Genealogy Books - Angela's Ashes

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Summary: It Makes You Laugh and Cry at the Same Time
Comment: The greatest aspect of Angela's Ashes is that you feel like Frank McCourt really put himself in that
book. The narrator really is him. Unlike most memoirs, you get the sense that you are sitting with
McCourt at a table and he's telling you his story. You can tell he's being facetious, you're not
sure all of the story is exactly how it happened, but you don't care because the story is so good
and the message he's trying to deliver is so honest that it doesn't really matter. The narrator and
the author just happen to be natural born storytellers and they tell it to you the way they felt it
because sometimes that's more honest than telling you the way it was.

With most other
memoirs you get the sense that they don't share seem to have any feelings about any of the events
happening. The author, of course, felt the story because he's the one being written about, but
somehow they never place those feelings in the mouth (or words) of the narrator. The book might as
well have been written by a biographer.

But McCourt writes in his own voice. And you
can almost feel him reliving these stories as he tells you about them. At one minute, he's crying
over heartbreak and the next he's laughing at the irony spread throughout the story of his life.

When he's at his best, he is laughing with you at the child he once was, the beliefs
he once had.

The book is terrific, but I don't have to tell you that because you
already know.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Angela's Ashes
Comment: Frank McCourt's childhood memoir is written so beautifully that I return to it over and over again
to remind myself of just how wonderful words can be.

Customer Rating:

Summary: One of the finest works I have ever read
Comment: Frank McCourt writes his memoir in the pitch-perfect language and consciousness of an Irish-Catholic
boy. This work is a wonder to behold and although the story is sad (as are most Irish stories)
there is a strong current of hope running through the pages. Young Frankie struggles against his
broken home, the church, his own shortcomings and he finds tragedy and hope in the details of Irish
life. If you value great writing, language-skills and story-telling, you will love this work. It
remains one of the finest I have ever read.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Compelling Memoir...
Comment: In Frank McCourt's compelling memoir Angela's Ashes he shares the story of his tragic childhood as
his family battles the struggles of poverty. Frank's memoir of his childhood begins in Brooklyn, New
York in 1935 when his mother, Angela, and his father, Malachy travel from Ireland in hopes of a
better life. Frank was born out of wedlock, forcing his parents to eventually marry. Frank is raised
in the house of a cigarette addicted mother and an alcoholic father, and is forced to take on many
grueling responsibilities. Their family continues to grow, causing them to fall deeper into poverty.
The dreadful poverty and the devastating death of his sister, Margaret, eventually drove Frank and
his now growing family back to Limerick, Ireland. In Ireland, Angela's mother bought them an
apartment which eventually became their home. Frank and Malachy are enrolled in a Catholic school,
where they are often tormented by the other boys for being less fortunate. The boys are not only
looked down upon by their classmates, but also by the school masters. Frank's teachers chose to
treat him inferior because of their lower social status. As Frank grows older more responsibility is
placed upon him to raise his younger siblings. He is forced to lead his family as they beg for food
and money from neighbors and church. Their poverty becomes even more serious as their father
continues to throw their money away to satisfy his alcohol obsession. Frank is now old enough to
hear his father stumble in at night belting Irish songs. He is old enough to hear is mother yelling
and sobbing at her husband to become a respectable man and look after his failing family. Despite
these late drunken nights, Frank remembers the stories his father shared with him when he was a
young boy, and the lessons he instilled in him, trying to position that image over his now drunken
father. His father then decides to move to England to work in the factories at the onset of World
War II, hoping to earn money to support his family. As expected, he is unfaithful to his word and
spends the little money he earns on drinks. The McCourt's are no longer able to pay their small
rent, and are forced out of their apartment. Reluctantly, Angela's relatives offer to house the
struggling family. At the age of fifteen, Frank has experienced far more then the average grown man
and decides that it is time for change. He has lived through hunger, devastation, tears, and death
and has witnessed his family fall to pieces. He is certain that this is not the way for him to live,
and is ready to become an independent, self-sufficient man. To begin his path away from these
horrors he finds a job as a mailman, hoping to someday earn the money to escape back to America.

Frank McCourt was able to open my eyes to the horrors and tribulations of poverty. The
everlasting hardships told through the eyes of a young boy allowed me to realize the sincere pain
that is experienced. As jobs were lost, and deaths occurred I fell deeper into the misery of the
McCourt family. As I read through his life, both laughter and tears were shared. Frank McCourt told
this novel using the first person, sharing his stories as if they were occurring for the first time.
As he grew older and experienced greater troubles, his writing style became more serious. Although
mostly a horrifying story, McCourt used a humorous style to express childhood memories to at times
relive the reader from the sometimes upsetting stories. However, the visions of Frank's struggling
family still linger in my mind. "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived 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.
. . . nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the
shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous
priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight
hundred long years."

Customer Rating:

Summary: Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt; Memoir
Comment:
"The master says it's a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it's a glorious thing
to die for Ireland and I wonder if there's anyone in the world who would like us to live." />--Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt is a thrilling memoir that enlightens
the reader with tales of his childhood in the impoverished towns of Brooklyn, New York and Limerick,
Ireland. McCourt grew up during the late 1930s and 1940s and faced several conflicts such as hunger,
death, his father's alcoholism, and illness. While amongst the lower-class, he faces opposition with
people in all positions of authority such as schoolmasters, priests, and family members. However
this does not make Frank's goal of rising up from poverty and leaving Ireland impossible. />
Frank McCourt tells his story in an eccentric intriguing style. He mixes humor and wit with
the harsh experiences of his childhood while also informing the reader of the stereotypical Irish
lifestyle. The memoir is told in the present tense and written as though he is experiencing specific
events that very moment. "I'm on deck the dawn we sail into New York. I'm sure I'm in a film, that
it will end and lights will come up in the Lyric Cinema. . . . Rich Americans in top hats white ties
and tails must be going home to bed with the gorgeous women with white teeth. The rest are going to
work in warm comfortable offices and no one has a care in the world." This gives the reader a sense
of the emotions he was facing at the time and lets you picture the event taking place. He also
aligns the tone of the text with his progressing age. McCourt ties in the themes of family, love,
religion, and social relationships, drawing the reader into his tragic life. "My brothers are dead
and my sister is dead and I wonder if they died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were too
young to die for anything. Mam says it was disease and starvation and him never having a job. Dad
says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and goes for a long walk". His writing style gives the reader the
opportunity to see the care for family, Church and society, dedication, tragedy of alcoholism, and
the harshness of life in Ireland.

Angela's Ashes is a story of survival of the spirit
and body and an unforgettable memoir of a boy searching for a childhood in a world where he is
forced to take on adult responsibilities. Frank McCourt, the book's author, narrator, and
protagonist, tells his own life story from the perspective of an adolescent looking out onto the
world. His early childhood consisted of his mother, Angela, struggling to feed her growing sons,
paying the wages, and coping with the deaths of her young daughter. His childhood is a time of some
adventure and continued deprivation. After the tragic death of his younger sister the family moved
back home to Ireland. Soon enough Frank witnessed the death of his two brothers.
He faces
several conflicts such as hunger, neglect, his alcoholic father, oppressive weather, poverty,
starvation and harassment. However, Frank remains strong. McCourt descriptively shares his memories
of searching for coal along the streets, begging for food, and the ruthless, cold nights. Frank
increasingly condemns his father's irresponsibility but worries also about the morality of his own
behavior. He determines to make a success of himself in America. He portrays an independent,
determined young boy who eventually found himself as the "man of the house" instead of his own
father. Frank still loves his father regardless of his alcoholic habits. When his father's attempt
to earn money in England fails, Frank finds work on his own. This gives him the feeling of
responsibility and lets him dream of hope for providing his family with food and clothes. Frank soon
faces conflict again when his family moves in with Angela's cousin, Laman. A sexual relationship
between the two is formed which brings anger to Frank. Frank soon starts a sexual relationship of
his own with one of his customers, who soon dies of consumption, leaving Frank with a broken heart.
Near the end, a priest pardons Frank of all his sins. This allows Frank to leave for America with a
clear conscience and to take hold of his thoughts for his potential future. At this point, Frank's
dream of leaving Ireland and overcoming poverty becomes possible. Even though he is sad of leaving
his family back in Ireland, he earns enough money to move to New York and bid his farewell to
Ireland. Angela's Ashes is a beautifully written memoir. The story captures your heart and gives you
an idea of the hardships faced in our past.

Frank McCourt brought numerous emotions to
the reader. The fast moving memoir allows you to picture the tragedies as if they were happening
right before your eyes. With great detail, you can create images within your mind of the dark
streets of Ireland and rough living styles. As a result of the incomparable life in the 1900s, the
reader is pulled into Frank McCourt's personal experiences, investing every emotion. His description
of his life is matchless. Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle
Award, and spent 117 weeks on The New York Times hardcover best-seller list. Angela's Ashes serves
as a living record of the strong moral values and sense of humor McCourt maintained despite the
suffering and despair he suffered as a child.

"When I look back on my childhood I
wonder how I survived at all."
--Frank McCourt

Back to Angela's Ashes

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