Search - Angela's Ashes

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either--not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. Mix in abject poverty and frequent death and illness and you have all the makings of a truly difficult early life. Fortunately, in McCourt's able hands it also has all the makings for a compelling memoir

Maybe I'm just a heartless oaf, but all that sweet humanity that the book got so much credit for largely missed me. But nice writing and not your average memoir.

I enjoyed this book back when it was first released. Much better than the movie. The movie was such a disappointment but Frank McCourt wrote a very moving, and quite sad account of his life in Ireland way back when. Good quick read, don't bother with the film.

The story is tragic and emotionally draining but it just may make you appreciate your own childhood. The author's writing style is much like reading over journal entries and the thoughts can be a bit "choppy" but as the book progresses, it is easier to appreciate.

This is a very difficult book to read. Few of us have experienced such poverty and to read and know this is not fiction but the true life accounting of the author caused me to feel extreme discomfort. But, like watching a car wreck, you cannot help but continue on through accounts of hunger, pain, and hurtful family relationships. In fact, I ordered the follow-on book of Frank McCourt's life so that I might understand where he landed and how he saved himself from the utter despair of his childhood. Great book.

REALLY LIKED IT, VERY SAD