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Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: My mom borrowed this book from the library for me after watching the movie, which she said was quite depressing. Angela's Ashes, a memoir written by Frank McCourt, records the events of the first nineteen years of his life. The second paragraph of the book says, "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." Indeed, after reading the book, you wonder how anyone could have survived such a childhood, especially if you are a child who has had a happy childhood and could never imagine such horrors, like myself. The horrors of growing up with an alcoholic father who spent all his wages in local pubs without bringing home any money to support his family, having three siblings die at young ages, never having shoes with complete soles or enough clothes to cover your body, having to beg and steal for food to survive, and much more are all brought to life by the author's detailed recollecting. Reading the book has left me more grateful for everything I have, but the poverty in the book seem so distant from me and hard to imagine. The book received such high praise. Linnea Lannon from the DETRIOT FREE PRESS said, "Frank McCourt's life, and his searing telling of it, reveals all we need to know about being human." I don't think the book revealed much to me about being human, since the circumstances in the book are so extreme and completely unlike my life. I found it hard to agree with such praise as well as praise in other reviews. However, the book is indeed a spellbinding memoir of a tragic childhood and not a bad read. Just don't expect TOO much.
Rating: 
Summary: very uplifting and inspirational
Review: McCourt paints an outstanding picture of life in post-famine Ireland. McCourt reveals the story of his own life growing up in poverty, with a drunken father, death, love, and a Catholic upbringing. This books is filled with sadness but ends on a happy note. A great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Angela's Ashes = Greatness!
Review: I think this is one of the best books I have ever read!!! I was walking through the grocery store when I came across a shelf with lots of books on it. I picked up "Angela's Ashes" and decided to buy it because the movie had just come out and I was interested in the story. Well, I am glad I did buy it. The book gives you an insight into the lives of a poverty striken family in Ireland and New York. You get an idea of how hard life is for people living in deplorable conditions thanks to poverty and how they can pull through the tough times.
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Summary: Touching and Honest
Review: Angela's Ashes instantly draws you in to the life of author Frank McCourt. You will feel what a young Frank was feeling and will feel an overwhelming urge to help him. Frank McCourt is a magnificent author who will instantly grab you. He is honest (sometimes brutally) about how he is feeling and the situation he is in. The innocence of a child is shown in this memoir. You will laugh, cry, and even get angry. This is a wonderful story that will leave you hoping that things will turn out O.K. It will also show you that your life may not be as bad as you previously thought.
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Summary: Frank, the Survivor
Review: Angela's Ashes is a memoir of a heroic child, Frank McCourt who survives a miserable Catholic childhood. As you read the book, the author manages to make you feel the happiness and sadness experienced by that young boy. With reading each page you get to know him better, and your heart will reach out for him. Born in America, Frank spends the first few years of his life there, until his youngest sister, Margaret, dies. Their living status declines and they are forced to go back to his mother's hometown, Limerick, in Ireland. The book tells of his struggle to survive in a town where he and his brothers are considered outsiders. Not only are they Yanks, coming from America, but also their father is from the despised North Ireland. As if that is not enough, their poverty makes them the laughingstock all over the lane. And worse of all is having an irresponsible father, who is a regular drinker not caring whether or not his children were fed. Matters get from bad to worse and there is nothing they can do but survive the harsh conditions where death hovers above their heads and ailments are nothing but neighbours to him and his family. Some of them win the game but other loses. Frank builds himself a dream of going to America again and pursues it with all of what he got, a thinking mind between his shoulders and the clothes on his body. The book is told with genuine truth that it will touch your hearts, and you will want to cry with that boy whose childhood was not of that of a normal child. The boy who holds back his tears because he thinks he is a man, and men don't cry, a boy who manages to survive and live despite everything else.
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Summary: Amazing !
Review: Frank McCourt recounts the deeply moving story of his childhood in Catholic Ireland... an Ireland where bigotted religious zealots make small children feel guilty just for surviving... an Ireland where the Irish detest the English and the Ulstermen, yet are not too proud to take their money off them... an Ireland where the injustice of life is thrust in your face by the tale of a small boy struggling to survive a broken marriage and an alcoholic father. You couldn't fail to read this true story without admiring the spirit of the boy who crawled his way out of the gutter to a better life. His typically Irish sense of humor (and of the absurd) shines through the squalid settings and the dismal truth of the story. You will be touched by his acceptance of burdens that most of us could never even imagine... living in absolute poverty... relying on charity for a pair of boots three sizes too big... collecting scaps of coal that have been ignored by others... always in debt... always cold... always in bad health. We have a lot to be grateful for.
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Summary: Dragged up not brought up
Review: Next time your teenage kids tell you lifes not fair open this book at any page and read. Frank McCourts childhood unfortunately is typical of the tough religious hard upbringing in Catholic Ireland in the 1930 and 40's. Unable to make a go of things in America the family return to Ireland. His mother is downtrodden, proud but often desperate, his father a drunkard, not so much violent as absent, and just as likely to spend the weeks wages on Guinness as food. Autobiographical but written almost in story form, the book is breathtaking. McCourt has the knack of bringing bad news at such alarming regularity, that you accept it. You can almost feel the cold, and share the hunger with them. Considering the subject matter and some of the events it is not a sad book, just a great one.
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Summary: A slap in the face for the spoiled.
Review: This book is reccommended by Stephen King in "On Writing" - a book I highly reccommend. Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" is a wonderful literary accomplishment. I was deeply touched by the story (as I have an alcoholic family-abandoning father, too). The prose is rythmic and soothing, and the stories are a wonderful tapestry of life. There are moments when the failings of the people around Frank make you wish you could reach back in time and slap them. There are moments of laughter and tears, and throughout the book you cannot help but root for Frank as he struggles to keep his family and himself sane during the hardscrabble life they lead. I reccommend this to all, however, if you have trouble with rambling sentences or dialogue with phonetic colloquialisms, you may be better off seeing the movie - which is a perfect compliment to the book. The ending leaves you dying for more, however, I found "'Tis" to lack the heart and the hope of "Angela's Ashes" Also of interest, Malachy McCourt has also written two books on his related life. I delayed reading this because I dislike sad stories, but this one is really a story of how a family's love can light up the darkest corner of the world, and how that love never leaves you, no matter how imperfect it may be. Enjoy.
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Summary: Great Insight,
Review: I really loved this book, except the last chapter when it turned when it lost it's rich literacy and turned 'cheap'. I won't go into particulars, as to not ruin the ending for you, but you'll know what I mean when you get close to the end. Otherwise, this author is wonderful and provides a depth of feeling of what it was like to grow up Catholic and poor in Ireland. Thanks Frank.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and inspirational
Review: This is the autobiography of an American-born child of Irish immigrants who return to their roots and poverty in Ireland. Young Frankie's father suffers from 'the drink,' while his mother suffers from depression and often neglects her children. They are malnourished and live in squalid conditions. Too proud to accept charity, Frankie's father drinks away what little money he manages to earn. Reading allows the young boy to escape to other worlds. Through books, Frank develops his survival skills and a sense of hope for a better future. This strengthens his determination to earn enough money to return to America one day. McCourt's ability to illustrate the humor in his tragic childhood is very inspirational, albeit bittersweet. This book should be required reading for all teenagers. The McCourt saga continues in the sequal 'Tis.
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