Rating: Summary: WELL WORTH THE WAIT! Review: While this book is not Angela's Ashes it is definitely an exceptional story by a master storyteller. Those of us who are second generation hyphenated ethnic groups can share in Frank's experiences and have a glimpse into how it was for those immigrants entering a different culture. I'd certainly buy him a cup of tea or a pint.
Rating: Summary: Much-needed praise for a wonderful writer! Review: For anyone who reads memoirs, Tis is a beautiful story of a young man trying to find his place in his newfound home. Unsteady and struggling, he is upset, angry, and downtrodden throughout much of the story, until he finds the meaning of it all. This book is constantly being compared to McCourt's first book, Angela's Ashes, but what people do not realize is that it is a separate book by the same person, but at a different time in his life. Angela's Ashes is written through the voice of a child, while Tis is written in the voice of a young man without any stability to his life. I hope that the difference in tone and content will not steer readers away from Tis, as it has a message all its own to grant the readers. Tis is a difficult book to read, as Angela's Ashes was before it, but the journey the reader takes with McCourt is worth the sorrow he/she might feel.
Rating: Summary: tells the truth, warts and all! Review: I snapped this book up the first week it was published and read it all in two days. McCourt certainly has an ear for dialogue which makes the situations seem so interesting. Also, the honesty of the author, for example, when he talks about his mothers attitudes to her sons' lives and families, when she first comes to New York, makes the book real and believable. Perhaps the only thing that disappointed me was to find out that he had his fathers fondness for drink! Again, he has left us waiting for more - how did he meet the new wife? The end of the book seems a bit rushed, compared to the detail of earlier chapters. But if you liked Angelas ashes, or if you're an immigrant like me, you'll want to read this book.
Rating: Summary: A worthwhile read! Review: Delivered with the same ironic humor as Angela's Ashes, but times have changed and Frankie is discovering the world beyond Ireland's shores. At times his discoveries gladden him, at others, sadden him. All in all, I am enjoying this memoir as much as Angela's Ashes, although I have not quite finished the book.
Rating: Summary: Engrossing reading. Thoroughly human and enjoyable. Review: Though some might find the vocabulary too strong I felt that we were allowed to read what Frank was really feeling during this period of his life. Such as "This is me, take it or leave it." We are all some good, some bad, none perfect.I also would like to know what was wrong with the eyes and also how about the teeth? I look forward to another book taking us into the next few decades of Frank's life.
Rating: Summary: Ah, Frankie...'tis a masterpiece. Review: 'Tis speaks with the lilt of an Irish narrator, but it is also a powerful expression of the confusing mixture of hope and disappointment that haunts observant and reflective persons of all ages, regardless of ethnic background or economic circumstances.
Rating: Summary: McCourt's Dark Side Review: Frank McCourt's lyrical prose is steeped in anger. Page after page reveals his deep-seated resentment towards Ivy Leaguers, Protestant women, and even his own brilliant students at Stuyvesant High School, the "Harvard" of the New York City public school system (Stuyvesant counts three Nobel Prize winners - University of Chicago economist Robert Fogel, Cornell University chemist Roald Hoffmann, Rockefeller University biochemist Joshua Lederberg - and other distinguished scientists and mathematicians and notable actors from James Cagney to Tim Robbins and Lucy Liu as famous alumni.). The warm, compassionate teacher I knew at Stuyvesant never fully emerges. Instead, he draws a picture of himself as an angry, embittered man. This is one book which will appeal only to "McCourties" - his most devout fans - interested in learning how he finally escaped from the slums of Limerick. More discerning readers will feel cheated after reading the angry, at times vindictive, tone of his prose. The negative reviews it has earned in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal are ones worth heeding.
Rating: Summary: Excellent writing! Review: 'TIS is excellent writing with intriguing insight into three decades of Frank's life. The book reveals many interesting aspects from a poverty-striken irish immigrant point of view, as to how he sees the social class and how he want to become part of it. 'TIS is not as depressing as Angela's Ashes, and I like this book a lot.
Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down--I loved this book Review: I love Frank McCourt. He's so painfully honest. About life, about himself, his faults and virtues, about the craziness and ambiguities all around us. Anyone who has lived a while and really thinks about what it's all about will warm to this book. We're all a blazin' mass of contradictions, too. He is a marvelous writer and I'll hope for more books from this gifted writer.
Rating: Summary: Another worthwhile book from McCourt. Review: While not as brilliant as Angela's Ashes, this book is still an engaging look into McCourt's New York adventure. Read it with an open mind and you won't be disappointed.Also, regarding a review below....I read both the NY Times and Boston Globe reviews of this book. Neither panned it. They were overall good reviews with some valid criticisms.
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