book data
19541 ratings, 4.01 average rating, 1862 reviews
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published
1996
(first published 1999)
by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
binding
Hardcover, 368 pages
literary awards
Pulitzer Prize for Biography/AutoBiography (1997); National Book Critics Circle Award (1996); Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1996)
isbn
0681947411
(isbn13: 9780681947412)
description
So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Irelan...more
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| topics | replies | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angela's Ashes | 10 | 73 | 10/17/2008 12:02PM | |
| Angela's Ashes | 1 | 3 | 09/09/2007 10:42AM |
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avg 4.01
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Read in September, 2007
Before I get too deep into my review, let me just say this: "Angela's Ashes" is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. That said, it is also fascinating, heartbreaking, searingly honest narration told in the face of extreme poverty and alcoholism. This absolutely entrancing memoir follows an Irish-American-Irish-American (more on this later) boy who comes of age during the Depression and the War years in a country gripped in the stranglehold of the Catholic Church, tradit...more
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But the worst offender of the last twenty years has to be the uniquely meretricious drivel that constitutes "Angela's Ashes". Dishonest at every level, slimeball McCourt managed to parlay his mawkish maunderings to commercial success, presumably because the particular assortment of rainsodden cliches hawked in the book not only dovetails beautifully with the stereotypes lodged in the brain of every American of Irish descent, but also panders to the lummoxes collective need to feel supe...more
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11 comments
Read in May, 2007
In Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt paints a picture of a childhood mired in poverty. He manages to be humorous and heartbreaking, and hopeless and triumphant all at once. I laughed, I cried, I felt dearly for the disadvantaged McCourt family that struggled against all odds.
The memoir borrows heavily from the art of realism -- as tales of impoverished childhoods usually are. McCourt was born in depression era Brooklyn to an alcoholic father who spent all his wages at the bar, and a mother di...more
The memoir borrows heavily from the art of realism -- as tales of impoverished childhoods usually are. McCourt was born in depression era Brooklyn to an alcoholic father who spent all his wages at the bar, and a mother di...more
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Read in September, 1997
It's been ten years since I've read this book. Like everyone else I was floored by it when it first came out. But time and age have made me wiser.
I don't think it's stood the test of time and the more I think of it... my grandmother is right. It's a one-sided, depressing view of life in Ireland.
"Woah is me..." is the book in a nutshell. This book simply has you marinate in negativity. Maybe I've read too much Phillip Roth in the meantime and compared to his characters this boo...more
I don't think it's stood the test of time and the more I think of it... my grandmother is right. It's a one-sided, depressing view of life in Ireland.
"Woah is me..." is the book in a nutshell. This book simply has you marinate in negativity. Maybe I've read too much Phillip Roth in the meantime and compared to his characters this boo...more
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I simply can not begin to fathom why Angela's Ashes garnered so much attention, much less seemingly endless lofty praise. Not only is it the most contrived, sappiest, self-pitying, typical Tale of A Poor Immigrant, ever, but as one of Irish-Catholic ancestry myself, I found it to be so incredibly, unbelievably insulting, I almost threw it across the room. The Smug Mr. McCourt somehow manages to affirm EVERY negative stereotype of the Irish that exists. This is how the sto...more
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7 comments
“If you had the luck of the Irish
You’d be sorry and wish you was dead
If you had the luck of the Irish
Then you’d wish you was English instead”
How can ONE book be so WONDERFUL and so HORRIBLE at the same time? I have no idea. But this book is both. Big time.
It’s difficult to imagine anything worse than a childhood crushed under the oppressive conditions of abject poverty, relentless filth and unmitigated suffering. The childhood described i...more
You’d be sorry and wish you was dead
If you had the luck of the Irish
Then you’d wish you was English instead”
How can ONE book be so WONDERFUL and so HORRIBLE at the same time? I have no idea. But this book is both. Big time.
It’s difficult to imagine anything worse than a childhood crushed under the oppressive conditions of abject poverty, relentless filth and unmitigated suffering. The childhood described i...more
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Read in February, 2008
Overpraised and insubstantive, the first installment in Frank McCourt's memoir cycle, Angela's Ashes, is mostly based around such an obvious cycle that its mind-numbing: "Times were tough and we were on the dole. Me father drank and came home late at night waking us up and making us swear we'd die for Ireland. Me mother and me father fought and he shaped up. Got a job, but nobody liked him because he was from the dirty north. So he drank his first Friday's paycheck, was late to work ...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
I am currently touring Ireland. I have been here for two months and I leave in a few days. Since I have been here a while I have become more and more interested in Irish life. I have a few Irish friends and I have been fascinated in Ireland's rich and tumultuous history. This book is a heartbreaking and at times humorous story of Frank McCourt's impoverished childhood, the atrocity's the Catholic Church reigned upon the very people they were to be helping and the determination for a better l...more
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Read in October, 2007
I can't put this down! I'm getting such a dark kick out of Frank McCourt's childhood. Favorite line that had me laughing out loud: "Oy, you Irish. You'll live forever but you'll never say challah like a Chew." I'm devastated this book is ending; it's been the most pleasurable part of my days over the past week. It's of course depressing, I mean, like he says in opening "Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhoood, and worse yet is the miserable ...more
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One of my most favorite books and authors of all time. I can't get enough of Frank's stories. I also listened to him tell it on an audio recording, and it's even more awesome listening to his Irish accent. The most compelling characteristic of his writing is the ability to write about a subject as dire and despairing as poverty and neglect, and make it so blisteringly funny, I'm in tears. Then in another chapter, I'm crying with grief over the loss of his siblings and the humiliations of his...more
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Read in January, 2009
Though this book was a bit gritty in its portrayal of the poverty in Ireland, I felt I caught a real glimpse of how desperate the times must have been. It made me think again of all that I enjoy. I can't even imagine how the people could live on so little. The writing style is different, but it felt natural, like he was telling you the story, first hand. It was easier to read, even for the awful circumstances described. It was this description that was hard to digest, not the style of writin...more
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I'm glad I didn't write a review immediately after closing the book. This was a quick read but a hard read. The story was very compelling, and I know I've been changed by it. Before reading it I read a review saying it rips your heart out and remakes it. I'm agreeing with that. It's terrible to read about the poverty and the ways Frankie's family survives in their terrible circumstances. It's harder to read how they sometimes lower themselves, especially his mother, to try to keep the fami...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Everyone
I have to admitt this book sat on my shelf for a while. I kept passing it over for another book. Grant it, I didn't see the movie, but people told me it's a sad story about a very poor family. I didn't think I would like the book and I wasn't quite sure why I even bought it.
Well, I didn't like the book. I LOVED the book. Frank McCourt, the author and main character engaged me by the first 2 sentences of the book. I enjoyed his style of writing and the way he displayed conversations. I...more
Well, I didn't like the book. I LOVED the book. Frank McCourt, the author and main character engaged me by the first 2 sentences of the book. I enjoyed his style of writing and the way he displayed conversations. I...more
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Read in December, 2002
If I could give this book negative stars, I would.
Not only is McCourt a poor writer, but the exaggerated (and villifying) depiction of his father is grotesque. Yes, the man was an alcoholic but look at the circumstances which drove him to drinking in excess. He initially has his family's best interest at heart, but due to the political and social circumstances in both America and Ireland begins to despair. One can only imagine the stress, depression, and loss of pride McCourt's father must ...more
Not only is McCourt a poor writer, but the exaggerated (and villifying) depiction of his father is grotesque. Yes, the man was an alcoholic but look at the circumstances which drove him to drinking in excess. He initially has his family's best interest at heart, but due to the political and social circumstances in both America and Ireland begins to despair. One can only imagine the stress, depression, and loss of pride McCourt's father must ...more
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Read in January, 2000
This book was soooo good. The movie they made based on the book was TERRIBLE. Here is why: in the book, horrible and terrible and awful tragic things are happening to the author in his youth. It's awful. However, you are inside of the boy's head and hear his thoughts. He is hilarious! He misinterprets things and has a totally child like way of seeing everything.
I remember when he takes his first communion, he gets sick and throws up afterwards. His Grandma freaks out and scoops up the vomit,...more
I remember when he takes his first communion, he gets sick and throws up afterwards. His Grandma freaks out and scoops up the vomit,...more
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Read in December, 1999
recommends it for:
anyone, and especially people who like learning history through ordinary people's lives
Just a great, great story, excellent and compelling reading. The best part of this book, though, is that when I "read" it, I actually listened to the unabridged audio book, read by Frank McCourt himself. (I used to get audiobooks from the public library for my long drives from Indiana to Connecticut.)
Hearing the book read by Frank McCourt is an absolutely incomparable experience. I would suggest to anyone that if you really want to get the most out of this book, get this ...more
Hearing the book read by Frank McCourt is an absolutely incomparable experience. I would suggest to anyone that if you really want to get the most out of this book, get this ...more
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recommends it for:
People who appreciate a dry sense of humor
You have to have a dry sense of humor to appreciate this book; and I do. I think it was very well written. I don't care if it is an exageration because what it does is show how a child sees the world. It shows how a child can still love his alcoholic father and co-dependant mother despite all the pain they made him suffer. And it shows that someone can rise above his situation. It shows that the church is really not that helpful if you don't have money but there are still people in the chur...more
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From the Publisher
"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 immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank'...more
"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 immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank'...more
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Read in January, 2007
What, did NO one find this book funny except me??? I must be really perverse.
Although the account of Frank's bad eyes was almost physically painful to read, the rest of the story didn't seem too odd or sad or overdone to me. My dad's family were immigrants; his father died young of cirrhosis of the liver, leaving my grandmother to raise her six living children (of a total of 13) on a cleaning woman's pay. So? Life was hard. They weren't Irish and they lived in New York, but when you hear that ...more
Although the account of Frank's bad eyes was almost physically painful to read, the rest of the story didn't seem too odd or sad or overdone to me. My dad's family were immigrants; his father died young of cirrhosis of the liver, leaving my grandmother to raise her six living children (of a total of 13) on a cleaning woman's pay. So? Life was hard. They weren't Irish and they lived in New York, but when you hear that ...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommended to rachel by:
personal choicerecommends it for: those interested in ireland and/or drinking
let me start by saying i cannot stand frank mccourt's writing style. it took me about the first quarter to get into a rhythm of reading. the worst part is, i have no idea why he wrote it like that. at the end of the book, his character is pretty well educated and writing great letters - so why does he narrate so badly? it's as if he wrote the story out normal and was then like, "hmm...if i make the writing more cryptic, maybe i could get the pulitzer!" kudos. i did enjoy the midd...more
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