Rating: Summary: angelas ashes Review: Frank McCourt was born during the Depression-era in Brooklyn. Later, his family moves to Limerick, Ireland, where he is raised in the slums. Both of his parents were from Ireland originally. His mother, Angela, didn't have any money to feed the children. Frank's father, Malachy, is an alcoholic who drinks away the family's little money. He can't get or keep a job because of his drinking. Although Frank shows anger towards his father many times throughout the book, he loved to hear his father's stories. Through his life, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the cruelty of his relatives and neighbors. Yet he tells his tale with courage and a lot of forgiveness without being bitter. Frank McCourt writes in a way that will keep his audiences attention. It captured me because of its unique experiences and its vivid details. The extreme poverty that he lives in made me appreciate everything that I have. The way McCourt wrote made me feel like I was living his life with him. I felt his sorrow when he was sad, I laughed when he laughed, and I felt his anger toward the people in his life that he did, which is rare in a book. The book will keep you up turning the pages, waiting for his next jovial remark about his miserable life. Frank McCourt was often angry at everything. He was angry at the Church, at his father, his mother, and his poverty. Most people, after reading this book will be amazed with Frank and his ability to forgive everyone without being bitter. Frank manages to survive on his wits, and return to America to start his life over. "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I manages to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse that the ordinary childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Frank shows that even through the hardest times, there's always a way to get through. I recommend this book for everyone. Whether you laugh, cry, love, or even hate, this book will touch you in some way, and teach you to truly cherish the things you have.
Rating: Summary: I was so happy to find out it was not true. Review: McCourt is a brilliant writer and on that basis alone this is a worthwhile read even though I always felt it was biased against Irish-Catholicism. Oh, well that's fair game in a memoir. So why one star? The book pretends to be a biography. There is now an overwhelming amount of evidence that Ashes is a fictional novel loosely based on boyhood anxieties. McCourt may have intended this as a literary device but I'm sorry a lie is a lie is a lie.
Rating: Summary: Beautiful Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. Even though McCourts life seemed like a never ending hell, the way he writes, he just doesn't seem to be mad at the world. I also liked how he never made himself out to be the "hero" of the story and included all of his flaws in his story telling. I must say the story is rather depressing, but McCourts wit and sarcasm relieves some of the empathy one would feel for the family. The book also made me realize how much I have and that I should be thankful for my gifts. It truly is a heart warming tale, in which you not only learn about a family's plight, but you also get to watch and learn how a boy grows up inspite of all his hardships and becomes a man.
Rating: Summary: Fascinating, a Joy to Read Review: In "Angela's Ashes," Franck McCourt recounts his turbulent childhood in Ireland, ranging from the extreme poverty of the McCourt family, his father's alcoholism and the death of three of his siblings in a memoir that is both witty and full of sorrow. McCourt was able to grab my attention from the first page; unlike other books that tend to drag along at points, I found "Angela's Ashes" gripping and impossible to put down.Born in Brooklyn in the 1930s, Frank McCourt takes the reader through his early years in New York, the McCourt family's return to Ireland and the daily struggles of his life (including some humorous scenes with his headmasters in school). "Angela's Ashes" is one of the few books that I have read in the past year that keep my interest, caused me to laugh out loud and feel extreme sorrow, anger (at Malachy, the father) and pity for the McCourt family. The movie version was excellent, but I recommend reading the book before viewing the movie because it is the only way to fully appreicate McCourt's prose, humor and optimism. I'm looking forward to reading "Tis," the sequel to "Angela's Ashes."
Rating: Summary: A funny thing about HELL Review: One might question the sanity of a person who could laugh at the painful impoverishment depicted in Angela's Ashes, but I shamelessly laughed out loud many times. McCourt's memoir is so cleverly written that good readers are sure to see his bittersweet tongue in his cheek as he uses humor to recover from a woeful childhood. I think the moral of the story is that if he can survive the Irish perdition, there is much hope for all of us. WARNING: the movie does little justice to this fine work by McCourt.
Rating: Summary: Amazing. Absolutely Amazing. Review: Growing up in an Irish family, I always knew that no one could tell a story like an Irishman. So reading Frank McCourt's moving tale of his childhood in the slums of Limerick, Ireland, was like a flashback to my childhood, to those days of listening to Aunts & Uncles and my Grandmother telling stories about their younger days; Specificlly the way they could tell the most horrible story, and still manage to get a belly laugh out of it, while also bringing a tear to your eye. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud reading this book, only to find myself crying over the very next paragraph. As Frank himself says on the first page, it's a miracle he (And his Brothers) managed to survive childhood. This book truly deserves all the accolades that have been heaped upon it. I finished it last night, and I'm already reading Malachy McCourt's book, A Monk Swimming, and I can't wait to start the sequel to Ashes, 'Tis. This is a remarkable book, one of the best I've ever read.
Rating: Summary: America or Bust Review: Frank McCourt's memoir of his childhood in Depression Ireland is a tale of a struggle against poverty, orthodox religious affirmations and nationalistic fervour. What lifts him from human degradation is ambition and the sheer will to live. His fascination for America is his salvation as he drives himself to achieve the ecstatic vision of the Statue of Liberty. McCourt's depiction of human strength is simple yet profound. He is a talented storyteller. This is a must read for all who are in the brink of giving up hope.
Rating: Summary: A Wonderful Mother Review: Despite the misery that the McCourt family had to live through, there was a tremendous amount of love and warmth holding the family together. Angela, the mother, did everything she could for the children, often depriving herself of food and clothing to give to her children. In the end, it was the love and nurturing that greatly contributed to the strength of character that her children developed with at least two becoming successful authors in the US. A good story about parenting even in the harshest of conditions.
Rating: Summary: Angela's ashes Review: This book is about poverty with a very poor family in irland and the book takes you through a bunch of things that the family endures in their life so if you are into reading about these things this is a book for you.
Rating: Summary: Delightful and Distasteful Review: When I first started listening to "Angela's Ashes" I was hoping for a glimpse into the life of the common Irish. Much of the book was an absolute delight, whole other parts were very distasteful. "Angela's Ashes" is Frank McCourt's story of his life from his first memories in New York, through his childhood and teen years in Limerick until he is able to save enough to return to America on his own. At the start of the book, McCourt says: "My father and mother should have stayed in New York where they met and married and where I was born...Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." He then writes a first person stream of consciousness narrative to prove his premise. The parts of the book which were absolute delights were the parts in which one is treated to the language of the Irish with all of their peculiar phrases, expectations and beliefs. While listening to these selections, I was reminded of some of the phases which I have heard from my Irish born relatives. Some of the beliefs and world views illustrated did not seem so different from some of which I have heard or even held. There is just enough truth to make the quotations humorous. I am glad that I listened to the audio version which was read by the author. His Irish accent made the book more entertaining than the written word would have been. I noticed that the pronunciation was not always the way the book was writen. The oppressive and endless poverty and burden of alcoholism are depressing but, in his as in too many families, real tragedies. The characters are, perhaps, realistic dichotomies. Malachy, seems to be a good man when sober, but his weakness for the drink renders him an irresponsible father. Angela, the mother, seems to be a an incompetent personality who, somehow, manages to hold her family together when with little and, eventually, no help from Malachy. The initial, cold receptions of the McCourts by their families in Ireland ultimately give way to grudging acceptance and assistance. Frankie, the author and narrator, begins as a naive child who, forced by circumstances, becomes a self sufficient adult. Perhaps the tragedy of Frankie is that, immersed in a world of hardship and formal religion he learns much about self-sufficiency but little about morality. The parts of the book which I found to be most distasteful were the later sections which degenerated into what would have to qualify the work for an "X" rating. Perhaps this is McCourt's ultimate way of proving his premise that the worst childhood is an Irish Catholic childhood. I suspect that this would have been a better book had the immorality been eliminated from the later sections, but, perhaps, it would not then have conveyed the intended message. This book is enjoyable to read in parts and I am glad to know what it is about, but any endorsement would have to be lukewarm.
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