Angelas Ashes Cd

Rating:
Summary: This book deserves six stars!
Review: After hearing Frank McCourt give a reading from "Angela's Ashes," last fall on Garrison Keeler's "Prairie Home Companion", I had to read the book. This is one of the few books I've ever read where I didn't have to skim a paragraph here or there because of irrelevent rhetoric. Every word was precious and interesting, and what gave it greater value is that it is a true story. I loved little Frank McCourt, his courage as a child, merely reporting the facts of his impoverished existence and never once complaining or judging, not even his hateful grandmother. I loved the way he so candidly shared his most private experiences in such a eloquent, simple manner which makes this book accessible to every one. I gave it to my mother, who never reads, and she couldn't put it down. I am going to insist that my fourteen-year-old son read it this summer, as should every child, to make him appreciate just how much he has. This book opened my eyes to pre-WWII Ireland, the prejudices and poverty, and the twisted role the Catholic Church played in peoples lives. It is so utterly human. I laughed and cried throughout. I read the end slowly, savoring every word, not wanting it to end. When I was finished I was moved to write Mr. McCourt a letter, urging him to write a sequel. I want to know how, once he returned to America, he got to be a school teacher, when he was never allowed a higher education in Ireland because of his social class and what happened to his father, who had not yet returned to Ireland from England. Was he able to rescue his mother and siblings from the poverty of Ireland? The only problem with this book is that it diminishes everything else you read once you finish it. A book this good is rare.

Rating:
Summary: So why all the fuss?
Review: After reading this book, I am at a complete loss as to why this book has won the awards, critical praise, and popular attention that it has. I found it unrelentingly grim, with little in the writing style, characters, or plot to make it worthwhile. The descriptions of events were telegraphic and concrete, with little psychological nuance or depth. Normally, a book about such dismal topics would leave one sad and moved; this book left me cold.

Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes is a child's account of poverty in Limerick I
Review: Frank Mccourt's child like voice in his memoir Angelas Ashes gives the reader detailed accounts of life in Limerick Ireland pre WW 2. His family suffers as poverty strikes them. His father is a useless drunk and his his mother has to carry the baggage of raising the children on her own. Frank , determined to leave Limerick's poverty stricken life, takes on many jobs, including stealing, as a young man. At nineteen, he achieves his dream and migrates back to his birthplace. Frank Mccourt's writing in the voice of a child is ingenious. Although a child, he is able to provide his reader with vivid details of the lives of irish catholics of the time

Rating:
Summary: An achingly lovely book that haunted me long after I read it
Review: I'm not overly sentimental (I didn't turn a hair during the TITANIC), but I cried aloud in at least three different parts of ANGELA'S ASHES. McCourt relates wrenching moments (like listening to his mother sing "The Kerry Piper" to an old beau wracked with consumption) using straightforward, matter-of-fact prose and avoiding cheap manipulation. ANGELA'S ASHES is reminiscent of Hugh Leonard's wonderful memoirs (HOME BEFORE NIGHT and OUT AFTER DARK) and his Pulitzer Prize winning play, DA, and embodies the typical Irish ability to appreciate humor in the midst of despair.

Rating:
Summary: bitter-sweet taste of life, an ode to tenderness
Review: I've never read anything about Ireland but for the times it makes the headlines. I found McCourt's memoires so moving and lively, one can almost see and smell Limerick and hear its noises. His characters get tri-dimensional while one reads the book, a tear in the corner of the eye. The way the dialogues are "written with an accent", all the achs and oye's, is great! a masterpiece in phonetics! I am about to finish the book and I don't want it to end. I want to know what happened later in life to all those characters, and to know more about Ireland.Congratulations McCourt family, mission accomplished!

Rating:
Summary: the best book i have ever read
Review: i have read this book in hebrew, and it was the best book i have ever read. if frank mac'court is by any chanse reading this i would love it if he'll email me. please do that! .s., israel

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading!I want to know more about his life.
Review: Angela's Ashes grabs you because it is an amazing story of one's survival. At times it appeared unbelievable and you wondered am I reading fiction or non-fiction. The humor was wonderful and it was brilliant the way the story was told through the eyes, heart and soul of a boy coming of age. The story did not end at age l7 though. I and I'm sure many readers want to know...where is the rest of the story!

Rating:
Summary: Sad--Beautiful--Compelling
Review: Tears were streaming down my face after the first chapter. Every Irishman and Non-irishmen alike must read this book.....and all the McCourts.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting book about life in Ireland during the depression
Review: I thought it was very depressing at first and therefore hard to read, but it became quite engrossing and shocking. While I felt sympathy for Frank's life, I had stronger feelings of anger and frustration. It was thought provoking and a good book for a reading group as it elicits ethnic, religious, and family discussions.

Rating:
Summary: tender, sad and funny
Review: McCourt is an excellent author who has achieved a much sought-after combination: to write a book that's sad, tender and funny at the same time. Sometimes you cry because what you're reading is terribly sad and moving, sometimes because it's so funny. The best book I've read in a long time.