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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252577.Angela_s_Ashes?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Angela's Ashes" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1173155771m/252577.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252577.Angela_s_Ashes?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Angela's Ashes</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3347.Frank_McCourt">Frank McCourt</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21907148?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars I borrowed this a book a few years ago from my brother and finally picked it up last week and couldn't put it down--so yeah, Brayd, you can finally get your book back... Before reading the book, I knew very little about it. Aside from the obvious recommendations by my family and the Pulitzer people, I actually had very mild expectations. For most, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but this is a great book that really resonated with me. I don't have first hand experience with hunger, death and the utter poverty on the scale this book puts forth, but I know what it is like to be left to my own devices for days at a time with my three brothers, all of us under the age of ten. There were so many parts that seemed familiar to me, though that familiarity was always quickly replaced by a new heart wrenching perspective. 
 
 Another important aspect of this book is the humor. I read the majority of this book on a trip with my wife and was constantly embarrassing her on the plane with loud bursts of laughter. McCourt truly has a gift for portraying desperate circumstances in a way that includes humor without taking away from the seriousness of the material.
 
 I was also truly amazed to find so many negative reviews on this site. Basically, most seem to be dissatisfied with McCourt's rendering of Ireland. But in my mind, those who think this book is essentially about Ireland are missing what Angela's Ashes has to offer. This book is not about Ireland. It's about poverty, class, drug abuse, religion, death, the lack of birth control, and so on. Those that read memoirs/biographies know that McCourt's story is not unique to Ireland. 
 
 For me, the value in Angela's Ashes resides in what it tells us about being human, and serves as a reminder of what impoverished children suffered, and are still suffering, in the world today. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/993940?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Dustin's review
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I borrowed this a book a few years ago from my brother and finally picked it up last week and couldn't put it down--so yeah, Brayd, you can finally get your book back... Before reading the book, I knew very little about it. Aside from the obvious recommendations by my family and the Pulitzer people, I actually had very mild expectations. For most, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but this is a great book that really resonated with me. I don't have first hand experience with hunger, death and the utter poverty on the scale this book puts forth, but I know what it is like to be left to my own devices for days at a time with my three brothers, all of us under the age of ten. There were so many parts that seemed familiar to me, though that familiarity was always quickly replaced by a new heart wrenching perspective.

Another important aspect of this book is the humor. I read the majority of this book on a trip with my wife and was constantly embarrassing her on the plane with ...more

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message 1: by Brayden

05/09/2008 07:55AM

I remember laughing a lot while reading the book too, although in retrospect I can't remember what was so funny. The haunting images of poverty will stay with you forever though.