Legendary writer Trevanian brings readers his most personal novel yet: a funny, deeply felt, often touching coming-of-age novel set in 1930s America. Six-year-old Jean-Luc LaPointe, his little sister, and his spirited but vulnerable young mother have been abandoned—again—by his father, a charming con artist. With no money and nowhere else to go, the LaPointes create a fragile nest in a … fragile nest in a tenement building at 238 North Pearl Street in Albany, New York.
For the next eight years, through the Great Depression and Second World War, they live in the heart of the Irish slum, surrounded by ward heelers, unemployment, and grinding poverty. Pearl Street is also home to a variety of “crazyladies”: Miss Cox, the feared and ridiculed teacher who ignites Jean-Luc’s imagination; Mrs. Kane, who runs a beauty parlor/fortune-telling salon in the back of her husband’s grocery store; Mrs. Meehan, the desperate, harried matriarch of a thuggish family across the street; lonely Mrs. McGivney, who spends every day tending to her catatonic husband, a veteran of the Great War; and Jean-Luc’s own unconventional, vivacious mother. Colorful though it is, Jean-Luc never stops dreaming of a way out of the slum, and his mother’s impossible expectations are both his driving force and his burden.
As legendary writer Trevanian lovingly re-creates the neighborhood of his youth in this funny, deeply moving coming-of-age novel, he also paints a vivid portrait of a neighborhood, a city, a nation in turmoil, and the people waiting for a better life to begin. It’s a heartfelt and unforgettable look back at one child’s life in the 1930s and ’40s, a story that will be remembered long after the last page is turned.
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This brought back so many things I had forgotten about years ago
The title, The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street led me to expect a realistic but at least somewhat humorous book depicting whacky or at least slightly deranged women living life during the Great Depression. What I found was a book about a family, mostly one young boy and his apparently bipolar mother, scraping to get by during extremely hard times and one chapter on one woman and an episode of her painful method of handling overwhelming stress.
The book, while accurately depicting the economic depression, was gritty without the softer edges of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or any periodic humorous relief. It was a grind to read and I finally gave up after pushing myself to three-quarters of the way through. This is the 4th book in my life I didn’t finish and I only give up if a book shows absolutely no chance of recovery.
How this book became a bestseller is beyond my comprehension.
Please also note that the author loves to over-utilize his vast vocabulary. In his own words he found it humorous. (I’m assuming this gentleman has a masters in English)
I have an extensive vocabulary yet found myself having to look up an far too many words to provide me a smooth reading experience.
If you are looking for a faboulous, realistic and and truly wonderful book set in the depression, read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. You won’t be disappointed and you will read it to the end.
If you like wordy descriptions that leave you a little lost where your story line was going, and if you like to highlight every other word to find the meaning, this is the book for you. Just because you know obscure words, doesn’t mean you should use them in your writing.
It was informative about the depression era but I thought it was depressing.
Started it several times but just can’t get into it. Have had it on my kindle for months but can’t get back into it.
I did not like this book at all.
Just and enjoyable read.
Just didn’t hold my interest
He is very descriptive about the time period. I enjoyed the history lesson.
Couldn’t get through it
slow reading.difficult to finish.
This is a based-on-true wonderful coming-of-age tale set in 1930’s NY by one of my favorite authors.
Hard to get into but a pretty good story.
Wasn’t what I thought it would be but very entertaining. I highly recommend
I enjoyed the story, especially the author’s descriptions of his life, responsibilities as a youngster nursing his mother and doing a man’s work to help keep the family functional all of which took such a huge toll on him. Choices do matter and do have consequences.
I haven’t finished this book, but it’s easy to pick up and know just what’s been going on. It’s a pleasure to read
Beautifully written.
Tedious
This was the author’s last book and, while written in novel form, was an account of his life.
A day to day piece of history with interesting characters – a slice of the immagrint beginnings