Rating: 
Summary: Review the book not his life!
Review: You people are making the mistake of reviewing his life rather than the book. Let's not forget this is a memoir and not a fairy tale. So if the story doesn't turn out all happily ever after like you wished Angela's Ashes would turn out, well go have a jump for yourselves! This is reality folks and things don't always turn out the way you want. The vivid writing and engaging narrative voice are still the same. The fact that you're unhappy with the way things turn out should not be a factor when you're judging a book. If you do, then you're no better than Hollywood types that take a melancholy true story and twist it to no end and add a fake happy ending just to make the audiences happy. You sad sad sheep.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Angela's Ashes . . .
Review: But I must say it's hard to attain such perfection twice. No, 'Tis isn't quite everything that Angela's Ashes was and it's very likely the success of the first book is what caused Mr. McCourt to write this one. But, despite this, his style is still fresh and original and makes the pages just fly by. Definitely a sadder tone and ending than Angela's, perhaps reflecting Mr. McCourt's overall depression and outlook of life. It does gloss over some things. I'd've liked to hear more about his teaching adventures but overall, the style is still wonderful and the subject material always interesting. You owe it to yourself to pick this up if you enjoyed Angela's Ashes.
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: As an avid fan of Angela's Ashes, I picked up 'Tis with great anticipation. I read the first two thirds of the book with interest but then McCourt began to irritate me. I found I had no reason to stay engaged. He obviously learned nothing from his father - Frankie drinks excessively too. He marries because he is obsessed with his girlfriend's looks, not because he likes her. He may be a terrific teacher, but his experiences at McKee don't indicate it. The anecdotes became repetitive - too much to drink, hangover, bad day at school, bad night at home. I skimmed the last third of the book and was incredibly disappointed that this wasn't a repeat performance.
Rating:
Summary: Frank Gets to the U.S. and Remains Human!
Review: Well, mercy me! Frank makes it to the U.S. and doesn't turn out to be the ultra-ambitious and instantly successful immmigrant that so many people think he should have been. Welcome to the real world, readers.I found 'Tis to be MORE enjoyable than I had expected, thanks to its reality and honesty. If Frank had glossed over his early years here, then the entire book wouldn't have rung true. Hooray for his ability to (eventually) overcome his ailments, his insecurities and his lack of education. It's nice to see a man's warts. To have expected someone with his background to land on the shores of this country with the knowledge and know-how to become a superstar is foolish. The man had a learning curve, like all of us, and I'd say in the end he's done just fine. Sorry he didn't forgive and love Angela like the perfect child many think he should have become, but I found the truthfulness of his story to be marvelous. 'Tis proves that the American Dream is just that -- a dream. It is up to the individual to make that dream a reality. Frank McCourt succeeded, both in his teaching career and in his writing. I know of one of his former students from Stuyvesant, and this man says Frank McCourt was the best teacher he ever had. That alone should be measured as success. All the other stuff that makes up 'Tis is the ladder he climbed to reach that success. Hooray for Frank McCourt and his great honesty and humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Read it over and over again
Review: It was a powerful book describing life in NY through the eyes of an immigrant. Made me laugh, made me cry, and when it was over, I turned the book flap around and started reading it again. When all the other kids at the NYU cafeteria were complaining about GPA's and plagiarism, Frankie was wishing he was one of them.. him with the sore eyes, and pimply face. You see it differently. 5 stars, off the charts~ =]
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Come on you guys who don't like the way Frank turned out and think he ended up like his father! His father never wrote a Pulitzer winning novel, and thank God he didn't! It would have been some "hard drinkin'" to dispose of several million dollars. Frank had me hooked from his first experience trying to eat a Lemon Pie in the bathroom of an American theater. Hilarious! I also loved his dog and Michael, what's left of him. Wonderful sense of humor! Not quite the same as Angela's Ashes, but still great in a different way. I liked the fact that Frank is very honest about his own faults and shortcomings!
Rating:
Summary: instead, read "Angela's Ashes" again
Review: An obviously rushed sequel to Angela's Ashes that has none of the magic or joyous undertone of the first book. It reads more like a draft of a manuscript instead of a polished and poignant memoir.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy the Abridged CD/Tapes
Review: I wanted the unabridged version, but when the abridged came along I could not hold out for the complete story. If "'Tis" is as full a novel as Angela's Ashes was, you'd never know it by the abridged CD. On the other hand, Frank McCourt is doing the reading and I always feel like he's talking straight to me. His voice is wonderful and his storytelling a high art. If you haven't read it yet make sure you have the entire text.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but unsatisfying story
Review: More enjoyable than Angela's Ashes, but somewhat lacking in closure. It gets boring after Frank finally gets the teaching job. He's quite admirable and beatifully sensitive up until that point. Let's face it, the character Frank isn't that great of a teacher, constantly thinks about sex, marries a bombshell then gets bored of the whole scenario--he's hopeless! Not a hero in any way. Does he care about Alberta, his wife at all or is she, like every other woman who's passed through his life an object of lust? Repetitive is right, especially the way he harps on about his sad, sad self and childhood. Give me a break. Frank Mc Court says it himself. He's just too low-born to appreciate living well or aspire to much higher than his station and though often unsatisfied, is not very ambitious. He's passive to the goings on around him and doesn't ever seem happy or much of a deep thinker. Having come to America, Angela, his mother is rude, caustic and low-class herself. Not a feel good book.
Rating:
Summary: The Melancolia of Frank McCourt
Review: I too couldn't wait to get my hands on this book after hearing Angela's Ashes audio in the author's voice. It's not possible to read this book without an Irish brogue dancing in your head. The melancholy of McCourt's humor does more than hint at the history of drunkeness that carries over into the next generation - it's really sad that brother Malachy's pub became so popular, the place to be, because of lots of drink and the raucous fun that sometimes goes with it. I couldn't help but feel Frank hit a deep chord in all of us who at one time or other, for one reason or another, didn't quite fit in - him with his red-rimmed runny eyes, and 'wrong' clothes. But was he not the cleverest English teacher for devising a way to get the illiterate bunch assigned him to love to learn? Teachers take note. The ending was a surprise, not as I would have liked. It wrapped up Angela's saga, perhaps it was Frank's way of saying he doesn't have another book in him. What a pity that would be.
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