Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Angela's Ashes is a captivating and compelling journey through an Irish childhood that is both sad and funny; at times I was not sure if I should laugh or cry. Frank McCourt's ability to step back into the shoes of his childhood is truly remarkable for its clarity of insight,
and I would recommend this book to anyone who has grown up either Irish or Catholic or both.
Rating:
Summary: From start to finish, a WONDERFUL novel!
Review: I love to read a good book and ANGELA'S ASHES: A MEMOIR is more than a good book, it is a FANTASTIC BOOK and a captivating story. From the moment I opened to
the first page until I (sadly) reached the last I was delighted by the author's voice. This is the type of novel that even while I was
not reading and busy doing other things, I was thinking about this story and what was to happen to this family. I finished in 2 days
and was sorry there was not more. This is a terrific story about sad and dificult life told without anger and without expecting pity. The author has a
wonderful voice and a natural ability to tell a story in a way that will draw you in and make you want to read on.
READ THIS NOVEL!
Rating:
Summary: a memoir of myself?
Review: This book is simply incredible and the inclusion of the patriotic and doleful poems of the Irish make it simply the best and stand out from the rest. Frank Mc Court has retold the story in a perspective of a child and I wonder how could he retell each and everything so clearly and touchingly.... so hands up for him... Mc Court is one of the greatest Irish writer ever.... This book has broken my heart, made me laugh, brought tears in my eyes and has made me obsessed with Little Frankie and his sore eyes....I never wanted to finish Angela's Ashes and wish I could continue reading it forever and ever.... If you are keen about Frankie's life then Tis' is a must read book...I wish I could invite Frankie during Christmas so that he didnt have to eat the pig's head....
Rating: 
Summary: The Losses, The Gains
Review: Frank McCourt, the author of the touching memoir, Angela's Ashes, commences his life in Brooklyn, New York in 1935. There, his mother, Angela becomes depressed after the death of the newly born, Margaret. The family returns to their homeland, Limerick, Ireland. This concept is bizarre because then, most people departed Ireland destined for a new life in America; however the McCourt's do the complete opposite. Many problems arise in Limerick, and their entire lives' change.
In Ireland, they move into a two-floored apartment, which is in terrible living condition. During the winter, they have to live upstairs because the downstairs is flooded. The weather changes the mood for everyone and is a symbol of many different feelings including sadness and loneliness. It sets the tone for Frank's life. In the meantime, Angela is impregnated with more children, most of whom die in the end. The father, Malachy, is an alcoholic and spends all his money earned on himself rather than his family. He shares numerous stories and legends with Frank and is able to gain his love and respect. Malachy is from Northern Ireland and everyone in Limerick, including Angela's family, dislikes him for that reason. The McCourt family is very Catholic and after Frank is confirmed, a feeling of manhood is noticed. The brothers attend an all-boy's Catholic school in Ireland; however, because they are not as privileged as many of the other boys, a feeling of lowness is perceived. After Frank becomes sick, he acquires a love of Shakespeare and his ability of language is noticed by his school, along with his talent of storytelling. Frank's father heads off to England to make money for the family, which he is supposed to send back. However, the money never shows up, except for one time. After visiting his family once, Malachy never shows up again. Frank is able to develop more as a man because in a sense, he is the man of the house. While this is happening, the family's apartment is taken away from them and they have no choice, but to move in with Angela's cousin, Laman. Laman is a horrible, obnoxious man who Angela sleeps with. Frank becomes discouraged and angry with everything that is going on. Therefore, he gets a job as a messenger boy and becomes involved in a sexual relationship with a customer named Theresa Carmody. However, she dies of consumption, which leaves Frank depressed and heart-broken. The still thought of moving back to New York stays in Frank's mind throughout the entire memoir.
McCourt uses the first person point of view in his gripping memoir. The novel is made up of English writing; however he includes much dialect of the Irish, English, and American. McCourt matches up his tone with the narrator's age perfectly and as the book unwinds, he becomes more serious and mature. His humor, modesty, and down-to-earth way of writing makes the reader feel alive in the story.
Frank has to undergo many different deprived feelings. He has to suffer hunger, disregard, the depressing weather, his father's alcohol problem, disease, poverty, and many deaths. Many people look down at him because of his social standings. He receives hostility from the schoolmasters, priests, his family members and sometimes, himself. He wants to rise up from poverty more than anything.
The authors writing style is unusual. An excerpt from the book that greatly displays the authors style takes place on the first page of chapter one, when McCourt describes his life, "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. 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...the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters...Above all- we were wet" (11).
In a way, the author is misleading the reader because he is using humor, when really the story is not humorous, but only depressing, sad, and cheerless. McCourt has a strong adult opinion at this point in the book, but this is the only time, because after this, the book takes the opinion of a child and their perspective on life.
Personally, realizing how deprived a child's life can be, I am able to realize how privileged I am. I am able to eat, have shelter, have a family, be clothed, and able to afford proper medicines. Frank McCourt has to endure many hardships; ultimately, his childhood is a hardship. However, he is able to make the best of his childhood and fulfill his upbringing dream. After reading this memoir, my perception has changed and broadened. It helped change my outlook on life, my anger, my sadness, and most of all, myself.
Rating:
Summary: It Makes You Laugh and Cry at the Same Time
Review: The greatest aspect of Angela's Ashes is that you feel like Frank McCourt really put himself in that book. The narrator really is him. Unlike most memoirs, you get the sense that you are sitting with McCourt at a table and he's telling you his story. You can tell he's being facetious, you're not sure all of the story is exactly how it happened, but you don't care because the story is so good and the message he's trying to deliver is so honest that it doesn't really matter. The narrator and the author just happen to be natural born storytellers and they tell it to you the way they felt it because sometimes that's more honest than telling you the way it was.
With most other memoirs you get the sense that they don't share seem to have any feelings about any of the events happening. The author, of course, felt the story because he's the one being written about, but somehow they never place those feelings in the mouth (or words) of the narrator. The book might as well have been written by a biographer.
But McCourt writes in his own voice. And you can almost feel him reliving these stories as he tells you about them. At one minute, he's crying over heartbreak and the next he's laughing at the irony spread throughout the story of his life.
When he's at his best, he is laughing with you at the child he once was, the beliefs he once had.
The book is terrific, but I don't have to tell you that because you already know.
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: Frank McCourt's childhood memoir is written so beautifully that I return to it over and over again to remind myself of just how wonderful words can be.
Rating:
Summary: One of the finest works I have ever read
Review: Frank McCourt writes his memoir in the pitch-perfect language and consciousness of an Irish-Catholic boy. This work is a wonder to behold and although the story is sad (as are most Irish stories) there is a strong current of hope running through the pages. Young Frankie struggles against his broken home, the church, his own shortcomings and he finds tragedy and hope in the details of Irish life. If you value great writing, language-skills and story-telling, you will love this work. It remains one of the finest I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Memoir...
Review: In Frank McCourt's compelling memoir Angela's Ashes he shares the story of his tragic childhood as his family battles the struggles of poverty. Frank's memoir of his childhood begins in Brooklyn, New York in 1935 when his mother, Angela, and his father, Malachy travel from Ireland in hopes of a better life. Frank was born out of wedlock, forcing his parents to eventually marry. Frank is raised in the house of a cigarette addicted mother and an alcoholic father, and is forced to take on many grueling responsibilities. Their family continues to grow, causing them to fall deeper into poverty. The dreadful poverty and the devastating death of his sister, Margaret, eventually drove Frank and his now growing family back to Limerick, Ireland. In Ireland, Angela's mother bought them an apartment which eventually became their home. Frank and Malachy are enrolled in a Catholic school, where they are often tormented by the other boys for being less fortunate. The boys are not only looked down upon by their classmates, but also by the school masters. Frank's teachers chose to treat him inferior because of their lower social status. As Frank grows older more responsibility is placed upon him to raise his younger siblings. He is forced to lead his family as they beg for food and money from neighbors and church. Their poverty becomes even more serious as their father continues to throw their money away to satisfy his alcohol obsession. Frank is now old enough to hear his father stumble in at night belting Irish songs. He is old enough to hear is mother yelling and sobbing at her husband to become a respectable man and look after his failing family. Despite these late drunken nights, Frank remembers the stories his father shared with him when he was a young boy, and the lessons he instilled in him, trying to position that image over his now drunken father. His father then decides to move to England to work in the factories at the onset of World War II, hoping to earn money to support his family. As expected, he is unfaithful to his word and spends the little money he earns on drinks. The McCourt's are no longer able to pay their small rent, and are forced out of their apartment. Reluctantly, Angela's relatives offer to house the struggling family. At the age of fifteen, Frank has experienced far more then the average grown man and decides that it is time for change. He has lived through hunger, devastation, tears, and death and has witnessed his family fall to pieces. He is certain that this is not the way for him to live, and is ready to become an independent, self-sufficient man. To begin his path away from these horrors he finds a job as a mailman, hoping to someday earn the money to escape back to America.
Frank McCourt was able to open my eyes to the horrors and tribulations of poverty. The everlasting hardships told through the eyes of a young boy allowed me to realize the sincere pain that is experienced. As jobs were lost, and deaths occurred I fell deeper into the misery of the McCourt family. As I read through his life, both laughter and tears were shared. Frank McCourt told this novel using the first person, sharing his stories as if they were occurring for the first time. As he grew older and experienced greater troubles, his writing style became more serious. Although mostly a horrifying story, McCourt used a humorous style to express childhood memories to at times relive the reader from the sometimes upsetting stories. However, the visions of Frank's struggling family still linger in my mind. "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. 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.
. . . nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years."
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt; Memoir
Review:
"The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live."
--Frank McCourt
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt is a thrilling memoir that enlightens the reader with tales of his childhood in the impoverished towns of Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland. McCourt grew up during the late 1930s and 1940s and faced several conflicts such as hunger, death, his father's alcoholism, and illness. While amongst the lower-class, he faces opposition with people in all positions of authority such as schoolmasters, priests, and family members. However this does not make Frank's goal of rising up from poverty and leaving Ireland impossible.
Frank McCourt tells his story in an eccentric intriguing style. He mixes humor and wit with the harsh experiences of his childhood while also informing the reader of the stereotypical Irish lifestyle. The memoir is told in the present tense and written as though he is experiencing specific events that very moment. "I'm on deck the dawn we sail into New York. I'm sure I'm in a film, that it will end and lights will come up in the Lyric Cinema. . . . Rich Americans in top hats white ties and tails must be going home to bed with the gorgeous women with white teeth. The rest are going to work in warm comfortable offices and no one has a care in the world." This gives the reader a sense of the emotions he was facing at the time and lets you picture the event taking place. He also aligns the tone of the text with his progressing age. McCourt ties in the themes of family, love, religion, and social relationships, drawing the reader into his tragic life. "My brothers are dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and goes for a long walk". His writing style gives the reader the opportunity to see the care for family, Church and society, dedication, tragedy of alcoholism, and the harshness of life in Ireland.
Angela's Ashes is a story of survival of the spirit and body and an unforgettable memoir of a boy searching for a childhood in a world where he is forced to take on adult responsibilities. Frank McCourt, the book's author, narrator, and protagonist, tells his own life story from the perspective of an adolescent looking out onto the world. His early childhood consisted of his mother, Angela, struggling to feed her growing sons, paying the wages, and coping with the deaths of her young daughter. His childhood is a time of some adventure and continued deprivation. After the tragic death of his younger sister the family moved back home to Ireland. Soon enough Frank witnessed the death of his two brothers.
He faces several conflicts such as hunger, neglect, his alcoholic father, oppressive weather, poverty, starvation and harassment. However, Frank remains strong. McCourt descriptively shares his memories of searching for coal along the streets, begging for food, and the ruthless, cold nights. Frank increasingly condemns his father's irresponsibility but worries also about the morality of his own behavior. He determines to make a success of himself in America. He portrays an independent, determined young boy who eventually found himself as the "man of the house" instead of his own father. Frank still loves his father regardless of his alcoholic habits. When his father's attempt to earn money in England fails, Frank finds work on his own. This gives him the feeling of responsibility and lets him dream of hope for providing his family with food and clothes. Frank soon faces conflict again when his family moves in with Angela's cousin, Laman. A sexual relationship between the two is formed which brings anger to Frank. Frank soon starts a sexual relationship of his own with one of his customers, who soon dies of consumption, leaving Frank with a broken heart. Near the end, a priest pardons Frank of all his sins. This allows Frank to leave for America with a clear conscience and to take hold of his thoughts for his potential future. At this point, Frank's dream of leaving Ireland and overcoming poverty becomes possible. Even though he is sad of leaving his family back in Ireland, he earns enough money to move to New York and bid his farewell to Ireland. Angela's Ashes is a beautifully written memoir. The story captures your heart and gives you an idea of the hardships faced in our past.
Frank McCourt brought numerous emotions to the reader. The fast moving memoir allows you to picture the tragedies as if they were happening right before your eyes. With great detail, you can create images within your mind of the dark streets of Ireland and rough living styles. As a result of the incomparable life in the 1900s, the reader is pulled into Frank McCourt's personal experiences, investing every emotion. His description of his life is matchless. Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, and spent 117 weeks on The New York Times hardcover best-seller list. Angela's Ashes serves as a living record of the strong moral values and sense of humor McCourt maintained despite the suffering and despair he suffered as a child.
"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all."
--Frank McCourt
Rating:
Summary: Beyond the Stereotype
Review: Frank McCourt tells his story with an extraordinarily beguiling style that shows a life stereotypically Irish, but with humor mixed in goodly measure amongst the tough reality. Returning to Ireland to escape the depression (an irony unto itself,) McCourt ties in social themes, as well as a candid representation of honest family ties and relationships that draws the reader in and doesn't let them go.
It is easy to enter into the experience with McCourt and see and feel along with him, the harshness of life, the tragedy of alcoholism on the family, the dedication of the tragic figure of Angela (McCourt's mother) and the combined care and indifference of extended family, Church and society.
Many of the themes are earthy and may offend the purient, but they are not gratuitous, ring true to the honest human experience and make a refreshing change to the typical auto-biographical work which often seems to be straining for self-canonization. McCourt shows his own warts along with those of his family so that the image portrayed is that much more powerful for the lack of self-flattering or evasive narrative.
What comes through in the end is not only a realistic portrayal of a young man's hard early life, but beyond that a story marked by its honesty in the social statements made or available to be drawn with regard to poverty, religious indifference and social injustice which are made more personal and real for the lack of portraying himself as a modern Oliver Twist, victimized by all.
Well worth the effort to read and to keep on your shelf to glance back over from time to time.
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