Rating: 
Summary: Trust me ... 'Tis is well worth the read!
Review: I personally loved 'Tis. I couldn't wait for it to come out and read it with the same fervor as I did AA. I don't think it's fair to compare the two as they are really one book - just a part I and part II. Frank McCourt has given us a rare glimpse into human nature and his story has truly touched the entire world. I intend to go to a book signing for 'Tis in January. Thanks Frank for completing the story for us ....
Rating: 
Summary: Boring--and unnecessary profanity from a Catholic man!
Review: I listened to the abridged tape on a long distance drive---I was a captive audience. I found it totally boring and anti-climatic. There was no compelling reason to continue to listen, but I was trapped in the car. The frequent use of profanity added no depth to the content and was a distraction to continued thought processes. It made me wince.The story provided good insights into the struggles of our early imigrants and the obstacles they faced. This provided an even deeper respect for my own ancestors.
Rating:
Summary: The nut didn't fall to far from the tree
Review: I loved Angela's Ashes and couldn't wait to read Tis however I had to force myself to finish this book. I kept thinking that at some point this man would realize that he had everything he needed right in front of him to find happiness. But he never did. He was in many ways very much like his father. He didn't apear to have any passion or inspiration behind becoming a teacher. Every situation seemed to add more confusion to his wo-is-me daily existance including his romance and marriage which was told with a surprising lack of emotion or love. It seemed that the only time he lifted his meloncolly tone was when he spoke of his daughter. I believe that before Frank McCort writes another book he could benefit by reading another best seller by Phil McGraw called Life Strategies. Why did he write this book? There seemed to be no purpose or meaning other than to add another cover to the tavern wall.
Rating: 
Summary: Tis
Review: As a follow-up to his "Angela's Ashes", this book is a total disappointment. McCourt has exposed himself as just another drunken Irish anglophobe. He apparently did not learn anything from his father's behaviour, that he so condemned in his first book. This book is about on par with his brother, Malachy McCourt's, "A Monk Swimming", which is no more than an account of stupid, drunken shenanigans.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: Not as good as the first, but just as interesting. I finished it in two days, it was really hard to stop reading it and sorry it had to end. He was married to Alberta, but looking on the back cover, his wife's name was Ellen. I was hoping he would fill us in on what happened with that, and continue the story with the continuing events in his life, but I guess he had to end the story somewhere. His style of writing is very unique, but is a good change from the usual. I enjoyed the part when he taught on Staten Island, the classroom discussions were really entertaining. I was hoping he'd include a little more about the brothers I heard so much about in the first book. Overall, I liked Angela's Ashes better, but this one came in close.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE
Review: I PROMISED MYSELF I WOULD NEVER READ 'TIS, A MEMOIR, AND I AM HALF-WAY WITHIN MY PROMISE, BECAUSE, LIKE ANGELA'S ASHES, I WAS ONLY ABLE TO PLOW THROUGH THREE CHAPTERS. WHY I DO THIS TO MYSELF WITH MCCOURT'S BOOKS I DON'T KNOW. I CAN ONLY SAY "MORE BLARNEY".
Rating:
Summary: 'Tis doesn't spoil A.A.!
Review: Although I was a little skeptical at points, Frank McCourt manages to come through. He ties Angela's Ashes to 'Tis in an insanely intelligent fashion, and it is a definite must-read. Not as good as the first, but still worth it!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Entertaining!
Review: Excellent book. Almost every chapter had an anecdote or two. His perspective of being a teacher and his view of the old days at Stuyvesant High School was quite refreshing to me since I am a senior from Stuyvesant.
Rating:
Summary: Sequel Dives Deeper Into Irish Angst
Review: Author Frank McCourt may refer to himself as the "Mick of the moment" but in three years, he truly has soared from being a retired New York City school teacher to literary phenomenon. In 1996, people around the world were moved by McCourt's poignant memories of growing up in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Angela's Ashes has topped best seller lists for two years and won a Pulitzer Prize. Critics and admiring readers alike have been awaiting a sequel and now 'Tis here. 'Tis, A Memoir picks up where Angela's Ashes left off. As a matter of fact, the title refers directly to the final sentence in Angela's Ashes, serving as response to a sailor's question; "Isn't this a great country altogether?" 'Tis covers the years from 1949 to 1985, when young Frank arrived in New York City. We follow this bewildered young Irishman with the bad teeth and infected red eyes, as he strives for the suburban, picket fence "tormenting American dream". 'Tis, the sequel can certainly stand alone, but I would suggest reading Angela's Ashes first, in order to fully understand the nuances and angst of this son of an alcoholic. Malachy McCourt literally abandoned his young family to starvation in Ireland while he drank his war factory wages in England. Like all children of alcoholics, Frank McCourt yearns for an explanation of how a father could "choose the bottle over the babies". McCourt's life in the New World was no bed of roses either, as he progressed from cleaning up after the glamorous Ivy Leaguers partying in the Biltmore Hotel to the casual brutality of military life in Germany. After a post army stint loading meat on the docks, McCourt finally finagled his way into college via the GI Bill and some Irish blarney. He then settled into life as teacher, erratic family man and veteran storyteller in the pubs of New York. In cultural and political perspective, this sequel is much broader in scope than the childhood memoir. McCourt's Dickensian descriptions of boarding house room mates and the edgy comradey of the docks makes for riveting reading. Just imagine 12 boarders sharing 2 towels and 8 beds. Equally gritty are the descriptions of Frank's military career. Drafted into the US Army at the outset of the Korean War, McCourt ended up in Germany in the Canine corps "despite no rapport whatsoever with dogs". German prostitutes and military typing instructors provided future opportunities for growth. Here again, irony alternates with pathos. A report on the "benefits of kotex in padding the shoulders of the fighting men of America", is followed by a heart wrenching tale of delivering laundry to Dachau. Frank decided against saying three Hail Marys at the ovens because "Jesus hadn't been any way helpful to the Jews in those times". Angela, McCourt's mother remains a powerful presence throughout 'Tis, as she comes to America to spend her final years with her sons. Frank maintains a complicated relationship with her that will be recognized by all caregivers of aging parents-equal parts love and exasperation. Angela's boys continually tried to please her, but never quite succeeded. When she finally died (still complaining) Frank's reaction: "I thought I'd know.....the fine high mourning..to suit the occasion. I didn't know I'd feel like a child cheated". While there is no poetry in real grinding poverty, McCourt evokes poetic truth in the story of his survival. Always he was able to find escape and solace in books and the reading room of the New York Public Library. He was guided to this haven by a surly bar tender who directed him to the building with the two stone lions and told him not to come back until he had read "The Lives of the English Poets". McCourt's observations about the icons of literature are fascinating. He was probably most influenced by Sean O'Casey- "the first Irish writer I ever read who writes about rags.dirt, hunger and babies dying". (McCourt had lost three siblings). Later on as a teacher, Frank finds ways to pass on this love of the written word, both to the tough blue collar kids of a Staten Island Vocational School, and to the upwardly mobile preppies of the prestigious Stuyvesant High School. As a veteran substitute teacher in Toronto's inner city schools, I found a truth in McCourt's classroom experiences that I've never read anywhere else. Some McCourt verities: " Teachers are the only professionals who have to respond to bells every forty-five minutes, and come out fighting"....... "Vocational schools are the garbage cans of the school system and the teachers are there to sit on the lids". Frank learned early on that "any group of experienced students in an American classroom can break any inexperienced teacher". These impressions however all fade when he makes the magic break through and begins to genuinely connect with these young minds. "I had to begin enjoying the act of teaching, and the only way I could do this was to start over, teach what I loved, and to hell with the curriculum". It's a joy to read of these "Eureka moments" in his long teaching career. Throughout 'Tis, McCourt doesn't pretend to be any Horation Alger hero. In real life he overplays the Irish card, carousing with brothers Malachy and Michael at their upper East Side Bar, and going out for "beer and teacher enlightenment", instead of home to his beautiful WASP wife and dinner. The marriage founders, but unlike his father, Frank's devotion to daughter Maggie never wavers. She remains his ultimate joy and inspiration. All through his life, Frank never forgot the admonition of his Irish school master; "Your mind is a treasure house that you should stock well. It's the one part of you the world can't interfere with". In 'Tis, McCourt has provided a gem for all of us to store.
Rating:
Summary: 'Tis a pleasure to read this book
Review: I went out and bought this book the day it came out. It was a little disappointing after Angela's Ashes, but that was a hard act to follow. This is a memoir, not a novel, so Frankie gets to be himself, warts and all. This is also the story of only his early years in New York. We have to assume that at some point Frankie settled down to become the beloved teacher at Stuyvesant, the job that occupied many years of his teaching career. He is a great storyteller and I like the ironic, slightly bewildered tone he adopts in this book. Someone mentioned in another review that he couln't be expected to maintain the child's voice of Angela's Ashes. Give the man a break. How many of us reach true adult behavior without floundering around a bit? Martha
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