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Summary: ABSOLUTELY MESMORIZING
Review: This is by far the most incredible book I have ever managed to encounter. Never have I felt such emotion of sorrow and laughter, I didn't know wether to laugh or cry but somehow managed to do both. This is one book you can not put down til you have read the last page.
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Summary: It Helps if You're Irish
Review: Angela's Ashes dragged me through the poorest streets of Ireland and I laughed through my tears the entire trip. I found the book very hard to read at first as I've never experienced Frank McCourt's writing style before. But I heard his distinct brogue and it comforted me and made me continue trekking through his often times difficult dialouge. In the end I was tortured that the book had ended but the story hadn't. Angela's Ashes is unlike any other story I've read, fiction or non-fiction. It's hard at times to believe it is an autobiography. Surely no one could have survived such a childhood. This book is a must read for anyone even remotely Irish - and all who wonder just how poverty affects our youngest citizens.
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Summary: Thank you for this Wonderful Book
Review: This book will touch your heart and soul, and your emotions will soar. The story flows easily from chapter to chapter, and makes you hungry for more. After reading this book, I am a "born again reader" Thank you Frank McCourt, for being you.
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Summary: Much Sadness
Review: Mr.McCourt walks us through his life of extreme poverty,without any "light at the end of the tunnel" and yet,he prevailed. It's amazing what the human psychic could endure and come out a shining star. There was death, starvation, alchoholism, and poverty but love was always twinkling. It must have taken Mr.McCourt a great deal to jot it down on paper. God Bless.
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Summary: Now You Know the Irish
Review: A welcome addition to the long tradition of head-shaking pity for the Irish. This depression-era trail of tears follows the fortune -- or is it anti-fortune -- of a breeding/dying Irish family through the eyes of the oldest son. A steadfast mother struggles to hold this most pitiable family together while the alcoholic father/husband drinks away their future. There is no end to this death march of poverty, disease, and hopelessnes. The author's breezy, informal style makes for a quick page-turner. His skill in portraying the Irish vernacular will have you smiling and speaking like a native in no time. If this book were trimmed 50 pages, it would be a classic indeed. Even so, this romp from laughter to heartache will affect you deeply, even if you suspect at times that you're getting an Irish pull of the leg from the most unjustly oppressed and admirable people in history.
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Summary: Astonishing!
Review: I couldn't put it down! I was shocked. It made me sick, mad, sad, and happy! It is a great book!
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Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: If you are looking for a depressing book to read, then turn the pages of Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. An autobiography of his childhood both in America and Ireland, the author focuses on the family characters who went in and out of his life. Most were stereotyped Irish...men who were uneducated, drunks and generally unemployed misfits and women who were perpetually pregnant with families they could neither feed, dress or care for properly. The book is littered with scenes of poverty and filth and the illness it breeds. I suppose that Mr. McCourt wanted to portray a sense of stoic resolve that comes with extreme poverty and the will to do better. But I found it neither uplifting or inspiring. Many individuals who emmigrated to this country from other parts of the world probably could have told similar stories. There was nothing unique in Frank's childhood that was worth writing a book about. Boring, depressing, unentertaining... I read the book to the end hoping for some miracle that would save this tale, but unfortunately the ending was just as bad as the beginning.
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Summary: Superbly told and well worth the telling
Review: McCourt prepares us for the difficult journey through "Angela's Ashes" when he states that "of course it was a miserable childhood. The happy ones are hardly worth the while". We know we are going to experience some pretty unpleasant things but we also know that the narrator survived and that, like him, we will get through them with a sense of humor and irony. Angela's Ashes contains some pretty rough stuff. Hunger, sickness, death, neglect, abuse, persecution, and guilt are the standard features throughout the book. Just when you think things are bad, they get worse. The family goes from a hovel to homelessness and the mother goes from poverty to out and out begging. When they finally take up residence with the mother's cousin it isn't really clear whether she sleeps with him out of need, affection, or as a form or rent payment. You might wonder if this book is so miserable then why is it worth reading? McCourt's writing, is direct, lucid, and at times ironic. He chronicles his miserable childhood with little sentimentality and utterly no self-pity. Although McCourt's prose contains considerable anger toward the trauma and occasional injustice of his childhood, he captures the people and environment with clarity and humor. McCourt clearly has an intense curiosity about people and a keen perception of character. I suspect that these qualities played a vital role in his survival. I recommend this book for several reason. First, it is superbly written. No matter how interesting a story is, I generally won't read it if the writing is bad. But McCourt has an ear for dialog and an instinct for language. Secondly, McCourt's chronicle teaches us a lot about poverty, survival and how well off most of us are. These are all very important lessons. Finally, I loved the way "Angela's Ashes" completely transported me to another time and place. So many writers try and fail to do this, but McCourt did so with seemingly no effort. "Angela's Ashes" has also been made into a film which really isn't bad. But it pales in comparison to the book.
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Summary: Beautiful!
Review: I found this book to be a celebration of the human spirit! Just beautiful!
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Summary: i love this book
Review: this book was great! I highly recommend i
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