Genealogy Books - Angela's Ashes

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: Heart wrenching!
Comment: I have a great deal of mixed feelings about this book. It had been recommended to me several times
so I decided to buy it and read it. I was bowled over by the tremendous poverty of the Irish people
and many times near tears. Surprised by the discrimination within their own country against each
other based upon wealth, religion or birthplace. There are great moments of humor within this book
that at times are hard to laugh at but one has to see them through the eyes of the child. This is a
book you love to hate or hate to love. Hard to put it down but hard to pick it up as well. If
nothing else, read it for the insight into the Irish people and their history.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Beautiful and Sad Story
Comment: This book kept me up all night. I could not let this book go. It made me realize that other parts of
the world have similar problems to the ones we see in our part of the world. This book hit home
right on the dot. His carefully picked words, his details, his politeness, his innocence, his
ambition, all made me want more. I can't wait to read the second part of his memoir. This is an
excellent story teller. And, I hope that his writing days are just beginning.
Tis'

Customer Rating:

Summary: This family touches your heart...
Comment: Frank McCourt is able to touch your heart and your soul by sharing his family tragedy with us. His
family (yes, disfuntional) lived through hard times. But they were consoled by their belief in the
church and in family. We all put too much stock in unworthy people at times, but when you are born
into this life and it is either sink or swim, you learn to swim and to make do with the worst.
I
have a special dislike of their father as he was a small and selfish man. But then again, it was a
time when most of their country were "on the dole".....how were they to know different? At least
the boys grew up and moved away from the poverty and made their lives back in America. I adore
Frank McCourt's writing and hope he continues.

Customer Rating:

Summary: This book is an excellent read!!!
Comment: My girlfriend begged me to read this book and at first I was reluctant to read it. I read the first
chapter and I couldn't believe this was a true story about someone's life. I read this book in one
day and I can't believe how glued I was to this book! I normally like fantasy, sci-fi, philosophy or
historical fiction. I was truely blown away about Frank Mccourt life and how he survived the
depression especially in Ireland. This book was depressing and made me want to cry, I was hoping for
a happy ending. Even though the ending wasn't what I expected it. It makes me want to read the next
book. Great writing Mr Mccourt!!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Memoir with Everything
Comment: Angela's Ashes, is the profound heart-warming autobiography of Frank McCourt, an Irish who describes
the harsh conditions, which he was forced to grow up in. His story begins in the time of the
Depression when he was born to his poor recent immigrant parents, Angela and Malachy in Brooklyn.
Frank is brought up in a home with siblings that he is forced to take care of and watch die. He
must be his mother's strength as she waits for her drunken husband to come home every night with out
food. Little Frank continues to have hope as he travels to his parent's homeland of Ireland. As
his dreams of a rich life in his new home diminish due to his father's continual drunkenness he
finds optimism in his new siblings who he believes are brought to him by an Angel to the Seventh
Step in his run down home, and through his father's tales of Cuchulian, who saved Ireland. 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 pig's 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 McCourt's writing. He is able to capture the essence of a
poor Irishman's 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 all emotions from laughing at his father who would make him and his brother wake up
to tell 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 eyes to the life of poverty, and the obstacles that are
overcome. Before reading this account I was never aware of the struggles that people must go to if
they do not have money. The fact that Angela was 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 the house
because of flooding.
At the same time that this book was entertaining and heartfelt, it is
incredibly depressing. Learning about the grim realities of Frank McCourt's childhood was extremely
difficult. I often would have to put the book down because of the immense details we would get into
about his life. For example, when his father finally got a job in England and was supposed to send
money home. The whole family would wait by the door for the postman to come baring money. Day
after day there would be no money. Reading about the hunger they were forced to go to because of a
father's addiction, really stings the heart.
Angela's Ashes is the best 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.

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