false 76988189 59329 252577 0007205236 9780007205233 2302 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173155771m/252577.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173155771s/252577.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252577.Angela_s_Ashes 3.96 30508 Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either--not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. Mix in abject poverty and frequent death and illness and you have all the makings of a truly difficult early life. Fortunately, in McCourt's able hands it also has all the makings for a compelling memoir.]]> 3347 3.83 54267 4693 1996 3 0 false Thu Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 03:11:47 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 05:54:13 -0800 2009
I think today we often mistake sad or depressing for "good."

So, this was a well-written, sad, depressing memoir that oftentimes went on rambling for pages like a drunken rant and probably weren't edited down because they were sad and ...more...]]>