3 books set in Brooklyn you need to read

I love books, which probably isn’t a surprise as a writer. As a writer who lives in Brooklyn (and is a New York native), I’m a sucker for books set in the borough, bringing me home and simultaneously making me nostalgic for worlds that no longer exist.

Here are three books I love that you should check out:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

This classic by Betty Smith, published in 1943, should be on your reading list, even if you’ve read it already. The book centers around gender dynamics, and focuses on a young teen who is sexually assaulted. This book, sadly, is timely right now and highlights toxic masculinity and partiarchal structures that keep so many survivors silent.

Last Exit to Brooklyn

This 1964 novel by Hubert Selby Jr. has become a cult classic because of its exploration and focus on lower and working class Brooklyn in the 1950s through six parts. Its conversational, often harsh portrayals of the time are still relevant today; due to its portrayals of taboo subjects, such as drug use, street violence, gang rape, homosexuality, transvestism and domestic violence, it was the subject of an obscenity trial in the United Kingdom and was banned in Italy. The book was largely set in Sunset Park and made into a film in 1989.

Sunset Park

This novel by Paul Auster, published in 2010, focuses on a man who moves back home to New York City and lives with an old friend in an abandoned home in Sunset Park. It’s a modern love story that is also about self-discovery.