Product Description

Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s. It is a story of extreme hardship
and suffering, in Brooklyn tenements and Limerick slums - too many children, too little money, his mother Angela barely coping as his father Malachy's drinking
bouts constantly brought the family to the brink of disaster. It is a story of courage and survival against apparently overwhelming odds.

Written with the vitality and resonance of a work of fiction, and a remarkable absence of sentimentality, Angela's Ashes is imbued on every page with Frank
McCourt's distinctive humour and compassion. Out of terrible circumstances, he has created a glorious book in the tradition of Ireland's literary masters, which
bears all the marks of a great classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51955 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-15
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in 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 clichés 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 of a compelling memoir.

Gramophone
"His understated voice throws into relief the admirable humour, spirit & humanity of the people who made the degradation of his childhood
bearable."

Evening Standard
'McCourt's reading is captivating from the first moment.'

Customer Reviews

A never to be forgotten story.
Much praise for this book, and the movie is even better. Well done to frank mccourt for finding the words..

The film will have to be good to do this book justice
Somewhere on this page Amazon is telling you that people who bought this book also bought 'Tis' and 'Teacher Man'. You may as well do it now as the postage will be cheaper and you'll end up buying the other two anyway once you've read Angela's Ashes.

Angela's Ashes was McCourt's first book, introducing us to his impoverished upbringing in the States and rural Ireland. Sickening at times and upsetting, this true story will also make you laugh at loud. McCourt's natural (Irish) wit and colourful language make even the bleakest parts worth the read.

Being autobiographical (like 'tis' and 'teacher man') you get a real sense of the man and how he carried his upbringing with him throughout his life. A natural writer and a person of no small integrity he is handicapped by his own low self worth. Now that he's a successful published author I hope he still has his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds.

I've not seen the film but will do so, it'll have to be good to live up to this book.

What a story!
I had seen parts of Angela's Ashes on TV and thought what a bleak, miserable story it looked. I was a bit hesitant about reading the book at first but came across a box set of Frank McCourts work and what can I say - WOW - what a writer... compelling, thought-provking,humorous and sincere....I read Angela's Ashes in a day and was left wanting more....now I am reading Tis (the story after he returns to America) and I am just as in awe.... a definite must for keeping on my bookshelves for years to come....

A MUST READ!