Rating: 
Summary: The best book I have had the privilege to read in years.
Review: I have just listened to Angela's Ashes for the third time.What a heart wrenching story of the McCourt family so well expressed by the author himself with his Irish accent the songs he sings. If anyone thinks their own childhood suffered, then read the story of the McCourt family's desperation and you will, like myself, feel you were privileged. What a magnificent book. I have recommended it to all my friends and am anxiously awaiting the sequel to this tragic but beautiful story.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressed but Not Convinced
Review: I read Angela's Ashes at the behest of my sister who raved until I could resist no more. She sent it to me and there it sat; naturally I picked it up and was drawn into the beautiful writing and entertaining stories - as has been every person I know who has read it. It was a very good read.However, when I reflected on the book I started to feel Mr. McCourt had overly romanticized a grueling and cruel childhood. I began to recall the tone and flavor of Roddy Doyle's books "Paddy Clarke- Ha Ha Ha" and "The Woman who Walked into Doors", two novels which deal with a similar subject matter. Those books went so much deeper to reveal the heavy oppression and despair of poverty in Catholic Ireland. I would highly recommend both books to anyone who wants a more realistic and truthful portrayal of the Irish Catholic experience. I find it hard to believe that a childhood such as that told by Mr. McCourt can be both a revealed truth and so completely anecdotal and humorous. There is not expressed the pain in the child that I firmly believe must be there. Surely there resides in him a core of damage and a modicum of bitterness that, unexplored and unrevealed, will not go away. It reminds me of a Hollywood movie with a happy ending. It makes one feel good, but is it true? I have read many reviews of this book and have not heard this criticism raised. I wonder if anyone else feels as I do about the book. Comments?
Rating:
Summary: Depressing, funny, compelling, well written
Review: A dark story with flashes of humor. Poverty and sub-human conditions are described in detail, but Irish humor comes through the darkness. A wonderful tribute to a mother who tried. I'm going to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical, moving, generous
Review: This biography is riveting in its language, characterizations, and underlying generosity . How could someone experience such poverty and not be filled with resentment and hate? It's a tribute to the resilience of McCourt's spirit. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Here's a much well deserved Pulitzer winner
Review: Anyone who cares about fine writing should read this book It's a much well deserved winner of the Pulitzer prize for biography. The book is totally refreshing, with a style I hadn't seen in any other book. McCourt is very original, creative and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: 'Tis a great and subversive book
Review: Like all great literature, Angela's Ashes is about more than it seems. Yes, it is about Ireland, poverty, alcoholism, cynical, arrogant priests, the myth of a golden America, sexually coming of age. But what it is essentially and magnificently about is the glory of words, language, stories, the stuff we all carry in our minds to make life bearable. The stories, the language, subvert the best (and worst) intentions of a benighted church and aristrocracy (in the background but always there) to keep the poor and humble docile, stupid and accepting of their miserable lot on earth in hope of salvation in the bye and bye. A brilliant, life-affirming work.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Life Lesson
Review: Angela's Ashes brings you laughter and an understanding of true poverty. The most amazing thing about this work is the absence of hatred. Could you live year after year near starvation, loose people you love to alcoholism, to oppression and not hate? To not only refuse hatred but to understand that your mind is your own to control, that your fate is in your own hands! These three things make a survivor and a great book.
Rating:
Summary: The most wonderful book I have ever read.
Review: Angela's Ashes : A Memoir by Frank McCourt can bring about every type of emotion a reader can possible feel while reading this wonderful book. I laughed, I cried, I felt the pain of Frank McCourt's life in Limerick, Ireland. I have personally recommended this book to just about everyone I know. I have included Angela's Ashes on a reading list for the genealogical course I teach and I have requested our small college library to add the book to our holdings. I have purchased many copies to give away and I have found that all those whom I have talked into reading this fine memoir have also found it to be one of the best books they have read. Many have purchased their own book to keep. I am hoping and waiting for a sequel and a movie!!
Rating:
Summary: Stunning!
Review: Frank McCourt's memoir of a life of poverty ranges from New York to the streets of Limerick Ireland. His father "being from the North" has the Ireland desease, alcoholism. None the less Frankie and his kid brothers grow up piously and express some hilarious moments through eyes of a child. Thank-you Mr. McCourt for writing an excellent memoir in a beautiful way! I can't wait for the follow up "'Tis" coming in 1999.
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes - The Politics of Poverty
Review: I avoided and dreaded reading this book, because my own life growing up in Ireland in the '40's and '50's were only five notches above this situation. Imagine a country rampant with tuberculosis, few job opportunities, no birth control, no social service agencies, no therapists to help parents cope with the depression over the death of a child, no understanding of alcoholism, no children of alcoholics support groups, no health care to speak of, no health department, little or no food, no clothes, no heat, no Needies Fun or Toy Drive at Christmas, and a skewed education system. Imagine having a separate school, the Leamy's School for poor children, the Christian Brothers for better off children, and the Jesuits for the well-to-do? After finishing the book, and loving every chapter, I was not depressed at all. It is a great book; a memorable story of trials, tribulations and triumph for some members of a family forced to live in subhuman conditions. When the onion is peeled back on this story, one finds a close-knit family. There is little or no evidence of physical or sexual abuse inside the family. Malachy, the father, was a reader, a good writer and storyteller. During those priceless mornings at the fire, and when he was able to be sober, he sowed these seeds of interest in his children, resulting in Frank's thirst for knowledge, Shakespeare, and writing which took him all the way to a Pulitzer prize. If Malachie were an executive in the US today, his alcoholism problem would be accepted and treated while he kept his job, provided he had the right health care insurance, of course.
Frank, was the entrepreneur in the family making money by deliverng coal, selling papers, reading to the visually impaired, writing threatening letters for the "collection" agency, and delivering telegrams. His generosity to his family and his kindness to the old and infirm to which he delivered telegrams tells us he never became hard and indifferent in spite of his own daily hardships. I'd say his biggest legacy will be in what he passed on to his students all the years he was a teacher in the Stuyvescant High School. He could slip into the shoes of his students and truly understand their lives. They would feel and know that Mr. McCourt was on the same page with them.
This book would be very beneficial as required reading for social workers, teachers, doctors, nurses, clergy, or anyone working with the poor, disenfranchised, refugees or immigrants. It would help them to look beyond what they see standing before them; and see the person, the family, the lives being lived. Poverty exists in every country today, including the USA. These same stories can be heard today in every country where people are out of work, where there is child labor, where there is child abuse, alcohol and other drug problems, and in cities, town and villages that have Neediest Funds and Toy Drives at Christmas. Didn't someone say "The Poor Will Always Be With Us?"
I'd also recommend a brief overview of the History of Ireland for people reviewing this book so they could have an inkling about the social, economic and political conditions in Ireland at that time.
For people who appreciated this book, another great book will be coming out in the USA next year. It is entitled "Are you Somebody," by Nuala O'Failoin, a young girl growing up in a Dublin family. Another masterpiece. Watch for it.
- 30 -
|
