Rating: 
Summary: A child's memoir
Review: "When I looked back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."
It is almost impossible to ignore the strong imagery and personal experiences that Francis McCourt shares in Angela's Ashes. The story's subject matter concerns a world of poverty that few readers have experienced, yet they are invited to share McCourt's thoughts and feelings while growing up in Ireland. It is a memoir that is potent, funny, sad, and yet dignifying. In an interview, McCourt says "Even though we were poor, at the lowest level, even below the lowest economic level, we were always excited. It was rich in the sense that we had a lot to look up to, to look forward to, to aspire to, a lot to dream about. But in economic circumstances it was desperate."
Frank McCourt is the oldest of seven children - three of whom die at an early age. Born in New York City in 1931, the book follows his family's move to Limerick, Ireland when he is three years old. Ireland at this time is immersed in poverty, made only worse in McCourt's case by an alcoholic father who cannot hold a job and drinks away all of the money received from the dole. From age three to nineteen, when he leaves for America, McCourt endures a struggle with Protestants, the English presence in Ireland, strict Catholic school masters, bullying classmates, and the sickness and death associated with poverty.
Although the events he lives through are dismal, the impact of the book is not disheartening. It is a memoir written from a child's perspective, which creates a more personal feeling when reading the book. McCourt tells you everything he is thinking in a child's words. He describes the experiences the way he felt them when he was a child. This creates a jovial yet heavy sadness to the book.
Angela's Ashes is a fantastic book that gives an insight into what it would be like to live in poverty, and how a person could prevail over it. McCourt survived his childhood through a combination of virtue, hope, luck, and humor. He faced his obstacles with a child's innocence and conveys this through his perceptive writing. He won both the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award. When finished with the book, the reader is grateful to McCourt for sharing the qualities he learned growing up and inspiring those same qualities in us.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful Memoir
Review: With Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt joins the ranks of other talented writers like Mary Karr revolutionizing the way memoirs are written. Blending rich descriptions of the Irish childhood with personal insights into his own life, McCourt masterfully lures the reader along a path through his life leaving tears and laughter in his wake. What not only makes the book, despite its often horrific subject, readable but also a literary masterpiece is McCourt's ability to subtly insert good and happiness in small anecdotes amid the ruin that was the majority of his childhood. An example occurs midway through the book in a description of one of McCourt's neighbors. The boy is hunchbacked and deformed and has therefore decided he wants to be a radio announcer so that he can affect people and sound normal without being seen. Just after this beautiful idea is presented, McCourt relates how in order to raise money, the boy sold tickets to other boys allowing them to watch his sisters bathe. Startling and yet poignant, to me this anecdote is a summary of the book. A young boy trying to find hope in the dismal world that was Ireland.
Rating:
Summary: Survival
Review: This book tells the story of the childhood of Frank McCourt. McCourt was just an ordinary boy, born in New York City of Irish immigrant parents. After a family tragedy, his parents returned to Ireland with the children. And that's how this little kid from New York City ended up growing up in a lane in an Irish slum, learning essential survival skills like how to keep his belly full and his feet dry. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did- -Frank's father was a drunk who couldn't bring home a paycheck for more than a few weeks running, the house where they lived was flooded each spring from the lane's common privy, and educational opportunities were quite limited for boys without funds. In such circumstances, the only way to survive is not to fret about tomorrow or what the neighbors might think, but to go ever forward with determined independence.As I listened to this story as read by the author, I kept hearing my own grandfather's voice. Yes, I'd heard all the stories about childhood deprivation and inner strength, about drunken fathers and run-down houses, but I'd never really listened when my grandfather told them. "He's exaggerating," I thought, "Nobody ever lived like that." But after hearing the details of Frank's childhood, I realize that my grandfather wasn't complaining about his childhood or looking for sympathy. He was just trying to paint a picture of the experiences that he lived through, which were so very different from my own. There was something about my grandfather's style of speaking that made him sound different from everyone else I knew. He was born in the US so he didn't have an Irish accent at all, but there was something peculiar about the rhythm of his speech and the style of relating to others that I never noticed in other people's voices. As McCourt narrates conversations between his parents and aunts and uncles, I can hear my grandfather jumping into the fray, a bit drunk, but not so drunk that he couldn't come out with a witty remark that still leaves people laughing when they remember it forty years later. I understand now- -my grandfather was simply Irish. This book is a wonderful telling of childhood with all its ups and downs, honesty and deceit, grief and joy. McCourt's writing draws the reader into Frank's world, where they can hear his father singing in the pub and smell the bread and onions frying on the stove.
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable masterpiece
Review: This was, to my recollection, the first book I've ever read where the minute I was finished with it, I wanted to start reading it all over again. I didn't want to let little Frankie McCout go, I guess. This memoir of poverty, alcoholism, disease and death would be compelling in the hands of any decent writer, but in the hands of the sublimely talented Mr. McCourt, it is a masterpiece. That he can write so touchingly, forgivingly, and hilariously of his miserable boyhood without a trace of self-pity is astonishing. What I liked most was how he was able to get into the head of the boy he was from ages 3-19 and relate exactly how it felt at each stage. It's almost as if he wrote this memoir right as he was living it -- the persepective was that seamless and true. I could talk about the book's lyricism and beauty and strength of spirit, but it comes down to this: he brought these characters alive for me. And I will never forget the one-word final chapter that brought me to tears. One word! How does he do it? Long live Mr. McCourt, a new shining star among many fine Irish writers. I hope we have not heard the last of him.
Rating:
Summary: I will never read another book again.
Review: I first read Angela's Ashes several years ago when i was in 7th grade, and instantly realized that i could never read another book again, because none would ever come close to the beauty and grace displayed in this memoir. Although it sounds cliché, i laughed, and at parts, cried, and found myself thanking god that this amazing man was born.
Rating:
Summary: No book has ever hit me harder than this one
Review: Maybe a key factor to this book hitting me square between the eyes like it did, was the fact that this is a real person's memoirs. It's just another, "No matter had bad you think you have it..." book (which even the author realizes, as he notes a couple of his schoolmates who had it worse than him). However, it was more powerfully conveyed than by any other means I've ever read. Truly brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: Touched For Life
Review: I haven't read a better book and may never. It's not a put-down book. Your eyes won't want to stray from a single word. It's something you'll want to read over and over again. Frank's life is truly something you can't help but to drop your jaw at. It's filled with every emotion only each amplified. Without a big booming ending it made it's success in the mind haunting, beautiful details. It will make you take a trip to Ireland and pretend you're Frank McCourt in Limerick again. I'm glad he shared his life with us.
Rating:
Summary: Optimism, The unvaluable virtue
Review: If one keeps an optimistic attitude, then one can certainly overcome some of the highest hurdles found in life. This theme is powerfully shown in Frank McCourt's touching memoir, Angela's Ashes. Frank McCourt writes about his life as a boy up until his early years of adulthood. McCourt tells the story from the 1st person point of view and his style of writing dramatically changes as the character progressively gets older. Frank's father, Malachy McCourt is a self destructive alcoholic who pisses any money he makes at local pubs and leaves his family to desperately search for meals. Frank's mother Angela McCourt is a humorous but loving woman who never pities herself or her family. The story opens in the late 1920's in New York City. Malchy and Angela have already had four boys when they decide to move to Limerick, Ireland. Limerick is a town ridden by disease, poverty and as Frank so vividly describes it, rain. Frank's little brother Malachy, named after his father enjoys Frank's company and the two often take pleasure in adventures together. Frank tells of his times in Limerick from the perspective of a young boy and gives little opinion, this adds humor.
"It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood". Frank's childhood is one of deprivation and poverty. He and his siblings often have little to eat and sickness spreads through the family. Frank's father, Malachy continues to drink away his wages. As Frank gets older he struggles to deal with a severe case of typhoid and he is placed in the hospital for months. Frank is forced to befriend literature when no one else available. As Frank becomes a teenager he begins to work at several different jobs to help support his family. Despite all the problems Frank and his family face, optimism still prevails. McCourt does a marvelous job at laughing off the tragic circumstances that existed in his childhood. Frank's mother is forced to make sexual sacrifices to help support the family. Despite this, Frank still dreams of making enough money so his family will never have to suffer again. McCourt also makes many references to his Catholic upbringing. He accepts the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and does his best to be a good Catholic. When Frank grows older however, he is haunted by his sins and ultimately does his best to distract himself from his guilt.
Angela's Ashes is a great book which helps one appreciate their life and not take for granted the luxuries in our lives. McCourt does a brilliant job of making the reader cry and laugh while displaying his tough upbringing in Limerick. I personally would recommend this book to anyone especially those who love a good read with great characters and a satisfying ending. The reader will close the book with a smile, a tear and a rewarding feeling that reminds them of how powerful optimism can be.
Rating:
Summary: A strong argument for Audio Books...
Review: Frank McCourt narrates his own autobiography for the audio edition. Rarely ever do I find this preferable to reading the book yourself...but listening to him recount the trials and inequities of life in Limerick, Ireland adds a dimension not found in the text. Having grown up aware of the social and economic disparity in the world and in life, McCourt has developed a cynical, yet optimistic tone and it resonates in his voice. Rather than pity himself, follow the footsteps of his father and many like him and chase his sorrows away with the pint, he has turned troubles into an entertaining memoir. With his voice you are convinced that he only wants to amuse you, rather than seek your sympathy (the only sympathy he seems to desire is for unsung heroes, such as his mother). You can't help but picture him slightly grinning throughout the performance. Even if you read the book, I recommend finding the Audio Cassette or CDs...he truly brings his work to life. A sidenote: it also may be easier, since in the book he does not use quotation marks. You will spend some time differentiating between dialogue and narration.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad but Funny
Review: Although angela's ashes is a really sad book, the author writes everything with a light sense of humor. And as much as he tells us about the hardships of his childhood and how tough life at home was, he doesnt fail to stick in a good anecdote or two about school or him and his brothers. I really enjoyed this book, and i think that the author did a really good job of getting a not so bright story across without making the book a total sob-fest.
|
