책이 두께가 있고, 글씨는 또 깨알같아서 읽는데 시간 좀 걸리겠다 했는데 

문체가 심플해서 부담없이 쉽게 읽히는 책이다 

작정하고 시간 내서 마음 잡고 몰입해서 읽어야 하는 책이 있는가 하면, 

이 책은 일상생활을 하면서도 틈나는대로 조금식 짬을 내어 읽어도 충분히 즐길 수 있는 책이다. 극도로(?) 잔잔하게 흘러가는, 차분하게 어린 시절을 회고하는 식의 소설이지만 지루하거나 몰입도가 떨어지거나 하진 않는다. 각 챕터마다 크고 작은 깨달음과 감동이 있어 여운을 남기는 아름다운 소설이다. 

"Mother, I am young. Mother, I am just eighteen. I am strong. I will work hard, Mother. But I do not want this child to grow up just to work hard. What must I do, Mother, what must I do to make a different world for her? How do I start?"

"The secret lies in the reading and the writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret." - p.83

"Because," explained Mary Rommely simply, "the child must have a valuable thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which live things that never were. It is necessary that she believe. She must start out by believing in things not of this world. Then when the world becomes too ugly for living in, the child can reach back and live in her imagination. I, myself, even in this day and at my age, have great need of recalling the miraculous lives of the Saints and the great miracles that have come to pass on earth. Only by having these things in my mind can I live beyond what I have to live for."

"The child will grow up and find out things for herself. She will know that I lied. She will be disappointed."

"That is what is called learning the truth. It is a good thing to learn the truth one's self. To first believe with all your heart, and then not to believe, is good too. It flattens the emotions and makes them to stretch. When as a woman life and people disappoint her, she will have had practice in disappointment and it will not come so hard. In teaching your child, do not forget that suffering is good too. It makes a person rich character."

- p. 84

Don't say that," Katie held her baby tightly. "It's not better to die. Who wants to die? Everything struggles to live. Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and water only when it rains. It's growing out of sour earth. And it's strong because its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way." 

"Aw, somebody ought to cut that tree down, the homely thing."

"If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful," said Katie. "But because there are so many, you just can't see how beautiful it really is. Look at those children." She pointed to a swarm of dirty children playing in the gutter. "You could take any one of them and wash him good and dress him up and sit him in a fine house and you would think he was beautiful." - p. 94

내가 가장 좋아하는 대목...

학교 입학하기 전 의무적인 예방접종을 하는 날인데, 학교 가기 전에 반드시 씻고 가라는 엄마 말을 깜빡하고 꼬질꼬질한채 그냥 가버렸다. 팔에다 주사를 맞는데 프랜시의 꼬질꼬질한 팔을 보고는 의사가 짜증을 내며 간호사에게 말한다. 

 "아침부터 저녁까지 온통 더러운 아이들 뿐이네. 아무리 가난해도 그렇지 씻을 수는 있잖아. 물은 공짜고, 비누는 싼데. 저 팔좀 봐."그러게요. 정말 끔찍하지 않아요? 선생님 정말 힘드시겠어요. 이런 사람들이 더럽게 사는 데는 변명의 여지가 없죠."

그 어린 마음에 수치심과 모멸감으로 치를 떨며 크게 상처받은 프랜시는 똑부러지게 의사에게 말한다. 

"다음은 제 동생 차례에요. 걔도 저만큼이나 더러우니까 놀라지 마세요. 그리고 그 아이한테 굳이 말씀하실 필요 없어요. 이미 저한테 말씀하셨으니까요. 게다가 말해도 소용 없을거에요. 남자 아이라 그런 거 신경 안쓰니까요." 

이에 깜놀한 의사와 간호사, "저 아이가 우리가 하는 말을 다 알아듣고 있을줄은 몰랐네." 

"There's no other place like it," Francie said. 

"Like what?"

"Brooklyn. It's a magic city and it isn't real."

"It's just like any other place."

"It isn't! I go to New York every day and New York's not the same. I went to Bayonne once to see a girl from the office who was home, sick. And Bayonne isn't the same. It's mysterious here in Brooklyn. It's like - yes - like a dream. The houses and streets don't seem real. Neither do the people."

"They're real enough - the way they fight and holler at each other and the way they're poor, and dirty, too."

"But it's like a dream of being poor and fighting. They don't really feel these things. It's like it's all happening ain a dream."

"Brooklyn is no different than any other place," said Neeley firmly. 

"It's only your imagination makes it different. But that's all right," he added magnanimously, "as long as it makes you feel so happy." - p. 406