Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
(Associate Reviewer - Donald D'Haene)
1996 Scribner
ISBN: 0684874350
A memoir of a boy born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrants & raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland.
Associate Reviewer Donald D'Haene writes:
Frank McCourt was born in poverty in Brooklyn, New York, over seventy years ago. McCourt's parents moved their family to Ireland when Frank was four years old. As tough as life had been for the young immigrant family in New York, that was nothing compared to what lay in store for them in their native country.
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive 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.” Page 1
Penniless & destitute, young Frank is introduced to a unique collection of relatives. Whether miserly or generous, all are memorable. None more than his own father, Malachy. He rarely has a job & when he does work, the ‘patriarch' spends his wages in the pubs, leaving Frank's mother, Angela, to beg from churches & charity organizations. Despite his drinking, Frank's dad is charming & develops a special bond with his oldest son, revealed through moments of tenderness.
Frank is like any other young boy: mischievous & curious. That is until his bout of typhoid fever. Frank must be quarantined for months. Besides his mother's TLC, books provide his only comfort & escape.
No doubt born from this new-found love of books & his unfortunate separation from the real world surrounding him, Frank develops a sixth sense, & a future author's sensibility. Readers will feel lucky he did, for McCourt's take on his destitute family will provide both laughter & tears.
Angela's Ashes blew me away...so lyrical, so funny, so brutally honest! Daring too. McCourt created an original style of writing using his truly unique voice.
I've loved debating with people who've told me, “...enough with the whining already. McCourt!” Get a grip...if this is whining, we need more Frank McCourts in the world!
Angela's Ashes is inspiring, descriptive, captivating. A delight from start to finish. Quite simply the best book I have ever read.
Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize & the National Book Award. It has sold 1.3 million copies in its Flamingo editions alone & tens of millions world-wide. Made into a major motion picture it is now available on DVD: Angela's Ashes. His second book is Tis: A Memoir.
(03/23/03)
I have been freelance writing since 1988. My short stories can be found in The Good Life (2000) & Memories of Elgin and Middlesex(2000). I am also an actor with Armstrong Talent in Toronto, Canada.
I live in London, Ontario, with my partner, Maurice, my mother, & our three Siamese cats, Kyle, Bach-Pierre, Maxine & a cockatiel, Jay.
Books make great gifts: no calories, carbs or cholesterol!
RebeccasiReads.com
