Book Reviews of Angela's Ashes

This was a wonderful book in many ways - whose story I need not describe here since it has become so well known - but personally I became more and more disturbed by Frank's father and his utter failure in his role as protector and provider for his family. What he allowed to happen to his family, because of his own weaknesses, was unforgiveable, and Frank's hopeful attempts to see the best when his father would come 'round again were heartbreaking.

I found this book to be very depressing, and seemingly never-ending. Dad's drunk, beating Mom and the kids, but we still love him. Now he's quit drinking, and everything is great. Oops, he fell off the wagon again, and we have to move to a hovel, and be subjected to beatings once more. But wait, he has quit drinking again....and the cycle continues through the entire book. I read it because of the rave reviews, but still do not understand what all the hubbub was about. Will not be reading any more of this author's books.

I highly recommend Angela's Ashes. A true story written by the author but using the point of view he had as a child growing up in extremely tough times. Because it's all he knew at the time, his perception is one of acceptance and survival. This book and such an impact on me. A must read!

I absolutely love this author, I have collected all his works in hardback. Truly a person who worked hard and was able to achieve the American dream. Books can be a little gritty for those who are used to mainstream, happy books but they will move you. I am a jaded reader and it takes alot to touch me and I have loved everyone of his books

The picture on the cover, though it may not be Frank McCourt himself, personifies the childhood he had: poor, barefoot, yet smiling. He survives without the bitterness that some others acquire.
It is hard for some of us to read about her relatives turning their backs on Angela when she falls into depression after her baby girl dies, and then when the twins die. Angela, as well as Frank, beg and steal to keep the family fed and together.

It could be subtitled Survivor: Limerick.

i loved this story, much more than the follow up 'TIS. This story stays with you and brings his childhood to life. well written, and very moving.

I loved this book, plain and simple. I don't know many other authors who could tell such a tragic story and make you laugh all the way through it, but McCourt does it, and does it well, without losing the message of the story. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you think. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Sad story. Feel lucky to be living in America with plentiful food and roof over my head.

Excellent account with a great sense of humor about growing up destitute in Ireland during wwII.

Depressing, but very good read.

Great book about growing up poor in Ireland.

A few slightly humorous descriptions of events in the early part of the author's life, but for the most part a very sad, depressing tale of poverty and hunger in Irland in the early 20th Century.

"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."

So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy-- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling-- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.

Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors--yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness.

Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.

A beautiful memoir.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize!
No one has ever written about poverty or childhood like this....

what is it that transforms a childhood blighted by poverty, death and disease into a story that shines with love and leaps off the page in language of rare energy music and humor? in the case of angela's ashes, I think it must be frank mccourt's soul. this memoir is the best i've read in years.

I thought life in America was hard, but it was nothing compared to the life of the Irish during the depression....as I read of his childhood, and what his family survived I knew that I would never again complain of my own life, because it was nothing in comparison to these strong powerful families.....a must read, well worth you time to get to know this family....I couldn't put it down until the last page, and even than I thought, I have to find his other books to see how his life continued from there....

This book was hard for me to get into at first because of the author's writing style but I soon got into it and couldnt put it down!I ordered the sequel and cant wait to read it. This book is a lot of things rolled into one..sad, tragic, humorous, heart-wrenching, surprising.. Angela's Ashes is a true story about a little boy who barely survived his dirt-poor childhood in Ireland. His father was an alcoholic and hardly every worked. His mother struggled to feed and take care of her children. most relatives were uncaring and mean. This story will really tug at your heart

Simply, one of the best reads ever. Funny and heartbreaking and you don't have to be Catholic to enjoy it.

One of the most enchanting life stories I have read.

It was an interesting read, and informative about Catholics and Irish upbringing and the poor conditions. Not my normal read and am questioning whether I want to read more of this author.

I really enjoyed reading this book, so much so that I read his subsequent books about his life. It's another unforgettable story of surviving a dysfunctional childhood and is worth reading.

I love it so much, I ordered part 2. Makes you grateful for what you have, and you cannot believe someone had to grow up that hard and still survived!

Good read.

This is a true story of the author's terrible childhood in 1930s Ireland.
He suffered through the negative effects of a severe and unthinking Irish Catholic upbringing, coupled with his parents alcoholism and irresponsibility. You won't soon forget his story, which will make you thankful for your own dull and boring upbringing by average middle class parents.

classic

This was a wonderful book, so moving and sad. I really enjoyed!!

I enjoyed this book very much. A quick read as the writer keeps you wanting to find out what happens next in his up and down life as a young boy.
Really give you a chance to appreciate the things in life that we take for granted like, flush toilets, and apples.

This book was great. The prose is simple yet powerful. I devoured this book!

If you like to read how people grow up in other countries this book is a good one. It is about a poor part of ireland and how a child grew up and what his family had to endure.

Very moving and captivating story.

super story

This book is a paperback edition

I loved this book, a great story about life, love, pverty and family
growing up in Ireland...
Frank McCourt is a great story teller

Frank McCourt is a super author. It is so easy to imagine these little boys throughout the whole story.

An amazing story of an Irish family dealing with alcoholism, poverty. Later made into a movie.

Frank McCourt's vivid and compelling account of his childhood in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Horrifying and bleak, humourous and compassionate...sometimes all at once. McCourt's memoir is also an amazing account of story-telling and the redemptive role that it played in his family's life. Deeply moving, beautifully written. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. If you love memoir, you must read this book!

Excellent but sad. I was very moved.

Good history. Drags on however, not enough happy ending.

A tear your heart out book.

Wonderful writing about a boyhood in impoverished Ireland. Had me so enthralled, I even dreamt about it.

Very quick read on an interesting childhood.

an amazing book about a miserable Irish Catholic childhood

a wonderful story filled with humor and abject poverty.after reading this i wondered if i could have survived this time in Ireland's history
a really good read