12 ratings (3.50 avg)
3 reviews

Nathan

Add friend

Nathan’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (4)

currently-reading‎ (1)

read‎ (11)

Stats | More…

Nathan is Currently Reading

Nathan is currently reading

Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)

by Frank McCourt

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2013

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Nathan said: " "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, is an eye opening memoir about Frank McCourt's personal experiences and childhood life. Because this book is written in the words of a youthful Frank McCourt, it offers interesting perspectives of Adult topics in t "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, is an eye opening memoir about Frank McCourt's personal experiences and childhood life. Because this book is written in the words of a youthful Frank McCourt, it offers interesting perspectives of Adult topics in the eyes of a young, poor, and curious Frank McCourt.
The thing I like the most about this book is the writing style that Frank McCourt uses throughout the whole story. He rights everything from the interpretation of his younger self. For example, because Frank is an uneducated child the writing of the book is not grammatically correct. Although the poor grammar can make the book difficult to read at sometimes, especially during any kind of dialogue, I like the style a lot because it helps to develop the characters by giving each one a unique voice. The perspective and interpretation of events in Frank McCourt's life is made much more clear by the descriptive and thorough writing. However due to the book being written in the words of a young Frank McCourt some scenes can be kind of wordy and seem to drag on for a while, which is why I rated this book a four out of five stars and not a five out of five.
Another one of the aspects of this book that I really enjoyed was how relateble some of Frank's experiences where. For example when Frank's mother Angels has her sixth child Alphie, Frank asks his dad where the baby came from. Not only is this a relatable question that all children ponder at one time or another but it was also relatable for me how Frank responded to his father's answer. Frank's father responded to the typical question by saying that "an Angel brought it to us on the seventh step". In the book Frank interpreted this literally and began talking to the "Angel" on the seventh step of his house. This is relatable because, many kids, especially me, interpret what their parents say as fact. As the story progresses and Frank grows up the reader gets to watch his young, ignorant views on life change.
All in all "Angela's Ashes" is a sad, but must read book that can easily draw tears from the reader. Despite Angela loosing several kids throughout the memoir, and her family growing up in constant famine. The saddest part of the book was watching Frank's blissful and ignorant views on the world disappear as he got older. ...more "

Oct 15, 2013 07:50PM · see review