Frank McCourt
Paperback | Pages: 452 pages Rating: 4.11 | 515002 Users | 11458 Reviews
Define Out Of Books Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1)
| Title | : | Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1) |
| Author | : | Frank McCourt |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 452 pages |
| Published | : | October 3rd 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published September 5th 1996) |
| Categories | : | Womens Fiction. Chick Lit. Fiction. Romance. Contemporary. Adult Fiction. Adult. Humor |
Ilustration As Books Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1)
Imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion. This is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic. "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 Pulitzer Prize winning memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy-- exasperating, irresponsible and beguiling-- does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies. Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors--yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness. Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.Declare Books Toward Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1)
| Original Title: | Angela's Ashes: A Memoir |
| ISBN: | 0007205236 (ISBN13: 9780007205233) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Frank McCourt #1 |
| Characters: | Frank McCourt |
| Setting: | Limerick(Ireland) New York State(United States) Ireland |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (1997), American Booksellers Book Of The Year Award for Adult Trade (1997), Audie Award for Nonfiction, Abridged (1997), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography (1996), Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (1997) National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography/Autobiography (1996) |
Rating Out Of Books Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1)
Ratings: 4.11 From 515002 Users | 11458 ReviewsCritique Out Of Books Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt #1)
I tried to read this about ten years ago and gave up after the first chapter - I just couldn't connect with it. This time around was a completely different story. I loved the way Frank McCourt writes, it's lyrical and beautiful even while describing a very bleak situation. His childhood is one of poverty--- siblings die, his father is a drunk, there is never enough food, the housing sounds appalling. It's a very depressing book, as this was the reality for so many people, but there are alsoThis is one of the most depressing and heartbreaking true-life novels I've ever read so be forewarned, this Pulitzer Prize winner is pretty tough to take.In the beginning, Francis (Frank) McCourt's family story starts out so desperate, you think it can't get any worse, BUT....IT....DOES!Frankie had a very short and dreadful childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Even at age four with only the clothes (rags) on his back, he had adult responsibilities caring for his twin baby brothers, changing and
Impressive read...years ago already. Updating my library.
I just felt depressed while reading this novel. You can't imagine that people could live in such poverty and yet survive somehow. The book is gripping but makes you feel helpless..
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
Angelas Ashes is a beautifully written, painfully honest account of Frank McCourts childhood in Limerick, Ireland.Franks parents, both Irish, met in New York and began their family there. McCourt himself was born in New York, but this was in the 1930s and the depression hurt everyone and everywhere, especially immigrant Irish with no resources.So back to Ireland they go to live near his maternal grandmother. 1930s Limerick was not much better than New York, especially for Franks father who spoke
I have to admit that I didn't love the first third of this book but I realize the information gained there made me enjoy the rest even more. At times, this book was a beautiful dark comedy, "There is nothing like a wake for having a good time," and I think that some day I might make my kids promise to die for Ireland. Near the end, the young boy is trying to figure out what adultery is by looking it up in the dictionary; he is forced to look up new words with each explanation he finds and the
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