ANGELA'S ASHES

Rating:
Summary: The Best Memoir of the Last Century...
Review: This is possibly one of the best memoirs of the last century... It tells of the life of Frank McCourt, ages 3-18. The book is wonderful and well-paced. It runs a bit long, but it is worth the time as every page is better than the next. I was personally shocked by some parts, because it describes the scenery so vividly it's almost haunting. The special thing is that Frank does not write this from an adult point of view, but from a child's, never writing what he regrets now or lamenting too much on his mistakes or tortures. I also read "Tis", his second book about his life in New York, and i have to admit it's not as good, partly because he's all grown up and partly because Ireland thoroughly fascinated me... I would recommend this book to absolutely everybody.

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: Angela's Ashes is a gloomy, yet humorous, biography about growing up from the eyes of a child during the depression era in Brooklyn, NY and Limerick, Ireland. The story explains what it was like living during this time in poverty, while captivating the reader with vivid imagery and detail.
" From October to April the walls of Limerick glistened with the damp. Clothes never dried: tweed and woolen coats housed living things, sometimes sprouted mysterious vegetation. In pubs, steam rose from damp bodies and garments to be inhaled with cigarette and pipe smoke laced with the stale fumes and spilled stout and whiskey and tinged with the odor of pee wafting in from the outdoor jakes where many man puked out his weekly wages." (p. 12)
Angela's Ashes begins in Brooklyn, NY where Frank McCourt was born to Malachy McCourt and Angela Sheehan. His parents were both Irish immigrants. Frank McCourt writes about his very early childhood stories in New York such as when his family had to sleep in a. Frank, along with his three brothers, his sister, and his Mom and Dad, soon move to the slums of Limerick, Ireland, in hopes of finding a better life back home as well as a well earning job.
Life wasn't nearly as easy as they expected back in Ireland. Frank's mother Angela, a depressed mother, has little money to feed her children. Frank's father, Malachy, rarely worked because of his drinking problem. When Malachy finds a job, he immediately drinks his weekly wages away. Frank and his family have to survive and live through appalling and dire living conditions. They are forced to live in a flat so miserable that every year Frank's family had to pack themselves into one upstairs room when even the winter floods made the first floor unlivable. "The upstairs room was "Italy" because it was warm and dry and downstairs was Ireland, for it was wet and cold." (p. 96)
Though life may have been depressing for Frank's family, Frank finds humor in his miserable daily life. The book follows Frank McCourt through the pre-mature deaths of his brothers and a sister, his depressed mother, and the sacrifices she makes to feed and shelter her family. It also highlights his adventures with his Catholic school friends, and at his Catholic school brought on by a strict teacher who convinced him of damnation if he did not perfectly behave. Angela's Ashes highlights a number of jobs that Frank has to help aid his family upon the departure of an alcohol-enslaved father, such as working for a poor Englishman who is handicapped, and finally his own departure to start a life of his own back in America.
" 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." (p. 11)
The answer is clear how Frank McCourt survived through his childhood. Frank McCourt finds humor through everyday life. Although Frank shows anger towards his father many times throughout the book, he loved to hear his father's stories. Frank lived to hear his father's tales of the Angel on the Seventh step, which brings his mother's babies and Cuchulain, the hero who saved Ireland.
Frank McCourt tells his story honest and realistically. Though there isn't a clear climax, after Frank is dropped from his current job, he has to beg for any food or money he can obtain. Frank is near starvation, he is cold, has no shelter, and even catches typhoid fever. But Frank's dream of moving to America is not ruined because of his near-death situation. Will Frank ever be able to live a healthy life back in America?
Unlike other biographies or non-fiction books I have read, Frank McCourt right his story as it was. Proper English is
Angela's Ashes is by far the best book I have ever read. Though Frank McCourt may have had a distressing childhood, he uplifted the book with his unique and enjoyable humor. His writing is hilarious. I chuckled at even the little things. Frank described his threats of eternal damnation because of the naughty things he thought of in his boyhood. I was uplifted by Frank's hopeful perspective of life and his funny little anecdotes of his childhood. My favorite anecdote was when Frank and his brother try on their parent's fake teeth, and Franks brother get sent to the hospital to get the removed. The ending of the book was not as captivating as the rest of the book. It was long and tedious as it described Frank's job as a telegram deliver.
Frank McCourt shares with his readers an honest, vividly detailed, and humorous memoir of his childhood. This is a fascinating book that I would recommend for ages 13- through adulthood. As I finished the book with an uplifted spirit, I was blown away by the reality of what it was like growing up in Irish Catholic poverty. It definitely taught any reader to not take things for granted. Angela's Ashes is truly an incredible and marvelous book.

Rating:
Summary: Frank's Memories
Review: Angela's Ashes is a memoir of Frank McCourt's childhood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland. McCourt and his family were extremely poor and resorted to begging at times. They relied mostly on the goodness of neighbors and friends and the charity of the St. Vincent DePaul society. It is a tale of humor and sadness alike in which McCourt is very effective in portraying some aspects of his impoverished childhood and not so great at others.

McCourt does an excellent job of characterizing his parents, especially his father who liked to come home from a night of drinking and make the boys line up and promise to die for Ireland, who was at war with England at the time. He also does a great job of capturing the methods of the priests and nuns in their attempts to make their congregation more devout Catholics. Many of McCourt's confrontations with priests are somewhat comical, especially when he tries to explain to one priest during confession why he was doomed for "going at himself." The priests used the threats of Hell and Eternal Damnation to ensure the proper behavior of their congregation, the children especially. It is with great perspective that McCourt represents how his views on life were influenced by the Catholic Church. Lastly, he paints a very realistic picture of what it must have been like to live in the abject poverty of Limerick, Ireland. From his descriptions of "going on the mooch" in farmer's fields to scrounging for scraps of fish and chips outside pubs at night, McCourt is able to capture the methods by which the impoverished people of Limerick made ends meet.

There are, however, a few areas in which I felt that McCourt came up a little bit short. For instance, I think the book gets a little bit repetitive at times. Almost every story was some variation of another in which McCourt was worried about his father's drinking, his mother's health, his eternal damnation for "going at himself," where his next meal was going to come from, or earning his fare to back to America. I was also opposed to McCourt's justification for stealing from one of his employers. He stole just a few pence at first, but eventually 50 pounds from his deceased employer. He fancied himself a Robinhood of sorts, but to me he came off as just another petty thief.

All in all, McCourt did a great job with this book. I did not give it the full 5 stars because of some monotonous and boring portions and the persistent rumors that this was only loosely based on his childhood and is in fact a work of Fiction. If this is true, it would be a great testament to McCourt's writing ability, but I would feel betrayed.

Rating:
Summary: angelas ashes
Review: Frank McCourt was born during the Depression-era in Brooklyn. Later, his family moves to Limerick, Ireland, where he is raised in the slums. Both of his parents were from Ireland originally. His mother, Angela, didn't have any money to feed the children. Frank's father, Malachy, is an alcoholic who drinks away the family's little money. He can't get or keep a job because of his drinking. Although Frank shows anger towards his father many times throughout the book, he loved to hear his father's stories.
Through his life, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the cruelty of his relatives and neighbors. Yet he tells his tale with courage and a lot of forgiveness without being bitter.
Frank McCourt writes in a way that will keep his audiences attention. It captured me because of its unique experiences and its vivid details. The extreme poverty that he lives in made me appreciate everything that I have. The way McCourt wrote made me feel like I was living his life with him. I felt his sorrow when he was sad, I laughed when he laughed, and I felt his anger toward the people in his life that he did, which is rare in a book. The book will keep you up turning the pages, waiting for his next jovial remark about his miserable life.
Frank McCourt was often angry at everything. He was angry at the Church, at his father, his mother, and his poverty. Most people, after reading this book will be amazed with Frank and his ability to forgive everyone without being bitter. Frank manages to survive on his wits, and return to America to start his life over.
"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I manages to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse that the ordinary childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Frank shows that even through the hardest times, there's always a way to get through. I recommend this book for everyone. Whether you laugh, cry, love, or even hate, this book will touch you in some way, and teach you to truly cherish the things you have.

Rating:
Summary: I was so happy to find out it was not true.
Review: McCourt is a brilliant writer and on that basis alone this is a worthwhile read even though I always felt it was biased against Irish-Catholicism. Oh, well that's fair game in a memoir. So why one star? The book pretends to be a biography. There is now an overwhelming amount of evidence that Ashes is a fictional novel loosely based on boyhood anxieties. McCourt may have intended this as a literary device but I'm sorry a lie is a lie is a lie.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This was one of the best books I have ever read. Even though McCourts life seemed like a never ending hell, the way he writes, he just doesn't seem to be mad at the world. I also liked how he never made himself out to be the "hero" of the story and included all of his flaws in his story telling. I must say the story is rather depressing, but McCourts wit and sarcasm relieves some of the empathy one would feel for the family. The book also made me realize how much I have and that I should be thankful for my gifts. It truly is a heart warming tale, in which you not only learn about a family's plight, but you also get to watch and learn how a boy grows up inspite of all his hardships and becomes a man.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, a Joy to Read
Review: In "Angela's Ashes," Franck McCourt recounts his turbulent childhood in Ireland, ranging from the extreme poverty of the McCourt family, his father's alcoholism and the death of three of his siblings in a memoir that is both witty and full of sorrow. McCourt was able to grab my attention from the first page; unlike other books that tend to drag along at points, I found "Angela's Ashes" gripping and impossible to put down.

Born in Brooklyn in the 1930s, Frank McCourt takes the reader through his early years in New York, the McCourt family's return to Ireland and the daily struggles of his life (including some humorous scenes with his headmasters in school). "Angela's Ashes" is one of the few books that I have read in the past year that keep my interest, caused me to laugh out loud and feel extreme sorrow, anger (at Malachy, the father) and pity for the McCourt family.

The movie version was excellent, but I recommend reading the book before viewing the movie because it is the only way to fully appreicate McCourt's prose, humor and optimism. I'm looking forward to reading "Tis," the sequel to "Angela's Ashes."

Rating:
Summary: A funny thing about HELL
Review: One might question the sanity of a person who could laugh at the painful impoverishment depicted in Angela's Ashes, but I shamelessly laughed out loud many times.

McCourt's memoir is so cleverly written that good readers are sure to see his bittersweet tongue in his cheek as he uses humor to recover from a woeful childhood. I think the moral of the story is that if he can survive the Irish perdition, there is much hope for all of us.

WARNING: the movie does little justice to this fine work by McCourt.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing. Absolutely Amazing.
Review: Growing up in an Irish family, I always knew that no one could tell a story like an Irishman. So reading Frank McCourt's moving tale of his childhood in the slums of Limerick, Ireland, was like a flashback to my childhood, to those days of listening to Aunts & Uncles and my Grandmother telling stories about their younger days; Specificlly the way they could tell the most horrible story, and still manage to get a belly laugh out of it, while also bringing a tear to your eye. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud reading this book, only to find myself crying over the very next paragraph. As Frank himself says on the first page, it's a miracle he (And his Brothers) managed to survive childhood.

This book truly deserves all the accolades that have been heaped upon it. I finished it last night, and I'm already reading Malachy McCourt's book, A Monk Swimming, and I can't wait to start the sequel to Ashes, 'Tis. This is a remarkable book, one of the best I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: America or Bust
Review: Frank McCourt's memoir of his childhood in Depression Ireland is a tale of a struggle against poverty, orthodox religious affirmations and nationalistic fervour. What lifts him from human degradation is ambition and the sheer will to live. His fascination for America is his salvation as he drives himself to achieve the ecstatic vision of the Statue of Liberty. McCourt's depiction of human strength is simple yet profound. He is a talented storyteller. This is a must read for all who are in the brink of giving up hope.