“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 … 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.
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The way the author described Ireland’s damp cold, seeping in through the stones of an old home was masterful. It brought me there. I read other books by this author, such as Tis, but Angela’s Ashes is by far, the best, in my estimation.
This was an exceptional autobiography about a young man growing up in Ireland in the 1930s and 1940s. Frank paints a vivid picture for the reader of sights, sounds, and smells. His ability to bring different accents to life was well done. I felt that each voice was distinctive and that I could hear the different characters talking.
It is a story …
This book definitely held my interest, and I couldn’t believe the hardships that this family endured. I read this many years ago, and some of the scenes are still with me. It makes one appreciate what one has. Very well written with a good writing style.
This book is such a raw look at Frank McCourt’s life. It’s a tear-jerker, but it pull you in.
Very well written. I don’t re-read many books, but this is one that I’ve probably read half a dozen times.
I read this book a long time ago, when it first came out. I loved it! It was so good, I didn’t want to put it down. I would recommend it. I am planning on reading it again, and I don’t usually do that.
This memoir reads like a novel. It’s full of interesting characters, from the alcoholic father to the uncle who was dropped on his head to the self-proclaimed Expert on Girls’ Bodies and Dirty Things in General. You’ll laugh and cry along with Frank McCourt on his journey from New York to Limerick and back again.
I read this book such a long time ago, but still remember how much I enjoyed it. Really gave the reader some insight into life in Ireland at the time. Loved the author’s funny (but sad) description of life in winter — when they lived upstairs in Italy, because the downstairs was water-laden. Definitely worth reading!
Read this years ago but it still has a lasting effect on me. Moving, haunting, tragic, wonderful memoir of a boy growing up poor in Ireland. Beautifully written from the child’s point of view. Wouldn’t want to read again, but glad I read it once.
Mr. McCourt wrote his book in such a way that I almost felt as though I was right there in Ireland experiencing his difficult childhood right along with him.
I debated whether to give this book four or five stars, but either way, I’m sorry I didn’t read it sooner. Gritty and grotesque in places, it also features incredible acts of kindness from people who no doubt saved the author’s life and sanity. I highly recommend it.
One of my favorite books EVER! I have read this 3 times along with Frank McCourt’s other books! You absolutely CANNOT put this book down, I promise!
An entertaining look at a tough time. Good characters. Good quotes that I use to this day (I read it several years ago). I highly recommend it.
Love this book; follow it with ‘Tis. A wonderful depiction of the immigration of our Irish brothers and sisters. Timely, considering the current political climate regarding immigrants in our country. Read it and be reminded that we are all immigrants.
How is it I’m just now getting around to reading this book, which has sat on my shelf for years? It was well worth the wait. McCourt makes a childhood of the most grinding poverty and religious oppression funny in places and always full of heart. You can’t help but feel for these poor boys… and their mother. And even the alcoholic father, who is …
Fantastic story by Frank McCourt. Many of the details were unbelievable and so dire, that it’s almost impossible to believe that anyone could have lived in those conditions. It is a book that I will never forget, and it has made me appreciate even the smallest positives in life.
A modern day classic, beautifully written and heart breaking at the same time. These are the books that define generations and leave a lasting scar in the landscape of humanity. It’s a must read.
This is not an easy read, but by experiencing the desperate hunger of poverty, readers encounter the strength and foibles of humanity.
What an eye opener about the Irish and poverty. I have been haunted by the experiences of children of extreme poverty since reading this book. I never think of conjunctivitis without this book coming to mind.
I learned of Angela’s Ashes the day I started my car in the Safeway parking lot on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. I had left the radio on, tuned to NPR, and heard a man’s voice with an Irish brouge telling a story that sucked me in immediately. I sat in my car and listened to the entire interview with Frank McCourt. I went straight to the bookstore, …
Angela’s Ashes was a book given to me in Composition l, my high school senior class, a class that I should have received college credit for but did not. Despite the class being rigorous and straining the one thing I never regretted about taking it, was reading this book. I had received the most informational, and funny book on some of my favorite …