Rating: 
Summary: The Editor must be English
Review: I feel sad for Frank McCort. Not for the rounds of conflict and redemption that continue through his writings . 'Tis strikes me as a wealth of story telling married to impoverished editing. Was someone, from page one, in too much a rush to get the jacket cover on a bar wall and thus managed to squeeze the last life's breath out of this extraordinary sequel ? The repetition that worked so well in the first book's view of church and school is wasted on anyone familiar with the American public school system (most of us reading the book?) Unless I missed some cryptic clues in either book, the last paragraph seemed more cold and distant than required; more an afterthought than a final one. I wanted to spend more time with Frank McCort and less with his writing. Again, I blame this on his editor's greed to get out a book in the wake of Angela's Ashes. Regretfully, Frank and his entire family deserve a better wake for "Tis; God knows, they laid out their lives for our enrichment.
Rating: 
Summary: A better read than most recent top ten books.
Review: "Tis" is a good, well-written book by an author who can transport you into his world with his lyrical prose and open, honest feelings. I have to admit, however, that this sequel left me a little angry with Frank McCourt. "Angela's Ashes" was the incredibly sad story of a little boy facing unbelievable odds who scratches his way through until he has the passage to America to start a new life. The little boy in Angela's Ashes has no control over what is happening to him--but the grown man in "Tis" chooses to not use control. How could this son of an alcoholic drink so much? He whines about his bad eyes and his teeth but never during the whole book does he try to get them fixed. Don't they have clinics for indigents in New York? Couldn't he have spent money on his eyes and teeth instead of booze?And why was he so mean to his mother?
Rating:
Summary: This man's life is interesting to know
Review: McCourt writes in a style thats as if he's talking to your face. He writes from the heart. The book zooms by due to this, it feels like you're having a conversation with him. Fun anecdotes.
Rating: 
Summary: Angela's story
Review: If you haven't read the first of Frank McCourt's books "Angela's Ashes," then I suggest you do so. I read that book for my college English class and realized what a talented author he is. So when I found out that he had a sequel, I had to check it out. "Tis" starts off where he left off in the first memoir. He tells about his adult life trying to make it in New York city. His biggest goal is to teach, but he must first climb over some obsticles that come his way. He wants to go to college, become a teacher, get married, and have kids like every American.
This book has some funny tales of his mischeif while in New York, and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the stories he had from teaching high school. He still has to deal with past demons from his childhood with his mother and father, which makes you both angry and sad. I suggest this book to anyone who has an open mind, and a soft place in their heart for our ancestors overcoming odds in America.
Rating:
Summary: Tis is a must read for everyone
Review: I read Angela's Ashes at the suggestion of a very good friend, Louis it was his favorite book and I have say I could see why. When a friend at work saw me reading it she told me about the sequel "Tis a Memoir", I just had to get it and I have to say that when I did, I could not put it down! It is an excellent book, Frank McCourt has such an engaging way of keep his reader hooked! Superb! I love his sense of humor, his triumphs a wonderful and give us all hope, a must read for all ages!
Rating:
Summary: And here¿s what happened next
Review: This book continues the story of Frank McCourt's life, from his return to American shores at the age of 19 through his middle age, as he finally makes peace with his parents. McCourt tells us about his work history and his romantic involvements, and how he became a writer (or at least a writing instructor). I didn't find this book as engaging as Angela's Ashes. Perhaps the struggles of adult life, deciding whether to stay at a lousy job or quit, or how to keep a relationship alive, just aren't as immediate as those of childhood- -where will your next meal come from? Will your father get up you up in the middle of the night again to make you swear you will die for Ireland? Or maybe the American characters in this tale lack the spirit of the Irish ones in Angela's Ashes. This book seemed to drag a bit, as McCourt details the slow meandering path that he took while pulling himself up from work cleaning ashtrays in a hotel lobby to becoming a teacher and a father. One trait that McCourt seemed to inherit from his father was the propensity to let drink get in the way of his family life. In this sense, it seems that McCourt didn't take all the lessons of his childhood to heart. As a result, his upward progress is perhaps a bit more bumpy than it needed to be. Nevertheless, McCourt can still tell stories, and as he relates the events of his wedding or first day in school, the reader is there with him in the scene as it unfolds. I also enjoyed his description of how he found and developed the particular teaching style that suited him. No, it's not easy to walk into a classroom as a new teacher in a tough school and establish a sense of order, let alone motivate students to learn. But when you're trying to get the students to read moldy old classics simply because they're part of the assigned high school curriculum, and the kids find out that you never had to read these books in school yourself because you didn't even attend high school, you're in thick soup. It's in such circumstances that McCourt truly comes into his own.
Rating:
Summary: WE WANT MORE!
Review: What a follow up. His life was so bad is was good and he tells it the way only Frank could. You practically fall in love with him and pray to God to send you back in time to meet up with him when he steps into America. It was a good ending to a good beginning.
Rating:
Summary: The best
Review: For those that don't know McCourt, I would suggest starting with "Angela's Ashes" first as this is the work he's most known for. That said, "Tis" is equally brilliant and moving. Lately I've been scouring Amazon for memoirs or memoir hybrids and have come across some excellent ones. Some are funny, some are disturbing, and some are brilliantly written. McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood" is one, and Author Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" is another. But by far, Frank McCourt is the best with "Angela's Ashes" and "Tis." I highly recommend this stellar read. But please, read "Ashes" first as "Tis" begins where the first book left off. "Tis" is for anyone who likes to laugh, cry, and feel alive.
Rating:
Summary: Frank did it again!!!!
Review: I loved this book, not as well as Angelas Ashes, but close. Frank has a wonderful sense of humor. I laughed alot while reading about his adventures as a inner city teacher. I am waiting patiently for his next book. Frank has to be my favorite author of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Vincent Jiang's Tis review
Review: Frank Mccourt is born in Irish, he had won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize, and other important awards and his book "The Angela's Ashes" became a bestseller over three years. He has destroyed teeth, pimply face and sore eyes.
'Tis is a book that continued from a book call "The Angela's Ashes." Both books are a biography that written by Frank Mccourt. The Angela's Ashes is about Frank Mccourt's young age in Irish, how he experience conflict from his parent, which affects him made a decision coming to America. And the book 'Tis is about Frank's America journey from a poor immigrant to an intelligent teacher. Frank Mccourt is a very strong and has gentle sense of humor. Frank Mccourt lands in New York at age nineteen in the October of 1949. When he first steps in New York, he meets a priest from a company and he introduces Frank a job at the Biltmore Hotel. And then Frank is drafted into the army and is sent to Germany to train dogs and type reports. When Frank returns to America in 1953, he works on the pier. By then, he always dreams of being a student. He is accepted at New York University without any required high school degree. At the University he meets Alberta Small, the lovely girl in NYU. In the summer of 1961 Frank marries her. In 1971 his daughter Maggie is born and they have their own house, but the marriage of Frank and Alberta fails. Five year later, Frank walks out and stays with a friend. Later on, Frank decided to study at Brooklyn College he sometimes sees his mother and his mother died from too much smoking. Frank visits his father twice-in Belfast, his father was drunk all the time and hasn't change anything good. In January 1985 Frank's father dies at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Frank flies to the funeral in Belfast. After he finish Brooklyn College. He went back to New York and decided to start his teaching career.
The book writes about Frank's ability to succeed in America, Although Frank finds himself trapped in difficult relationships with his parent, and making several problems in America, Frank's sees clearly about education with his Irish eyes. The theme of this book is mostly on family relationships.
The significant of this book will be related to the book "Angela's Ashes." Frank Mccourt talks about his childhood with his Catholic mother, his 3 brothers, and his alcoholic father left the family in poverty. Frank felt regretted bout leaving his mother in Ireland when the time he was in New York. He wrote lot lyrics in the book. Ending with
A mother's love is a blessing
No matter where you roam,
Keep her while she's living,
You'll miss her when she's gone.
|
