“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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Wonderful. Sad, and Uplifting
Great read! I would go from crying to laughing from page to page!
An original story about life in Ireland, told by the author who lived it. Hard to fathom the poverty and problems of that time.
Loved this book! Gritty realism with a dry wit. A perfect combination.
One of the best books in my lifetime and to think it is true is tragic!
The title may sound as if it’s about death, but this beautifully written memoir pulses with life–vibrant Angela, who married the strange man from the north, and her buoyant, prosperity-bound children during their hardscrabble times growing up in Ireland. These characters are unforgettable.
I got bored reading this guy’s memoir.
This was nothing as I expected. The author wrote this memoir in such an unexpected way. It was heart wrenching, yet witty. Great read. Will certainly read his other books.
Angela’s Ashes is an eye opening true story about the plight of the Irish.
Dark and depressing – not a book I would recommend if unless you have a strong
tolerance for sadness. Well written but not a book I would want to read again.
This is a wonderful book. The author has such a way with words and story telling it left me so interested in his life.
To say I enjoyed this book is an under statement it stays with me still
I loved it!
It was so well written that I could see and feel every sorrowful bit of the life of the author as a young boy. When the movie came out, I didn’t want to see it — it was heart-wrenching to read…even though I could put the book down and return to it.
A tragic story about a wonderful boy that had parents who should never had more than one child.
Did not like this book, had a hard time with the mother character
I read it so very long ago that I can’t recall details, I can, however, remember that it’s a very important book to read!
A tale of a family who emigrated from from Ireland to the US and the life they left behind
Well written for a first time author. I fell in love with Frank McCourt for his courage in overcoming his tragic childhood and rising up to whatever positive steps he could take to improve his life. Should be an example to all who stay where they are and blame everyone and everything else because they haven’t been given enough. Amen
Only the Irish sound or write so well despite living thru hell