alyssa pagan December 29 2011Brooklyn Rose The main character is Rose. She lives some where in the south and marry’s a fifty year old man. Rose is 14. She has mom a dad a sister and a little brother. Her sister has married just a few days before her. Her sister is now expecting a baby as for Rose as well. Rose’s husband is another main character. He is a 50 years old man. He owns a silk store . He has a younger who owns the store as well. They are billionars. The main conflict is that Rose meets this guy at a party and Rose really likes him. But this girl at her school tells her that he owns her family’s morgage. So she marrys him so wont harm her family. The main problem is that she starts to love with him. But she doesn’t want to because she thinks he holds her family morgage. So she tries not to love him. Rose tries to put him to a test to see if really loves her. so she runs away and see if tries to find her if not shell go home to her family. I think the lesson in the story is that love is not perfect. That loves has no age. You can love some one what ever age it doesn’t matter what age. The story was in the late 1800-1900. Somewhere in the south. In the beginning it take place in the south then more in middle and end it took place Brooklyn. Rose lives with her mom, dad, sister and little brother. In the south. Her sister marry’s some guy and at her party she meets a guy. And a few weeks later she gets married . Her sister comes back and hears that there will be another wedding and its her sisters. Rose marries the guy and sees that he is really good to her. One day when her husband was at work she went out side at the garden to plant stuff. She saw this girl planting and Rose asked, “ do you work for us”, and she said “No”. Rose is pregnit and her husband is very happy. She puts him to a test and runs away. To see if he really loves her. She waits and waits and finally he comes really angry and tells her what is wrong with she says nothing and go back home that was the end. The major turn point is that Rose tries not to love him. But at the end she learns how to love and have a baby and live a happy life. The conflict does get solved because she doesn’t care anymore if she has a husband that is 50 years old. She loves him and that is all that matters
After reading this, I hastily re-read The Last Silk Dress to make sure that my fond memories thereof weren't just a case of 8-to-15-year-old me being TOTALLY WRONG. Happily, I can continue to see my young self as a prodigy. The Last Silk Dress is great (although I will say that the 15-year-old and the 22-year-old making out while undermining the Confederacy is way, WAY creepier now). Brooklyn Rose, on the other hand, is really... not good. Item 1: This time, the 15-year-old actually is married to the 30-year-old. The major conflict of the novel involves the husband basically trying to trick Rose into acting like a grown-up, thereby explicitly acknowledging that she's not. Meheuggh.Item 2: Even discounting the ick factor of the above, can you really write a book about being married semi-against your will at fifteen without mentioning sex at ALL? It's not like Ann never got the Talk from her mama (her character Susan in TLSD knows about brothels and mistresses and at one points asks her own brother if he shagged the half-sister help before she was shipped North). Furthermore, Rose and off-putting older husband ARE havin' it: she's pregnant for the second half of the book. But she hasn't had the baby when the book ends (!), so the actual realities of childbirth -- you know, something that might be interesting and relevant for readers -- are a thematic no-go. Actually, the whole book is. Item 3: I'm pretty sure that young ladies didn't still say "this day" for "today" in 1900. There are a bunch of other similar diction/tone issues. Rinaldi, there are actually different time periods in American history. It's crazy.Item 4: The story is almost uncannily boring. In theory, there's a ton of human interest in the story of a sociosexual arrangement that's foreign to modern readers. But if you don't actually talk about what it's like to, whoops, be married as a kid, then no. What does happen is just pure syrup. Plucky young wife lifts neighborhood wretches out of poverty and gloom and wins over disapproving older wives! Mothers-in-law are the worst, especially those from France!I didn't realize until I wrote this how much I disliked this book, both on its own demerits and as a Rinaldi effort. Mew.
What do You think about Brooklyn Rose (2006)?
I liked this, but, um, where's the second half of the book? It cut off with no resolutions, and that's disappointing. I'm a big fan of Ann Rinaldi's, and I think it's great that she wrote a novel about her grandparents, whom she never knew. It's just that the book was far less complex and far more lacking than any of her others. I liked Rose and Rene, was intrigued by how their marriage worked with the age difference (15 and 30), and would have liked to see more about them. I feel like it set up so many things and delivered on none.
—Shelley
Read by Jodine, Spring 2006:"I chose the book because it looked pleasant and interesting. I found it in the youth room in the basement of Willard Library, so I could be confident that it really is "youth literature." The reading level is actually easier than I expected, so I would place it anywhere from 7th through 9th grade. Although the story deals with a semi-arranged marriage and the couple's wedding night, the language used is very appropriate and discreet. I would be comfortable letting my daughters read this book when they are in 7th or 8th grade. "
—Robert B. Miller
Brooklyn Rose is a story told in diary format about the author's grandmother. Rose is a 15 year old southern girl, and doesn't want to ever leave her family. She doesn't have much of a personality to speak of, and is very obedient and sweet. Unfortunately, her family has accumulated debt, and to help pay it off, Rose marries a wealthy man twice her age and moves to Brooklyn. Once there, Rose finds her housekeeper dead on the floor of her new house. She is very frightened, and her life only gets
—Gretchen
