Rating: 
Summary: Not my idea of a great read
Review: Although McCourt is a gifted writer, and I did enjoy many sections of the book, I found it too depressing with few redeeming qualities. As a Catholic growing up in the 1950's, I could identify with the numerous occasions of sin he portrayed. However, the ending was flat - and unrealistic. It seemed as if Mr. McCourt got bored with all the misery and body fluids and just wanted it over. The title has no relevance to anything in the book - "Angela's Ashes" appears to refer to his Mother, whom he left alive and well in Ireland and not deceased. I shall be more cautious about running out to buy any of Oprah's Book Club Selections.
Rating: 
Summary: Drivel...
Review: OK, "Angela's Ashes" is a decent way to pass a couple of hours in the easy chair, and a far sight better use of time than the television watching which would otherwise occupy the majority of the book's supporters. But it is not Pulitzer material. Mr. McCourt's writing talents are passable, and god knows he is more than capable of employing those devices which sell books, not least of which are cliche and downright heartstring-tugging. Something is sorely lacking in this book, however, most notably character and story. Yes it is a memoir, which can, I suppose, be expected to sport a little less structure than a typical novel. But this is little more than a self-indulgent 426 page plea for pity from a man who has weathered a series of conditions known all too well to millions of Irish in the past and billions of human beings in the present. The picaresque novel has been dead for some time. Those who wish a better and much finer-crafted view of the life of the unfortunates of yesterday and today should look to authors such as Rohinton Mistry and Toni Morrison, among others. Doling out a Pulitzer to Mr. McCourt is like giving the literature Nobel to Michael Crichton. Both 'author's' works have their place, but neither deserve great praise.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it!
Review: A vivid, sad and real story. When you're about to cry, you start to laugh to the little details caught by a 9 year old boy's eyes. It's the story of life, success and sincere love.
Rating:
Summary: Angela's Ashes
Review: It is such a pleasure to read this book, I couldn't put it down, and yet didn't want it to end... Thanks to Frank for capturing in such child like verse the naive way of the young. It makes adult values seem so mundane. Oh, to be a child again. I am now reading Tis, and find a slightly more mature narrative - again appropriate to the character. One question Frank, how autobriographical is it? Can such hardship really exist in our century? If so, I congratulate you on finding your way out, and helping your family too. Bravo, for capturing my (and many others) attention.
Rating:
Summary: lovely, witty, poignant, heartrending
Review: I was fortunate to run into Frank McCourt (literally!) as he was walking out of a store in downtown Santa Cruz. I didn't have the courage to tell him how much I liked Angela's Ashes, so I will praise his wonderful book here. McCourt's portrayal of an Irish Catholic boyhood in the slums of Limerick is lovely without being precious, and heartrending without descending into melodrama. Scenes such as Angela singing a tune with her old sweetheart, or the McCourt's Christmas dinner (which is a bit like the Cratchits, only more Dickensian) are presented in a style which seems both rough and elegant, like the warp and weft of a thick fabric. The misery of the McCourt's poverty, the betrayal of Frank's alcoholic father, and the resigned nature of Frank's mother are rendered with poignance and simple grace, without descending into cliche. I hope that this book continues to sell well over the next few years. Thank you, Mr. McCourt, and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all this when I bumped into you in person!
Rating: 
Summary: educational autobiography..
Review: Angela's Ashes has a lot going for it. It describes an absolutely horrific childhood in Ireland during the 1930s/1940s. I had no idea there was so much poverty in Ireland only a generation ago. Very eye-opening. The book is also very accessible (ie, easy to read). But upon finishing the novel I didn't quite understand what drove folks to survive through such hardship, and why most seemed to be fatalist about their plight. While I can understand that perhaps Frank McCourt, as a child, didn't have much thought on the matter, surely later on in his teens (towards the end of Angela's Ashes) developed firm opinions on his parents, his environment, etc. This would have made the book more thought-provoking and less of a "childhood from hell" documentary. Having said all this, Angela's Ashes is a great achievement.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I just finished the book not more than 3 hours ago. I am deffinately not a reader, but decided to start on one of my Christmas presents anyways. I am so impressed and inspired by this book, surely the greatest that I have ever read. When I got done with it was the first time in 3 days that I have put it down. I can't wait to run to the bookstore and continue the story with 'Tis.
Rating:
Summary: Smashing
Review: It is a very well written novel about a young boy growing up in a rather weird household. He writes very lightly about, in my opion, disasters happening to him and his family. Alcoholisme, unwanted pregnancies and the death of of some of his siblings.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Must Read
Review: The only negative thing I can find to say about this book is that I have no idea, after reading it, where the title comes from. After that there is nothing but good. McCourt injects pathos in potentially miserable situaions, and humor where there is grimness. His style is unique because, given the subject matter, the reader expects a ponderous tome but here, instead, is a comic jaunt into despair. And it is this 'jaunty' quality which allows the reader to read on despite the misery, despite the anger at the father, the desire to shake the mother and to slap a few relatives along the way. At the end one can only hand it to the victims of poverty who survive to write with such wit and humor. Thank you Mr. McCourt for sharing, and for giving the reader moments of laughter when a person in that situation must certainly find nothing to laugh about. A potentially depressing book rendered delightful. Certainly a MUST READ.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I have listened to tales of Irish poverty from the father of a friend of mine, but until I read Angela's Ashes the vividness of just how deep that poverty was never jumped out at me. I couldn't put the book down, and I can't help but think about the father of my closest friend, who survived the same type of childhood. It's absolutely amazing, and Frank McCourt writes it so well it just gets stuck in your hea.
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