Angelas Ashes Cd

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Summary: Catharsis and Catholicism
Review: While Mr McCourt unflinchinly shows us the worst aspects of human nature, he also reveals that enduring and surviving can, at times, be beautiful

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Summary: Angela's Ashes A Fond Memory
Review: As I sit reading the first eighty pages the memories of Limerick keep floding back. Frank describes his one bedroom ramshackle home in Windmill St, and I can automatically bring it to mind. We owned a pub in Limerick called the Windmill just directly opposite Windmill Street, and yes there was a family called the Keatings living in Windmill St, but I hasten to add this was the eighties. The stories of the Vincent De Paul are all true as I remember my times doing charity work for them, and helping people like Mrs. Mc Court. The pubs, the labour exchange, the school are all so life like, as if I could reach out and it was there, but my memories are of the eighties. Very little had changed since the 40's and I still remember the story of the women who picked up the coal from the dock road. We often write the sad things of our childhood, which Mr.Mc Court has excelled himself, but please do not accept everyting you read, Limerick has also some wonderfull memories and stories

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Summary: Should be required reading
Review: This book was heart wrenching, yet so endearing. To put your place in the heart, soul, and eyes of a child growing up in such extreme poverty was absolutely mesmerizing. I think this should be required reading for all Americans who have either forgotten what it is to be thankful for what they have or for those whose hearts have never been touched in a way to make them realize what is really important in life. And yet, little Frank McCourt endured the worst of the worst, and at times he even had a sense of humor about his life. To think that a young boy cherished the moments when he could have one whole slice of bread WITH jam on it, the only meal that day, or the only food in 2 days . . . while always looking out for his younger siblings. If everyone read this book, we would all be a bit more generous and understanding. This book is also extremely colorful, well written, and as mentioned, should be required reading in your own home

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Summary: A wonderful, terrible, real story
Review: I read this book almost at one gulp, which is unusual for me. I found the life of young Frank McCourt so very immediate that closing the book felt almost like walking away while someone is talking to you. Though I grew up in the U.S. and not Ireland, I heard many, many echos of my own life as a poor child and the child of an alcoholic. Yes, life and adults were cruel at times for Frank, but the absence of self pity and the humor found in the most appalling circumstances, saved the book, just as it saved Frank, himself. Thanks, Mr. McCourt, for telling the world that children can and do survive incredible hardship and can strive for and reach a better life

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Summary: Heart breaking story that is universal in it's sadness.
Review: This is not just an "Irish" story. It is more an American tale. As the land of immigrants, America's true pedigree is closer to Angela and her family than we are likely to admit. Why else would "they" (we) come here..still?!Being Irish American it was, at times, difficult to face the circumstances that gave rise to the sterotypes that I had (and still to this day have) to face down. Yet what I found refreshing was a child-like renewal of the feeling that we all are the same after all. It is a must read for all

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Summary: I have never cried so hard while reading!
Review: The first hundred pages I did nothing but cry. It was slow going because I had to stop while my emotions carried me on a sea of sadness. After those pages that deep inside thing we all hold to keep us going, kicked in: Hope. Around every corner I hoped Frank's father would see the light. It never happened and it left me empty. I hoped Frank's mother would be released from the grip of never ending pain. But it continued. Until I read this book, I never new people could be subjected to a life with no meaning other than to find sustinence. Miserable indeed, but compounded with his father, his grandmother, the church, it's like salt in an open wound. It is life with out hope. Alive not because your soul wants to be alive but because of an autonomous nervous system keeping you alive. Frank's memoir amplifies your life. It makes you see your loved ones in a new light. It binds every block of your essence with love, compassion, and the will to over come the things in life that stops us from blooming into beautiful flowers. After I read the book my wife read it. When she finished, we spent several nights, after the lights were out, reviewing and analyzing Frank's disheartening life. We cried and thanked God that we have eachother and our son, Christopher. Life is good!! Thank-you Frank McCour

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Summary: A heartwarming and authentic account of life in Ireland
Review: This heartwarming and sadly accurate tale of life in Ireland will not only make you cry...but will hold you, make you laugh, cheer you up...and uplift your spirit! McCourt's story of the hardships and sweet sadness experienced in his youth has inspired a greater sense of appreciation in this first generation Irish twenty-something's consciousness

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Summary: Highly recommended regardless of preferred genre!
Review: Frank McCourt's story of his life growing up in Limerick, Ireland is a delight. His is not a happy tale, yet, through it all, McCourt keeps his sense of humor and manages to keep the reader chuckling, despite all the tragedies -- a rare gift, indeed! His uncanny use of growing voices, from a child of three to a young man of nineteen, is refreshing. A page turner to the end. As a library director, I urge you to buy this book rather than borrow it from the library. It's a keeper. Tobi Liedes-Bell ([e-mail]

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Summary: May we never throw away another stale cracker!
Review: Everyone in America should chow down on a peice of this humble pie....Angela's Ashes. Having grown up in an extremely similar situation, it gives me great honor to own a copy of this book. Every young teen should read this book so that materialism may dissipate. Thanks Mr. McCourt....you've given America and its immigrants a realization of the distance between wealth and poverty

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Summary: Humor and imagination triumph over poverty and loss.
Review: McCourt has gained well deserved acclaim for his memoir Angela's ashes. I read it every available free moment that I had. McCourt reminds us that the ravages of poverty are devastating. Complicated by his father's alcoholism and his mother's depression, the McCourt family endured inadequate housing, hunger in New York and in Ireland, They suffered preventable illness and the heartbreaking deaths of three children. What keeps the reader captivated is the humor and resilience demonstrated by the McCourts in the face of tragedy. A reminder that not all immigrants lived the American Dream and that children have always been the loosers when parents cannot get out of the trap of poverty.