“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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One of the best books I’ve ever read (at least 3 times).
This is a sad story about the history of poverty in Ireland.
Enjoyed this book as I knew the author and his brother years ago
Unbelievably realistic.
One of my all time favorite books!
The narration was great. Really liked this book
Found this book to be very depressing. I realize that the Irish immigrants had a difficult time but the family situation was not and very happy one, in spite of the other tragedies.
Superb writing, thought provoking.
This book is based on the authors life. It’s a book that will stay with you for a long time. We all need to understand that not everyone has the perfect life and understand the challenges others have faced.
I don’t usually read books like this. My grandmother had it and said to read it and I couldn’t put it down. Made me think about how great most us have it here.
It is a “downer,” and the only lasting impression is one of endless poverty. The story of McCourt’s way out isn’t related until the second book.
I did appreciate the author’s use of lengthy sentences that helped relate the sense of desperation.
I had a hard time putting this one down and missed it when it was over. Memoir of McCourt’s poverty-stricken childhood in NYC and then Ireland. There is no grinding poverty like that of depression-era Ireland. He saw 3 siblings die from disease and hunger. That any of them survived is amazing. The alcoholic father drinks away the dole money. The …
Moving and stays with you. Irish history.
One could feel the characters and get lost in their endless misery and hope. A true Irish tear jerker written with wit and humor that is a hallmark of Irish Story telling.
Actually met one of the people in the book.
Another favorite author!
When this book first came out, the level of poverty and the details of how Angela fought for the survival of her family, had a shock factor. The story rang familiar to me and for that reason I was able to find the humor in how the Irish ️ find laughter as they prevail over unspeakable challenges
This book was one of the most interesting and gut wrenching books I have read in a long time. I felt like I knew Frank and his family by the time the last page was turned.
One of my all time favorite memoirs! Frank McCourt was a gifted author!
Well worth reading