Angelas Ashes: A Memoir
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Angelas Ashes: A Memoir
by Authors:
Frank McCourt
Released: September, 1996
ISBN: 0684874350
Hardcover
Sales Rank: 66,917
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List price:
$25.00
Our price:
$25.00
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| Book > Angelas Ashes: A Memoir > Customer Reviews: |
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Average Customer Rating: 
Angelas Ashes: A Memoir >
Customer Review #1:
 "A Burning Portrait: Angelas Ashes"
A Burning Portrait: Angelas Ashes
Rebecca Ginsberg
Angelas Ashes is the profound, heart-warming autobiography of Frank McCourt, who describes the harsh conditions of his impoverished childhood in both America and Ireland. His story begins in Brooklyn during the time of the Depression. His recent immigrant parents, Angela and Malachy, force Frank to take care of his younger siblings, and watch them die. He must be his mothers strength as she waits for her drunken husband to come home every night without food. Little Frank continues to have hope as he his family moves to his parents homeland of Ireland. As his dreams of a rich life in his new home diminish due to his fathers continual drunkenness, he is able to find optimism in his fathers tales of Cuchulian, an ancient heroic Irishman who saved his country. Every week Angela is forced to beg to a council for food and clothing. Because of the overwhelming poverty in their small town Frank learns to live with shoes repaired with tires, a pigs head for Christmas dinner, and having to take two jobs to provide for his family.
This book is recommended because of the genius of Frank McCourts writing. He is able to capture the essence of a poor Irishmans life with humor, satire, and strife, while at the same time telling a touching story. As he writes of his everyday life the accents and culture of the Irish can be felt. McCourt also brings out diverse emotions, from laughing at his father who would make him wake up at all hours of the night to sing about his "Pride for Ireland" to crying as Malachy holds his dead daughter in his arms due to lack of medical attention. This book also opens ones eyes to the life of poverty, and the obstacles that must be overcome in order to survive. Before reading this account, I was never aware of the struggles that people must go through if they do not have money. The fact that Angela is forced to get down on her hands and knees and had to beg for money to go to the doctor is preposterous. I was educated and my eyes were opened to a whole new world as I read the horrific details of having to live in solely the upstairs of a house because of flooding on the first floor of the poorest lane in Limerick, Ireland.
While this book is entertaining and heartfelt, it is also incredibly depressing. Learning about the grim realities of Frank McCourts childhood is extremely difficult. I often would have to put the book down because of the intense sadness that came through the details of his life. Particularly memorable was Franks description of the extra jobs he is forced to take in order to provide for him and his family. The fact that the McCourts are forced to plead for boots three sizes too big, and scrounge for the next meal is sickening and extremely sad. Reading about the hunger they were forced to go through because of a fathers addiction really stings the heart.
Angelas Ashes makes me realize how petty the obstacles are in my life, and how inspiring Frank McCourt is to have survived such a life, and then to go on and win a Pulitzer Prize. When anyone is feeling sorry for himself he should pick up this book, and realize how fortunate most of us really are. This memoir is a superb portrayal of the difficult life uneducated poor people lead in order to survive, while at the same time providing insight into the Irish culture, and creating a moving, earnest story.
Angelas Ashes: A Memoir >
Customer Review #2:
Mesmerizing
Frank McCourt piles on so many examples of the overwhelming poverty he experienced during his childhood that I almost put down the book in despair after reading just forty pages. Im glad that I didnt.Despite the misery of his childhood, McCourts memoir includes a number of lively and humorous vignettes. Two of my favorites are his the account of his attempts at Irish dancing, and the hilarious description of Franks ill-fated first Communion.
Nevertheless, McCourt does not mask his anger at the institutions that failed him and his dyfunctional family. School teachers (with one exception) were uninspiring, church people shut the door in his face or expected the poor to grovel for handouts, government officials lacked empathy.
McCourt doesnt fall into the trap of over-generalization, though. Most people, despite their flaws, have their redeeming qualities in McCourts account. Most notably, his hard-drinking, criminally irresponsible father also told beautiful stories, regaling Frank with tales of Irish heroes. No hero himself, McCourts father passed his gift for telling an enthralling story to his son.
Angelas Ashes: A Memoir >
Customer Review #3:
 Could have been even better.
I wouldve given this book more stars but for two things. The foundation and message/moral of this fine book was ruined by #1 the excessive and unneccessary swearing and by #2, the masterbation scene at the end. Just because a writer (or anybody else) delivers a masterpiece, that doesnt mean he/she is excused from writing in good taste. AND, ANY writer can ruin a masterpiece by disclosing too much information. This book was both a masterpiece and a disgusting piece of work to me. America, where have our standards gone?
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Angelas Ashes: A Memoir >
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