times I was moved to tears for Eilis, and at others, so anxious for her that I had to remind myself it was just a novel, just a novel. But is it just a novel? America is a country of immigrants, with millions of stories, and this is one of them. It's a beautiful story, and one I will cherish. Favorite Quotes "Until now, Eilis had always presumed that she would live in the town all her life, as her mother had done, knowing everyone, having the same friends and neighbours, the same routines in the same streets.

She had expected that she would find a job in the town, and then marry someone and give up the job and have children. Now, she felt that she was being singled out for something for which she was not in any way prepared. She had lost all of them. They would not find out about this; she would not put it into a letter. And because of this she understood that they would never know her now. View all 15 comments. Quick and easy read. A coming of age story about an Irish working-class girl who immigrates all alone to Brooklyn. Simple sums it up. Not to be confused with easy, never that.

As for Quick and easy read. Not till over halfway in did this story grab me but once it did it held on. And she saw all three of them as figures whom she could only damage, as innocent people surrounded by light and clarity, and circling around them was herself, dark, uncertain. The writing is really simplistic. Not faulting him, an appropriate choice for the voice of an unsophisticated young girl.

Maybe he pulled it off to well View all 11 comments. Jan 01, Kalliope rated it liked it Shelves: When I finished this novel I felt as if I had just been uprooted. Something was tearing inside me. It was something else. The first half of the novel was an amiable read, calm. The story of a young woman, in the nineteen fifties, who has no other prospect in her small town in Ireland but to find, almost desperately, a suitable husband, emigrates alone, to the When I finished this novel I felt as if I had just been uprooted.

The story of a young woman, in the nineteen fifties, who has no other prospect in her small town in Ireland but to find, almost desperately, a suitable husband, emigrates alone, to the New World. There is little anguish in comparison to other immigrant stories, since she has an entry and a post. The theme of exile had a decaffeinated strength. For me the the novel offered also personal parallels, on several planes.

But just when I was beginning to feel that in spite of the pleasant reading walk, it seemed to be leading nowhere, Bang! As the plot takes a turn, the fragility of uprooting is exposed and explored. The novel extends into a new dimension and acquires more depth. And yet, to me it was not believable.

Not because of the story but because the main character for me failed to stand up. Circumstances were leading her hopelessly, and her wimpy will seemed entirely unable to bring things out into the open, to others and to herself, and procrastination reigned supreme. For me she ceased to be an interesting personality. I just felt irritation. She was not believable. What could have been a fascinating analysis of the trauma brought by emigration, in which uprooting means leaving the subject exposed to a degree that makes it difficult to predict whether those exposed roots will be able to provide a base again, was for me left unresolved.

When I finished the novel, then, I felt uprooted. I was so disconcerted, so at odds with the book, so unable to let it be as it was when I finished it, that I felt unable to pick up another read for a while. When we read we grow these weird mental roots inside the book; like tentacles they weave through the words, the lines, the sentences. These reading roots twist themselves around the characters, the imagined settings, and the rhythm of the text. By the time we turn the last page, a vivid form must have emerged.

For me this was not to be this time. The book did not resolve because it did not dwell enough. And I was left deracinated. View all 27 comments. Jan 08, Violet wells rated it liked it Shelves: The prose is simple and lucid — never straying into linguistic territory the protagonist herself would be incapable of formulating.

Eilis herself is both easily pleased and fickle. She appears to suffer from a lack of imagination which means ultimately she will always choose the pragmatic option. And this becomes a novel about how easily we are ensnared by fate, or rather, how casually we can make fateful decisions and are then ensnared by one narrative at the expense of the alternatives.


  • Problem Solving - How to Solve All Problems.
  • Northern Lights, Volume 2.?
  • The country girl.
  • .
  • Zugangswege zu Menschen mit Demenz aus kommunikativer Sicht (German Edition)!

Immensely charming though it is Brooklyn ultimately is more of a paddle than a swim. View all 12 comments. Jul 05, David rated it it was amazing Shelves: OK, Man Booker award people, listen up! If this book doesn't win this year, you are dead to me, you hear? I've said it elsewhere on this site, but it bears repeating.

Colm Toibin is a genius. This is a man who has, on various occasions brought me inside the heads of: Which is remarkable for being so completely unremarkable. If that seems like a backhanded compliment, let me assure you that it is meant as quite the reverse. Nothing in his style draws attention to himself as author. Instead, time after time, he finds the right voice, so that the writing flows in a completely natural way, without a word in the wrong place.

How does he do this? The answer brings us close to the scary heart of his genius, I think. He becomes them, he channels them. Empathy is surely one of the qualities we expect from any great novelist, and Toibin does empathy like no other modern writer I know. I find his ability to inhabit his characters both fascinating and scary. It scares me because it so exceeds my own powers of imagination. No matter what, or when, I write, I can never get away from being me, a very particular individual, with my own very specific year old history.

In his novels, Colm Toibin does this over and over again. I imagine it as being a wholly draining experience for him. But as a reader, my admiration for him is boundless. Because if there is any justice at all in this world, this is a man who has it coming. Read all of his books. Oct 04, Carol rated it liked it Shelves: This was a book club pick, so not something I would have selected myself, and I endeavor to fail on the side of generosity when it comes to authors whose works I read without any personal investment.

That said, I don't get the enthusiasm some have for this novel. I kept expecting it to turn into more - more depth, more conflict, more despair or happiness or excitement or loneliness, or struggle. It glanced at racial issues in the 's for a few pages, leading me to think we might get This was a book club pick, so not something I would have selected myself, and I endeavor to fail on the side of generosity when it comes to authors whose works I read without any personal investment.

It glanced at racial issues in the 's for a few pages, leading me to think we might get somewhere meaty and interesting. Then the topic was never addressed again. It glanced at the possibility of same-gender harassment by a boss, when no one else was in the facility, leading me to anticipate additional similar events or tension or conflict. It glanced at the tension between Irish and Italians in Brooklyn in the s, but -- again, nothing.

In the interest of full disclosure, my Irish grandmother married my Italian grandfather, and they raised several kids in Brooklyn, so I've got some skin in this game. Toibin doesn't get close to explaining to the reader the views each group had of the other at that time. In the end, we spend pages with a character who is largely flat - never gloriously happy, drifting into a relationship with a man who borders on too perfect, ever-patient, just. Our protagonist doesn't appear to have learned anything throughout the novel other than how to cross the Atlantic well, and how to apply make-up.

And then it ends. As if a timer went off. I enjoyed reading Brooklyn, in terms of the easiness of Toibin's prose style. But his 's Brooklyn isn't real to me. I am amazed someone thought there was enough here to turn into a movie; then again I understand that the movie ends differently.

My 3 stars probably should be 2 stars, but Brooklyn is an easy read and deserves credit for that. So 1 extra star is for whatever magic Brooklyn has, to which I am immune. View all 14 comments. Francie works first in an artificial-flower factory, then gets a better-paying job in a press clipping office after lying about her age.

Get Brokelyn in your Inbox!

Although she wants to use her salary to start high school in the fall, Katie decides to send Neeley instead, reasoning that he will only continue learning if he is forced into it, while Francie will find a way to do it on her own. Once the United States enters World War I in , the clipping office rapidly declines and closes, leaving Francie out of a job. After she finds work as a teletype operator, she makes a new plan for her education, choosing to skip high school and take summer college-level courses.

She passes with the help of Ben Blake, a friendly and determined high school student, but she fails the college's entrance exams. A brief encounter with Lee Rhynor, a soldier preparing to ship out to France, leads to heartbreak after he pretends to be in love with Francie, when he is in fact about to get married. In , Katie accepts a marriage proposal from Michael McShane, a retired police officer who has long admired her and has become a wealthy businessman and politician since leaving the force.

As Book Five begins in the fall of this same year, Francie, now almost 17, quits her teletype job. She is about to start classes at the University of Michigan , having passed the entrance exams with Ben's help, and is considering the possibility of a future relationship with him. Francie pays one last visit to some of her favorite childhood places and reflects on all the people who have come and gone in her life.

Before she leaves the apartment, Francie notices the Tree of Heaven that has grown and re-sprouted in the building's yard despite all efforts to destroy it, seeing in it a metaphor for her family's ability to overcome adversity and thrive. In the habits of a neighborhood girl, Florry, Francie sees a version of her young self, sitting on the fire escape with a book and watching the young ladies of the neighborhood prepare for their dates.

Mary Frances "Francie" Nolan is the protagonist. The novel begins when Francie is 11 years old. The rest of the novel tells of Francie's life until she goes to college at Francie grows up in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century; her family is in constant poverty throughout most of the novel. Francie shares a great admiration for her father, Johnny Nolan, and wishes for an improved relationship with her mother, hardworking Katie Nolan, recognizing similar traits in her mother and herself that she believes are a barrier to true understanding.

The story of Francie traces her individual desires, affections, and hostilities while growing up in an aggressive, individualistic, romantic, and ethnic family and neighborhood; more universally it represents the hopes of immigrants in the early twentieth century to rise above poverty through their children, whom they hope will receive "education" and take their place among true Americans. Francie is symbolized by the "Tree of Heaven" that flourishes under the most unlikely urban circumstances.

Katie Rommely Nolan is Francie's mother and the youngest of her parents' four daughters. She is a first-generation immigrant with an evil father and an angelic mother who emigrated from Austria. She married Johnny Nolan when she was only 17 years old. Katie is a hardworking, practical woman whose youthful romanticism has been replaced by a frigid realism that often prevents her from sympathizing with those who love her most. She runs her home in such a way that her children are able to enjoy their childhood despite their extreme poverty.

Because Johnny is an alcoholic and can rarely hold down a job, Katie becomes the family breadwinner by cleaning apartment buildings. Johnny, however, is more attuned to Francie's hopes of graduating from high school and becoming a writer. As Francie matures and develops an inclination toward academia, Katie realizes she is more devoted to Neeley than to Francie. Katie becomes pregnant just before Johnny dies and survives on her own until she agrees to marry Sergeant Michael McShane, a pipe-smoking local policeman-turned-politician.

Sissy Rommely is Katie's oldest sister and one of Francie's three aunts. Because of her parents' immigration and lack of knowledge in their new environment, Sissy never goes to school and is therefore illiterate. Sissy is kind, compassionate and beautiful, and many men fall in love with her. She is first married at 14, but after being unable to have any live children with her husband, Sissy leaves him. She marries two more times without ever getting a divorce. In between marriages, Sissy has a number of lovers. She calls each of her husbands and lovers by the name "John" until her final husband, who insists that she properly divorce her second husband and demands to be called by his own name, Steve.

Sissy has ten stillborn children, but adopts an immigrant girl's baby daughter born out of wedlock and eventually gives birth to a healthy son of her own. Johnny Nolan is Francie's father. He is a first-generation American; his parents immigrated from Ireland. He has a protective mother and had three brothers, all of whom died young. Johnny marries Katie Rommely at nineteen. He is charismatic, a loving husband and father, loved dearly by his family but especially by Francie. He is, however, an alcoholic. When he does hold a job, Johnny works as a singing waiter.

He has a beautiful voice, a talent that is greatly admired but that is largely wasted because of his reputation as an alcoholic. After Katie tells him that she is pregnant with their third child, he stops drinking and immediately falls into a deep depression that ends with his death from alcoholism-induced pneumonia.

He is a dreamer, in sharp contrast to Katie, whose view of the world is realistic. Cornelius "Neeley" Nolan is Francie's little brother. He is a year younger than Francie and is favored by his mother, Katie. Neeley is an outgoing child who is more widely accepted by the neighborhood children than Francie. He shows more emotion when his father dies than Francie, who reacts to the loss by becoming even more determined to get an education and rise above her mother's limited vision.

Neeley refuses to follow the tradition of Nolan men and determines to never become an alcoholic. Like Francie, he feels that their childhood was pleasant despite their poverty. Eva "Evy" Rommely Flittman is Katie's youngest sister and Francie's other aunt, playing a role more minor than Sissy's. While considered throughout most of the novel to be in less dire circumstances than Katie, Evy struggles with her lazy husband Willie, a milk-wagon driver.

When Willie suffers an injury, Evy drives the route instead and proves surprisingly good at it, treating the horses much more kindly than Willie does. At the end of the novel, he leaves her to travel as a one-man band and she carries on without a husband. Unlike Sissy, Evy has had only one marriage and is not assumed to be promiscuous. Eliza Rommely is Francie's third aunt that is only mentioned once. She became a nun because of her mother's love of the Catholic church.

Francie only met her once.