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Summary: Miserable childhood - eloquent writer
Review: If the extreme poverty endured by Frank McCourt was responsible for producing such a gifted writer, then perhaps a few current best-selling authors should have grown up in Limerick, Ireland, wearing tires for shoe soles and being forced to vacate the bottom floor of their apartment during the winter due to the flooded conditions therein.The most striking thing about "Angela's Ashes", besides the lyrical prose, is the pervasive tones of forgiveness and love. Nowhere are these more evident than in the passages describing little Frankie McCourt having to hunt through all the pubs on his street to find his father, who is somewhere drinking away 5 pounds sent to the family in honor of a new baby. The reader is impressed by the lack of bitterness in the grown Frank McCourt; he simply tells what happened with warmth and humor and compassion. Whether the reader is laughing at the author's frank, hilarious descriptions of his own sexual awakening, or shaking his or her head over the passages describing the deaths of his two brothers and only sister, they will, as they close the book, wonder immediately when the sequel will be available.
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Summary: SHOCKING AND VERY MEMORABLE BOOK
Review: Right from the begining, from the first word I felt the power of the story. It is captivating and shocking at the same time. Did I know all that before? I guess I did. Did I care? I guess I did not. And now I feel as I was shaken by a very powerful hand and my eyes have opened. Ireland and the Irish blaim the British for all their troubles but they should blaim religion for that first. Poverty, ignorance, alcoholism and the general misery should be all attributed to religion. This book is quite well composed and it transferres you to the real depth of the human tragedy. Hunger, death, the numness... Men say a lot of promising words but they cannot keep the jobs even if they have one. Catholics, Protestants... What the difference? One drinks his wages away and another one take care of the family... Is that the difference? This book raised so many questions in my head. Yes, I think we all should read it. This is an important book.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down...
Review: Everything I'd like to say has already been said by everyone else, but I just wanted to say I could NOT put this book down. This book also made me cry..and I never cry when I read a book. I cried for three days at least, because a mother's pain translates universally and I was just imagining what if this was my family, and all this stuff was happening to my children? Read this autobiography..you won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Masterful Memoir
Review: With Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt joins the ranks of other talented writers like Mary Karr revolutionizing the way memoirs are written. Blending rich descriptions of the Irish childhood with personal insights into his own life, McCourt masterfully lures the reader along a path through his life leaving tears and laughter in his wake. What not only makes the book, despite its often horrific subject, readable but also a literary masterpiece is McCourt's ability to subtly insert good and happiness in small anecdotes amid the ruin that was the majority of his childhood. An example occurs midway through the book in a description of one of McCourt's neighbors. The boy is hunchbacked and deformed and has therefore decided he wants to be a radio announcer so that he can affect people and sound normal without being seen. Just after this beautiful idea is presented, McCourt relates how in order to raise money, the boy sold tickets to other boys allowing them to watch his sisters bathe. Startling and yet poignant, to me this anecdote is a summary of the book. A young boy trying to find hope in the dismal world that was Ireland.
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Summary: An unforgettable masterpiece
Review: This was, to my recollection, the first book I've ever read where the minute I was finished with it, I wanted to start reading it all over again. I didn't want to let little Frankie McCout go, I guess. This memoir of poverty, alcoholism, disease and death would be compelling in the hands of any decent writer, but in the hands of the sublimely talented Mr. McCourt, it is a masterpiece. That he can write so touchingly, forgivingly, and hilariously of his miserable boyhood without a trace of self-pity is astonishing. What I liked most was how he was able to get into the head of the boy he was from ages 3-19 and relate exactly how it felt at each stage. It's almost as if he wrote this memoir right as he was living it -- the persepective was that seamless and true. I could talk about the book's lyricism and beauty and strength of spirit, but it comes down to this: he brought these characters alive for me. And I will never forget the one-word final chapter that brought me to tears. One word! How does he do it? Long live Mr. McCourt, a new shining star among many fine Irish writers. I hope we have not heard the last of him.
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Summary: I will never read another book again.
Review: I first read Angela's Ashes several years ago when i was in 7th grade, and instantly realized that i could never read another book again, because none would ever come close to the beauty and grace displayed in this memoir. Although it sounds cliché, i laughed, and at parts, cried, and found myself thanking god that this amazing man was born.
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Summary: No book has ever hit me harder than this one
Review: Maybe a key factor to this book hitting me square between the eyes like it did, was the fact that this is a real person's memoirs. It's just another, "No matter had bad you think you have it..." book (which even the author realizes, as he notes a couple of his schoolmates who had it worse than him). However, it was more powerfully conveyed than by any other means I've ever read. Truly brilliant.
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Summary: Survival
Review: This book tells the story of the childhood of Frank McCourt. McCourt was just an ordinary boy, born in New York City of Irish immigrant parents. After a family tragedy, his parents returned to Ireland with the children. And that's how this little kid from New York City ended up growing up in a lane in an Irish slum, learning essential survival skills like how to keep his belly full and his feet dry. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did- -Frank's father was a drunk who couldn't bring home a paycheck for more than a few weeks running, the house where they lived was flooded each spring from the lane's common privy, and educational opportunities were quite limited for boys without funds. In such circumstances, the only way to survive is not to fret about tomorrow or what the neighbors might think, but to go ever forward with determined independence. As I listened to this story as read by the author, I kept hearing my own grandfather's voice. Yes, I'd heard all the stories about childhood deprivation and inner strength, about drunken fathers and run-down houses, but I'd never really listened when my grandfather told them. "He's exaggerating," I thought, "Nobody ever lived like that." But after hearing the details of Frank's childhood, I realize that my grandfather wasn't complaining about his childhood or looking for sympathy. He was just trying to paint a picture of the experiences that he lived through, which were so very different from my own. There was something about my grandfather's style of speaking that made him sound different from everyone else I knew. He was born in the US so he didn't have an Irish accent at all, but there was something peculiar about the rhythm of his speech and the style of relating to others that I never noticed in other people's voices. As McCourt narrates conversations between his parents and aunts and uncles, I can hear my grandfather jumping into the fray, a bit drunk, but not so drunk that he couldn't come out with a witty remark that still leaves people laughing when they remember it forty years later. I understand now- -my grandfather was simply Irish. This book is a wonderful telling of childhood with all its ups and downs, honesty and deceit, grief and joy. McCourt's writing draws the reader into Frank's world, where they can hear his father singing in the pub and smell the bread and onions frying on the stove.
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Summary: Touched For Life
Review: I haven't read a better book and may never. It's not a put-down book. Your eyes won't want to stray from a single word. It's something you'll want to read over and over again. Frank's life is truly something you can't help but to drop your jaw at. It's filled with every emotion only each amplified. Without a big booming ending it made it's success in the mind haunting, beautiful details. It will make you take a trip to Ireland and pretend you're Frank McCourt in Limerick again. I'm glad he shared his life with us.
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Summary: Optimism, The unvaluable virtue
Review: If one keeps an optimistic attitude, then one can certainly overcome some of the highest hurdles found in life. This theme is powerfully shown in Frank McCourt's touching memoir, Angela's Ashes. Frank McCourt writes about his life as a boy up until his early years of adulthood. McCourt tells the story from the 1st person point of view and his style of writing dramatically changes as the character progressively gets older. Frank's father, Malachy McCourt is a self destructive alcoholic who pisses any money he makes at local pubs and leaves his family to desperately search for meals. Frank's mother Angela McCourt is a humorous but loving woman who never pities herself or her family. The story opens in the late 1920's in New York City. Malchy and Angela have already had four boys when they decide to move to Limerick, Ireland. Limerick is a town ridden by disease, poverty and as Frank so vividly describes it, rain. Frank's little brother Malachy, named after his father enjoys Frank's company and the two often take pleasure in adventures together. Frank tells of his times in Limerick from the perspective of a young boy and gives little opinion, this adds humor.
"It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood". Frank's childhood is one of deprivation and poverty. He and his siblings often have little to eat and sickness spreads through the family. Frank's father, Malachy continues to drink away his wages. As Frank gets older he struggles to deal with a severe case of typhoid and he is placed in the hospital for months. Frank is forced to befriend literature when no one else available. As Frank becomes a teenager he begins to work at several different jobs to help support his family. Despite all the problems Frank and his family face, optimism still prevails. McCourt does a marvelous job at laughing off the tragic circumstances that existed in his childhood. Frank's mother is forced to make sexual sacrifices to help support the family. Despite this, Frank still dreams of making enough money so his family will never have to suffer again. McCourt also makes many references to his Catholic upbringing. He accepts the rivalry between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and does his best to be a good Catholic. When Frank grows older however, he is haunted by his sins and ultimately does his best to distract himself from his guilt.
Angela's Ashes is a great book which helps one appreciate their life and not take for granted the luxuries in our lives. McCourt does a brilliant job of making the reader cry and laugh while displaying his tough upbringing in Limerick. I personally would recommend this book to anyone especially those who love a good read with great characters and a satisfying ending. The reader will close the book with a smile, a tear and a rewarding feeling that reminds them of how powerful optimism can be.
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