Rating: 
Summary: a great memoir!
Review: I once overheard a woman tell her friend in a bookstore "I didn't like the plot of Tis as much as I liked the one in Angela's Ashes." It's an AUTOBIOGRAPHY, there is no plot, and who are you to judge someone's life?That said, Tis is a great memoir. McCourt has left Ireland to return to his birthplace of New York City, where he humorously tells us about all his menial jobs before earning teaching credentials and becoming a public high school teacher. He meets Alberta "Mike" Small, his first wife. His brothers Malachy and Alfie, and eventually his mother Angela, immigrate back to NYC as well. McCourt has an excellent writing style where the sentences flow and sound like someone is lecturing him, no matter what his stage of life! He describes certain people he meets throughout the years and the impact they had on his life (they must have, to garner mention -- after all, you can meet thousands of people living in NYC for 20 years.) Read this book and remember that McCourt is sharing his life with you, not making up some plot to entertain, and you will enjoy the book far more for it.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare accord
Review: A great memoir from the author of Angela's Aashes and this picks up where Angela's Ashes left off. A great book to say the least. I do recommend this great book for those who want to read it.
The best is that this book takes place after he leaves America.
Rating: 
Summary: Great stories!
Review: I liked this book, and was surprised that I did. I had heard from several people that it wasn't as good as Angela's Ashes, and I found that to be true. However, it was a lot less depressing, and for that, it deserves some praise. McCourt has so many great stories - and you just know that the ones in the book are just from the top of his head, and that there are plenty more where they came from. It was also very nice to see that the family was able to escape the misery that was evident from the first book. Overall, a good book. I would definitely recommend it, although not the abridged audio version, which was the format I found first. I later found a printed version to compare it to. A few things are left out that should have been kept in - nothing too crucial, but what are a few extra minutes here and there? I will never understand why companies release audiobooks without printing that they are abridged versions, but that's a whole other subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I did not like Frank McCort's second autobiographical book entitled "Tis: A Memoir", which is about his life from about ninetee years of age to middle age. His writing left me with the feeling that his life had little meaning, point or theme. He complained excessively and was drunk much of the time. He was a failure in his dealings with his parents, he divorced after five years of marriage, and he impressed me as being a sub par teacher. I thought his wife was correct when she asked him to grow up and stop being a drunk. This book has caused me to reevaluate his autobiographical book about his first nineteen years of life, i.e., "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir". I liked this book because it described him growing up in poverty to become a mature, thoughtful member of society who was better because of empthy and insights learned through his experience with hardships. I now think that I misplaced my attributions to him: It is I who became more mature, empathetic and insightful. Frank McCort is still only nineteen.
Rating: 
Summary: childlike optimism gone
Review: This book was disappointing in that the author's a grown man now lacking in his former childlike optimism and innocence. Although Angela's Ashes could've been depressing, from his child's eye it was more matter-of-fact and accepting of the situation with constant hope. Not so with 'Tis; he kept ruining his own life.
Rating: 
Summary: so-so
Review: In this book, McCourt describes going from one bad job and disgusting apartment to another, seemingly ad infinitum, yet I never understood the point of it all. A disappointing follow-up to the witty Angela's Ashes. It's one saving grace, I think, is to remind readers not to take for granted the advantages we have been given and the luxuries to which we are accustomed.
Rating:
Summary: My opinion
Review: If this book had been fiction, I probably wouldn't get far before putting it down. But...I believe this is a very accurate depiction of the life of someone who is, well, depressed; the constant disappointment in yourself and the world around you and the struggle to fit the pieces of your past in some order that will make sense of the present. There is a pervading sense that failure begets failure and if you feel miserable when reading this book, then I think McCourt has done a fine job at putting his shoes on you. In 'Tis he searches for meaning in life, not with the diligence of a saint but with the constantly meandering thoughts of a regular guy. When he writes "The Bed", he communicates his shame in the telling of his story meant only for his teacher, who decided to share it with the class. His next story, he tells us "had to be written" even though his preference would have been to make something up. These two occasions from his first college semester sum up the reason for this book - it's a story he has to tell. When later his disinterested students discover the life stories of their fathers, aunts, etc untouched in the classroom closet for years and years, they shed tears, realizing why their dad didn't want to fight in the war. Or the words of the aunt who later died. Nothing earth shattering or story altering, just little insights from a life lived. Meaningful words.
Rating:
Summary: a good read-- a bit flawed-- but a good read
Review: This isn't a bad book-- Frank McCourt has had a wonderfully emotional and dramatic life. The problem with this book is the pacing. The anecdotal, spastic pace of Angela's Ashes is what we expect from a childhood memoir. I wanted something a bit more mature and controlled.
Mr. McCourt comes to America, does a stint in the army and battles his way through dead-end jobs to become a teacher-- a profession he is remarkably suited for. As always, he is a keen observer of the remarkable and quotidian in our lives.
If you liked Angela's Ashes, you will probably enjoy this. After all, it has a happy ending (more or less).
Rating:
Summary: No sympathy
Review: Frank McCourt should be embarrassed to follow up Angela's ashes with this garbage. His first book engendered sympathy. In this book he comes off as a selfish, despicable person who never seems to learn from his lessons. The way the stories are recanted, it is like he is proud of himself. I think if he editorialized a little, about why he did certain things, and how he feels about it now, I would feel better. He does not. I found particularly disturbing his treatment of the women in Germany. It seems Frank got a rather large head from the reception of his first book, and felt the need to write in the same manner in this book. Well, it doesn't work that way, because at some point, you have to take responsibilities for your actions and stop using a tough youth as an excuse.
I liked his first book, my father was also brought up in Ireland during the same timeframe, and had it even tougher than Mr. McCourt. At least Mr. McCourt had his mother. I have a lot more respect for my father than I ever will for Frank McCourt.
Rating:
Summary: Tis a good point
Review: The simple title of Frank McCourt's latest book is an odd couple to the complex content and self-reflection found in Tis. Slightly less depressing than its preceding Angela's Ashes, the book packs thought, emotion, and new found maturity. As young Frankie decides to board a boat to New York, his childhood ends and Tis begins. Through new jobs, new friends, marriage, children, confusion, happiness and ever looming death, you grow and argue with Frank from page one. New experiences are in turn humorous and discouraging; his conclusions of them are honest and profound. As life throws him down, you will fall with him. And every time he gets back up, you will find hope. The story can be related to by anyone with a heart and mind. If you have ever felt loss, confusion, or self-pity and need an answer, here 'Tis.
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