Rating: 
Summary: Best book. Ever.
Review: Angela's Ashes is an autobiographical memoir of Frank McCourt's childhood. Born with
the "odd manner" of his North of Ireland father, Frank spent his early years in New York
City. His father, Malachy, seldom kept a job for more then three weeks. On that third
Friday, he would stay out late drinking the wages away, and then get his children up when
he came home to make them promise to die for Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela,
remained at home and prayed her husband would bring home the money so they could
have a good dinner for once. The family was constantly growing, and by the time Frank
was four years old he had a brother who was a year younger than him, baby twin brothers,
and a new baby sister. With the loss of their little girl and hope of a better life, the
McCourts left America for Ireland. The family settled in crowded Limerick where they
had to live off the dole and charity. As Frank grew older, he not only has to deal with lack
of food, but strict Irish Catholic school teachers, more family loss, crude relatives,
sickness, ignorance, and extreme poverty.
Reading Angela's Ashes was a truly moving experience. Frank McCourt's writing
style is unique and witty. His earthy words add a humorous edge to an otherwise dire
situation. I recommend this book to everybody.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: i can honestly say that this is the best book i have ever read. it has the perfect mixture of comedy and and tragedy.i highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: American Dream
Review: Angelas Ashes written by Frank McCourt is probably the best book I have ever read. This book is the perfect example of how authors should tell stories. McCourt is so vivid in describing the scenery and this really makes the book what it is. He discribes the different conditions that their family lives in which really makes the reader feel as if they are there. McCourt was explaining the foul smell of most of the places they had once lived in and was constatly compairing it to the place they had lived in in America by saying how America never smelled as foul as Limerick. McCourt believes that people in America who are as poor as he is live like the wealthy people in Limerick. McCourt tells everyone in the novel that he will never again live like they do in Irland.This proves to the audience that his dream is to return to America and not live like those in his town.
Another thing that really makes Angelas Ashes is the tragedy that Frank McCourt and his family over came, by lossing 3 kids to illness and their father to the drink. I have never encountered another author other that Elie Wisel (who wrote the novel Night) who had seemed so strong and as if there was nothing that would stop him from reaching hi dream, even after encountering so many obstacles. This gave me so much hope even though he McCourt had suffered so greatly it was so apairent that if he had not he would not have become what he became, and that is such an influencial leader and author. McCourt really gives those who fell that their life could not get any worse some hope in coming out on top. He proves the true drive that a person has when they a truly passionate about something.
Finally Frank McCourts book really came alive with the roundness of every charcter. As opposed to not telling much about all his charcters except for himself McCourt gave indepth discriptions about each one of their personalities. Including his two dead brothers and one dead sister. He would spend pages explaining the looks in their eyes that led the reader to know much more about them.
This is truly a great book that though has much sorrow also has a great message, and gives people hope in the common man. McCourt is truly very strong and has helped so many people understand the effects of a lack of father and overcoming extream tragedy. Those who have not read this book should read it and then rethink how they might be taking advantage of how they have been living.
Rating: 
Summary: A Teen¿s View on Angela¿s Ashes
Review: Being a teenager, Angela's Ashes didn't automatically appeal to me. It sounded more like a book my mother would enjoy, especially because it's a "memoir"- kind of a scary word for a young person, because it seems to predict a drab, boring life story. The beginning of the book was difficult to get into, mostly because about a million characters are introduced in the first fifty pages.
However, after I got into the story, it was really easy reading. It's a very well written book. The main characters have many dimensions and lots of personality, which is probably because the story is a true account of Frank McCourt's life. The story is about an extremely poor family, and their move to Ireland, where the father and mother were born and raised. The McCourts face many hardships, such as the death of children, and the fact that the dad, also named Frank McCourt, drinks away the little money they have in Irish pubs almost every night.
I found I was most drawn to the father as a character. He is depicted as a wonderful dad who would do anything for his family. All of his sons look up to him a great deal, and they see only the good qualities in him. He turns right around and betrays their trust, though, by acting as though he doesn't have a family to support. Through a flurry of job loses, caused when he drinks too much on his pay days, and not being able to get up the next morning, he ruins any chances the family has to live normal lives. He is continuously forgiven for his mistakes.
Although Angela's Ashes is at times very sad, it is also tremendously entertaining, and in many cases, funny. I would highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: POIGNANTLY WONDERFUL
Review: I bought the book just by reading the cover and immediately knew it had great potentials and when i finished i had to stay still for a while just to catch my breathe.
it is simply wonderful
Rating:
Summary: Angelas Ashes: A Memoir
Review: I kind of hate writing these for fear that I will give away to much or to little of the story and ruin it for whoever is contemplating reading or purchasing this book.
Angela's Ashes is a memoir of a young boy, Frank, growing in a poor family in Limerick, Ireland.
I really enjoyed reading it, though parts of it had a habit of dragging in such a way that I had to put the book down for a while and allow my mind a break before I could get back into it.
Many of the experiences throughout the story are ones you would find in any tale of growing up and discovery of ones self. The tales of extreme poverty and fear of death and diseases open up a new worlds that many of the readers have never faced, or haven't dealt with to such a full extent.
That is why this book can a appeal to different age groups, from people who grew up during that time, to middle aged persons eager to do the trendy thing, or ready to learn more about extreme poverty. Or even to help them remember their own troubles and confusion while growing up. It also can appeal to the teenager, ready for adventure, or learning more about themselves, their bodies, their oddities, and needing someone with whom to relate.
If you reading this book review in order to nudge your opinion to buy or read it in one direction or another, then you probably should stop reading here. I want to tell my absolute favorite part. I'm not sure why I love it so much, except for it holds the same writing style that I sometimes write in, and that connects me to the book at a personal level.
I absolutely love that part where he has been held back due to the time he spent in the hospital and is required to write a composition. Something about how his composition is written, with such blatant truth and such a humorous tone, I just love it.
"It's a good thing Jesus decided to be born Jewish in that warm place Because if He was born in Limerick he'd catch the consumption and be dead in a month and there wouldn't be any Catholic Church and there wouldn't be any Communion or Confirmation and we wouldn't have learned about catechism and write compositions about Him."
I think the reason I like this so much is because after the teacher and headmaster heard it, Frank got moved up to the correct class.
All in all, this was an interesting read, and I would recommend it to most people. But I feel that, like with any book, some people may not see the true human feel it contains, and may only read the surface of it.
Rating:
Summary: Angela¿s Ashes
Review: Angela's Ashes is by far the most deeply depressing book I have ever read. Every page I read makes me thankful that I have a warm place to live and good food to eat. I think that this is the reason I liked this book as much as I did. In the beginning chapter, Frank gave a short summery of his family's sad and morbid history. He then ventured into the meeting of his parents and his birth. This is where you start to get a sense of the sadness and depravity that he experienced though his life. This feeling lingers for the remainder of the story. Death within his family frequently occurred through out his childhood. Most of his siblings die because of mal nutrition. The reader gets the feeling that Frank doesn't understand the death of his only sister and the twins. This is another aspect that I like about McCort's writing style. He writes as if he is the character, and is at the same comprehension level. With every chapter there is a sad aspect and with every uplifting moment there is a downfall. I don't think that Frank at that age understood his father's addition, which made it harder for him to see the reason his life was like it was. He was constantly trying to impress or get approval from his family, and especially from his father. This made it even harder to see him fail at most of the things he tried to do, like being an usher for example. The only times I saw a least bit of happiness in his story was when he was ill with typhoid and his father kissed him on the head and told Frank that he loved him. The other was when he saved enough money to go back to America, where the book came to a close. This book was a tragic and really showed the audience what it was to live in the great depression as a poverty stricken young boy, and actually survive it. The book was descriptive and realistic, as was his life. This is why I give this book four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: I give Angela's Ashes five stars. It was excellent. It is a biography of a child's life and he tells what his life was like living in Ireland with no money, a father who could careless if his family was starving, relatives that treat him like dirt, man of the house because your father is out drinking in pubs, his sister that died in America which is the reason why they moved to Ireland in th first place and his two twin brothers dying one right after another in Ireland.
In this book you could visualize what Frankie was talking about when you were reading. I could put myself into his shoes and see how hard he had his life. I could picture in my mind how skinny and thin Frankie and his brothers were because they didn't have much to eat, what there clothes looked like all dirty and old, and sleeping with only a couple of old coats as blankets and freezing at night.
This book showed me I shouldn't take everything I get for granted but to be grateful for what I get and have because I am lucky to have it.
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes: an all around emotional autobiography
Review: Angela's Ashes is an all around emotional autobiography. The author, Frank McCourt, gives the reader a deep inside view of what his childhood was. He describes life in Ireland during the depression.
Almost immediately after the book begins, feelings of grief, sadness, and lament start to flow through the reader's mind. As Frank McCourt describes the hardship and struggles he experienced, suck as extreme poverty, a drunken, careless father, deaths of young siblings, and lack of food, the reader is led to a dead end of feelings of depression. Nevertheless, reading this beautifully written story of a poverty stricken Irish family in the midst of the depression, the reader understands and realizes truths that may be taken for granted in life.
Despite the depressing subject matter of the story, it's quite uplifting, as in the end, Frankie fulfills his goal and earns enough money to move back to America, where he was born. He has to begin working at a very young age to support his family after his father deserts them, when he at last reaches the age of 19, he finally puts enough money aside for himself and is able to return to America.
I would highly recommend this book to others. I feel that it allows one to feel better about life even though it may be full of suffering. It shows how important family is and how we humans should care about others.
Rating:
Summary: captivating and expressive through the eyes of a young boy
Review: In this book Frank McCourt opens the reader's eyes and heart to the struggle of a young boy and his family trying to get by during the depression. After the death of his only sister in America, Frankie and his family move back to Ireland. Unable to deal with watching his family waste away, Malachy, the father, continually drinks all the wages and any money he can gets his hands on. As the oldest, little Frankie is froced to deal with the knowledge of their poverty and shamefulness of their begging. Many times he is forced to take responsibility and care of his younger brothers when his father is out at the pub and his mother is in bed sick and mourning for her many loses.
I have gained a new understanding of what it is to not have from this book. I read in horror as a realized the babies were living on sugar and water because milk was too expensive. I can't imagine having a childhood filled with such struggling and questioning as to wether there would be any clothes and any food at all the next day. As I read further I realized how brave and determined Frank was. Many times he could of given up hope, like his father, but he never stopped believing that things would get better.
As well as being a account of the obstacles Frank McCourt faced as a child, Angela's Ashes is also a touching and somewhat humorous book. It catches the attention of the reader and installs a desire in their mind to read on through all the pain and hard times and through this boy's childhood journey in search of hope.
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