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Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: "When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was of course, a miserable childhood."
Frank McCourt expresses his life emotionally and physically through his novel, Angela's Ashes. Using his Irish dialect, he helps readers to experience his life full of poverty, death, sickness and simple pleasures.
Resulting in the death of their precious baby girl, his family moved back to their homeland, Ireland. Their hope for a better life perished before their eyes. Malachy, the father, continued to "drink away the wages" at the local pubs with the money they rarely had. Angela, the mother continued to give birth to their children that they couldn't support. Over the next fifteen years and six brothers and sisters later, Frank found ways to make the worst times better. He worked at an early age after his father vanished to England, and even did the simple things like taking dance lessons to please his mother. Finally, by the age of nineteen, Frank had earned enough money to fulfill his dream of going back to America for a future full of opportunities.
We feel that Frank is one of the most determinded characters that we read about. He was able to see beyond the poverty, hunger and necessities in order to make him and his family's dreams come true.
Angela's Ashes represents many different types of emotions. Times of need brought tears to our eyes, while a few experiences and comments made us laugh at his humor. His variety of vocabulary was endless, and the writing style was very detailed. He did a wonderful job of drawing the reader into each environment, and almost allowing us to experience his feelings ourselves.
A negative aspect of this book was the lack of quotations when a character spoke. Only a few quotes were used, and it confused us, the readers. It left us trying to figure out in our own minds if someone was either saying it, or thinking it. Also, the beginning of the novel seemed to be drawn out much more than necessary. McCourt gave us more information than we actually needed.
All around, Angela's Ashes was a depressing story. It introduced us to a life during the Depression, from people without an American point of view. It represented the lives of many who suffered in this time of need and desperation, and how they overcame their problems in order to make their dreams come true.
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Summary: "A Burning Portrait: Angela's Ashes"
Review: A Burning Portrait: Angela's Ashes
Rebecca Ginsberg
Angela's Ashes is the profound, heart-warming autobiography of Frank McCourt, who describes the harsh conditions of his impoverished childhood in both America and Ireland. His story begins in Brooklyn during the time of the Depression. His recent immigrant parents, Angela and Malachy, force Frank to take care of his younger siblings, and watch them die. He must be his mother's strength as she waits for her drunken husband to come home every night without food. Little Frank continues to have hope as he his family moves to his parent's homeland of Ireland. As his dreams of a rich life in his new home diminish due to his father's continual drunkenness, he is able to find optimism in his father's tales of Cuchulian, an ancient heroic Irishman who saved his country. Every week Angela is forced to beg to a council for food and clothing. Because of the overwhelming poverty in their small town Frank learns to live with shoes repaired with tires, a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and having to take two jobs to provide for his family.
This book is recommended because of the genius of Frank McCourt's writing. He is able to capture the essence of a poor Irishman's life with humor, satire, and strife, while at the same time telling a touching story. As he writes of his everyday life the accents and culture of the Irish can be felt. McCourt also brings out diverse emotions, from laughing at his father who would make him wake up at all hours of the night to sing about his "Pride for Ireland" to crying as Malachy holds his dead daughter in his arms due to lack of medical attention. This book also opens one's eyes to the life of poverty, and the obstacles that must be overcome in order to survive. Before reading this account, I was never aware of the struggles that people must go through if they do not have money. The fact that Angela is forced to get down on her hands and knees and had to beg for money to go to the doctor is preposterous. I was educated and my eyes were opened to a whole new world as I read the horrific details of having to live in solely the upstairs of a house because of flooding on the first floor of the poorest lane in Limerick, Ireland.
While this book is entertaining and heartfelt, it is also incredibly depressing. Learning about the grim realities of Frank McCourt's childhood is extremely difficult. I often would have to put the book down because of the intense sadness that came through the details of his life. Particularly memorable was Frank's description of the extra jobs he is forced to take in order to provide for him and his family. The fact that the McCourts are forced to plead for boots three sizes too big, and scrounge for the next meal is sickening and extremely sad. Reading about the hunger they were forced to go through because of a father's addiction really stings the heart.
Angela's Ashes makes me realize how petty the obstacles are in my life, and how inspiring Frank McCourt is to have survived such a life, and then to go on and win a Pulitzer Prize. When anyone is feeling sorry for himself he should pick up this book, and realize how fortunate most of us really are. This memoir is a superb portrayal of the difficult life uneducated poor people lead in order to survive, while at the same time providing insight into the Irish culture, and creating a moving, earnest story.
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Summary: Touching
Review: This is a worthwhile read. Mr. McCourt has an uncanny ability to bring his story to life. I enjoyed his book much more than his brother's. The book is wrought with poignancy, humor, tragedy, emotion and reality. I look forward to reading 'Tis.
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Summary: What a read
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. As you read Frank McCourt's words, you can almost hear his voice, his accent reading the words to you.This is one of those books that once you are finished reading it, you don't want to start another book because there is no way any other book will top this one. Plus, you almost don't want to ruin the feeling you have once you are finished with it. But, thank goodness you still have 'Tis to look forward to! Very highly recommended.
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Summary: An excellent book!
Review: Frank McCourt does a beautiful job of describing the miserable childhood he endured in Ireland and the similar plight of others there.
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Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: yeah i read the book Angela's Ashes, in my college english class at my high school. I found it a very interesting book, it gave good detail, description, and the book was just a really good book in general. I'd really recommend this book if you are someone who likes a good and interesting book. The author did a very good job on the publication of the book; it really made me feel bad for Frankie the little boy.
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Summary: Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
Review: If ever a book were to be classified as a contemporary classic, Angela's Ashes would be that book. Written with warm pathos and folksy humour, it tells the story of all of us. I highly recommend Angela's Ashes as a must read.
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Summary: Heart wrenching!
Review: I have a great deal of mixed feelings about this book. It had been recommended to me several times so I decided to buy it and read it. I was bowled over by the tremendous poverty of the Irish people and many times near tears. Surprised by the discrimination within their own country against each other based upon wealth, religion or birthplace. There are great moments of humor within this book that at times are hard to laugh at but one has to see them through the eyes of the child. This is a book you love to hate or hate to love. Hard to put it down but hard to pick it up as well. If nothing else, read it for the insight into the Irish people and their history.
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Summary: A Beautiful and Sad Story
Review: This book kept me up all night. I could not let this book go. It made me realize that other parts of the world have similar problems to the ones we see in our part of the world. This book hit home right on the dot. His carefully picked words, his details, his politeness, his innocence, his ambition, all made me want more. I can't wait to read the second part of his memoir. This is an excellent story teller. And, I hope that his writing days are just beginning.
Tis'
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Summary: A depressingly sad memoir that will make you laugh out loud
Review: Angela's Ashes is amazing. In this book, Frank McCourt draws upon his childhood with an intense depth drawing humor out his days of sickness, starvation, and abuse. As he re-lives his life, he brings us with him on a journey, full of poverty Catholic ceremonies, the confusions of puberty and Irish charm. The characters, McCourt's family, come alive in the pages of this book with all the perplexities and contradictions that are bottled up in every human being. Angela's Ashes is a beautiful work that I believe that just about anyone can enjoy.
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