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Summary: Praise for "Angela's Ashes"
Review: "A classic, modern memoir...stunning."-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times"Every once in a while, a lucky reader comes across a book that makes an indelible impression, a book you immediately want to share with everyone around you...Frank McCourt's life, and his searing telling of it, reveal all we need to know about being human."--Linnea Lannon, Detroit Free Press "A splendid memoir, both funny and forgiving"--People "A spellbinding memoir of childhood that swerves flawlessly between aching sadness and desperate humor...a work of lasting beauty."--Peter Finn, The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Summary: Amazing, The best book I've read in a long time
Review: This book projects such a wide range of emotions it's nothing short of amazing. I felt extreme joy at times, extreme anger, and everything in between. If you haven't read this book, you must. You won't regret it.
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Summary: Gripping tale of poverty.
Review: I found the book powerful and moving. I was unable to put it down. However, I was left with some unsettled feelings. What did Mr. McCourt learn from his early experiences? At the books end, he was heading down the same destructive path as his father. At what point did he change? Why? At times his story was repetative, especially his father's drunkeness, Angela's weakness and Frank's own early sexual exploits. I found the ending particularly disturbing. He finally arrives in America, land of hope, and sleeps with a married stranger. All that said, I would still recommend it to others and look forward to the sequel. Maybe my questions will be answered then.
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Summary: A Powerful Memoir About a Poor Child's Life in Ireland
Review: It's been a few days since I finished reading this book, and I can't stop thinking about it. "Angela's Ashes" moved me in a way that no other memoir has. I felt so many emotions while reading this book. I was horrified at the utter squallor that Frank McCourt and his family lived in. I was shocked and angry at the way Frank's father treated his family. I cried when Frank's little sister Margaret and his twin brothers died. And I rejoiced when Frank finaly achieved his dream and emmigrated to America. This book was beautifully written. It was an ingenious idea to write a memoir from a child's perspective because that made the story all the more powerful. "Angela's Ashes" did something else for me: it made me grateful for everything I had as a child growing up in America. I wasn't rich by any means. I had a middle class upbringing by caring ,loving parents. However, when I compare it to Franks childhood in Ireland during the 1930's, I realized how very fortunate I was. This book should be read by everyone because it really teaches you to apprecate what you have in life.
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Summary: Thank you, Frank McCourt!
Review: Angela's Ashes inspired me to write my own memoir, Project Girl, in that McCourt showed me how to tell an intensely personal and painful story with honesty and humor. While my NY housing project life was so different from his struggles in Ireland, I could still relate to his story. That is a testament to the power of his writing and story-telling which takes the book beyond nationality and national borders. It is a human story that we all can hear. McCourt keeps it real.
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Summary: Irish hardship and triumph!
Review: You heard it before, "You can't tell a book by its cover." This is ever so true as you gaze pleasantly at a young toddler poised happily against a wall on the cover sheet of Angela's Ashes. Little does the reader know that when you open the book you're plunged into a cavern of death and disappointment. None the less, this is a must read for those of Irish heritage. My tear stained pages are more memorable than Frank McCourt's escape from his blighted Irish homestead. Throughout this book I was emotionally drained as I read one tragedy after another. Who didn't shed a tear at the sudden death of baby Margaret, or Frank's twins brothers. This, along with the heart wrenching loss of Patricia and Theresa, inspired me to look more compassionately at those less fortunate. This brilliant family history captured my heart and then shattered it like fragile piece of Belleek china. The spiteful conduct of patriarch Malachy McCourt infuriated me, building anger throughout this book. How could one man cause so much mental anguish and squalor. Angela, always the loving, caring wife and mother, must surely spend her after life in heaven, for she surely spent her lifetime in hell. Frank McCourt is a genius at developing a story that so touches everyone who turns a page. Perhaps this book affected me more as I was the son of an County Mayo born father. The many words and actions reminded me of my early childhood. Crafting his religion in school to his success in life!
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Summary: A truly great and memorable book
Review: Frank McCourt's memoir is unquestionably one of the most vivid and moving stories which I have ever read. I have been recommending the book to anyone who will listen, which is totally uncharacteristic of me. One can only hope that the sequel will be half as wonderful.
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Summary: This book moved me to laughter, to tears, to joy, to truimph
Review: Excellent book - for all ages. Frank McCourt takes you into his world...written in such text that you believe a child is telling the story, but with a grownups point of view. Enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.
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Summary: Tragic AND Joyous
Review: A beautiful story of survival that makes the reader both cry and laugh out loud. McCourt manages--somehow--to tell what is such a sad tale with almost no bitterness. Reading his book is akin to a history lesson on the character of the Irish people. A deserved winner of the Pulitzer and easily the best book I have read this year!
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Summary: A Powerful Story Destined to be a Classic
Review: I received this book for Christmas and did not get around to reading it until this week, while on a plane. I am a guy in my 30's, and there was an event within the first hundred pages that got me so choked up that I had to put the book down on my lap and look out the window so that people would not see my eyes watering up. I can't remember a book ever doing that to me before. This story has many powerful and graphic descriptions of Frank McCourt's childhood experiences. Most of them are very sad, but McCourt does not describe them from a whining, martyred perspective. That's one of the strong points to his writing style. I recommend this book to all adults because of the insight it provides into a life of intense poverty that most of us have been lucky enough to escape.
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