Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but no happy ending yet!
Review: How do you rate a book like this? The writing is excellent, which gives it 5 stars. But this reader wanted to hear how great Frank McCourt's life was when he broke free of his childhood and came to America - a happy ending was strongly desired. That's unfair, and unrealistic, since the story stops 15 years ago -- and this isn't fiction!After reading and loving Angela's Ashes, with the McCourt family's struggles against all that was against them (poverty, alcoholism, dysfunctional family, dying children) in Ireland and America, I badly wanted to read stories of how Frank McCourt completely and quickly had a happy life, inspiring students to improve their lives by sharing his own struggles. McCourt's life has been a stunning success, but that's not expressed in this book. It starts when he comes to America in the late 40's, follows his young life fairly closely until the 70's, when the stories thin out. There's a sudden jump to the 80's and the death of his parents. Don't expect to be uplifted - this is part of McCourt's life story, and he pulls the reader into the book just as he did in Angela's Ashes. You'll struggle, as he did, with his own shortcomings - bad eyes, bad teeth, a thick brogue, stubborn, poor yet generous, with a weakness for the drink. He writes so well, you'll feel as much of a failure as he did back in those days. Toward the end of this book, he sits in the Lion's Head Bar, looking at photographs on the wall, of famous writers who'd been there. "I suffer with envy. Will I ever be up there? The writers travel the land, signing books, appearing on televison talk shows. There are parties and women and romance everywhere. people listen. No one listens to teachers. They are pitied for their sad salaries." Of course, we suspect that eventually his picture will appear on the wall of the Lion's Head Bar -- but the story ends in 1985, and tells us nothing of his passion for writing or the birth of Angela's Ashes. I find myself hoping he's writing another book - perhaps another memoir, but preferably a fat, lively novel where he'll feel free to share his passion and joy for what he has done with his life. After reading these books, it is clear the man can tell a story that keeps you turning the pages, but I've been depressed enough! Now for some life! After reading these books, it is clear the man can tell a story that keeps you turning the pages, but I've been depressed enough! Now for some life!
Rating: 
Summary: Emigration/Immigration
Review: I have read this book, "Angela's Ashes," and "A Monk Swimming" by Malachy McCourt. I hope to read whatever works of theirs are published in the future. I found that their books communicated to me the "feeling" of planting one's feet in an unfamiliar place. The civics and history books I read in school painted a sentimental picture of the experience...one which it has taken me a lifetime to reassess. My parents enjoyed a good gab, but they lacked the "way with the words" that the McCourts have. Not being witty enough to turn it all into a joke, they were too Irish to indulge in whining about their fears, insecurities, or disappointments. I am sad that these books appeared on the shelves too late for me to use them as a pry bar to open up some needed communication between myself and them. One need not be the child of Irish immigrants to profit from reading the books of these brothers who underwent a double dose of uprooting...transplantation of your family from anywhere to America will suffice.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Worthwhile Follow-up to Angela's Ashes
Review: Tis fulfilled the longings I was left with after reading Angela's Ashes. I was dying to know how Frank makes his way in America and the fate of each of the family members. McCourt's "frank" writing style (no pun intended) was a delight, as it was in his first memoir. His experiences with anti-immigrant attitudes (that troublesome Irish brouge) give light to the tremendous changes we've seen in this country since his arrival here. His nonparticipation in the sixties movement and stories of others struggling to achieve an education during that time pays hommige to those who didn't have the luxury of utter self-indulgence, peace, love and hair-grease. We often forget the Americans who were too busy surviving and supporting a family to be at Woodstock and other love-ins. His story real. I disagree with the reviewer who seemed to want a Hollywood ending with fireworks. McCourt finds himself, becomes a man, and he creates a life better than anyone anticipated for him. It is a wonderful, real, book with a sense of humor that I will miss now that I'm done reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A washout!
Review: I've been terribly disappointed with"'tis" This man presumably is telling the truth in writing about all his failings as a husband and proves to be very much his fathers son in his weakness for the drink.I wonder if he ever had his bad teeth and crusty eyes fixed? Yuk!!!
Rating:
Summary: 'Tis Just What I Wanted
Review: "Angela's Ashes" could not be the end of my interest in the McCourt family. Although "'Tis" was not as gripping as was the unbelievable and undeniable truth unwoven in "Angela's Ashes", it did quench my need to know how the McCourt family continued to be the family they couldn't be in Ireland. For some reason I was especially interested to know how the children resolved their relationship with their father. And I wasn't sure that Angela was really the kind of person Frank knew as his mother. Was I satisfied with their growth as humanbeings and as a family? Was I surprised? Could I put it down? No. No. No.
Rating:
Summary: A good sequel
Review: This book is the second part of Frank McCourt's memoir. It starts out where the first one ended and reading it feels like it actually is the same book. Once again Frank tells us about his poverty stricken youth and how he struggled to stay alive, but this time in New York. His very simple and witty way of writing makes this book an enjoyable read, and just like it's predecessor a good book.
Rating:
Summary: 'Tis a true gift to teach
Review: How many times does Frank McCourt meet a person who gives a damn about him and offers him friendship or really good advice, who sees Frank for the wonderful gifted person we readers know McCourt is (although he just doesn't seem to be getting it himself?). How many times do we reach a critical juncture in which it seems that afterward everything will be alright? The difficulty and the beauty of this book is that it is so brutally honest. If at times some of the stories seemed a bit hard to believe, I had to remind myself that the stories that touch my realm of experience (GI in basic training and stationed in Germany and, later, as a begining teacher) struck me as so real as to be frightening (as well as hilarious). And if at times I wanted to tell McCourt to get on with his life and BE something, it must be remembered that BEING something isn't necessarily a journey involving going forward in a linear manner. And being ANYTHING is such an achievement compared to the crushing spiritual (as well as economic poverty) that shaped his boyhood. And yet, with all this crushing poverty, McCourt gives acknowledgement and tacit thanks to the dozens of people who helped him along the way, starting with the unforgettable Mrs. Leibowitz in "Angela's Ashes." 'Tis a world where so many people DO give a fiddler's fart!
Rating:
Summary: Great follow-up!
Review: If you enjoyed Angela's Ashes, you will enjoy reading about how these people's lives turn out.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for the next book!
Review: I know you don't give a 'fiddler's fart' what I think, Frank McCourt, but I think you are a great success!
Rating: 
Summary: Honest, Poignant, but Ultimately Tis a Little Empty
Review: I was given this book recently as a gift, and read it without having read McCourt's earlier Angela's Ashes, which was apparently a better memoir if the reviews here on Amazon are to be trusted. For my money, having only read Tis, I am just not sure what the fuss is about. Tis takes of the story of Frank's life as he arrives in New York, poor, uneducated, and without job contacts or even a place to sleep initially...I understand that the book is a memoir, and the protaganist is not an imaginary character but a real human being writing about his own life, so you have to admire McCourt's brutal honesty and understanding of his own shortcomings as he describes nights spent out on the town almost reluctantly hoisting a few pints with the guys from work while his girlfriend of the month waited up for him with a dinner he never showed up to share. He also touches upon a number of bitter emotions...The language is coarse and lively, and I am confident that it sounds much like McCourt would sound if he sat and told you the story in person, but in book form it has an almost "unpolished" feel to it, as if he effortlessly wrote the memoir in the course of a few weeks. (a la Kerouac). I know some people are passionate about McCourt's books, and I see reasons to like them. However, in conclusion I don't think Tis is a real literary gem, nor do I believe a memoir about an Irish immigrant who, through perserverance, obtains a degree and becomes a high school English teacher is the stuff bestsellers are made of.
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