Product Description

From the author of the million-selling Angela's Ashes -- the most keenly anticipated sequel of the decade. Angela's Ashes was a publishing phenomenon. Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, lyrical memoir of his Limerick childhood won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Award amongst others, and rapidly became a word-of-mouth bestseller topping all charts worldwide for over two years. It left readers and critics alike eager to hear more about Frank McCourt's incredible, poignant life. 'Tis is the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant with rotten teeth, infected eyes and no formal education to brilliant raconteur and schoolteacher. Saved first by a straying priest, then by the Democratic party, then by the United States Army, then by New York University -- which admitted him on a trial basis though he had no high school diploma -- Frank had the same vulnerable but invincible spirit at nineteen that he had at eight and still has today. And 'Tis is a tale of survival as vivid, harrowing, and often hilarious as Angela's Ashes. Yet again, it is through the power of storytelling that Frank finds a life for himself. 'It is only the best storyteller who can so beguile his readers that he leaves them wanting more when he's done...McCourt proves himself one of the very best' (Newsweek). 'Tis blesses readers with another chapter of McCourt's story, but as it closes, they will want still more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61722 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The sequel to Frank McCourt's memoir of his Irish Catholic boyhood, Angela's Ashes, picks up the story in October 1949 upon his arrival in America. Though he was born in New York, the family had returned to Ireland due to poor prospects in the United States. Now back on American soil, this awkward 19-year-old, with his "pimply face, sore eyes, and bad teeth," has little in common with the healthy, self-assured college students he sees on the subway and dreams of joining in the classroom. Initially, his American experience is as harrowing as his impoverished youth in Ireland, including two of the grimmest Christmases ever described in literature. McCourt views the U.S. through the same sharp eye and dark humour that distinguished his first memoir; race prejudice, casual cruelty and dead-end jobs weigh on his spirits as he searches for a way out. A glimpse of hope comes from the army, where he acquires some white-collar skills, and from New York University, which admits him without a high school diploma. But the journey toward his position teaching creative writing at Stuyvesant High School is neither quick nor easy. Fortunately, McCourt's openness to every variety of human emotion and longing remains exceptional; even the most damaged, difficult people he encounters are richly rendered individuals with whom the reader can't help but feel uncomfortable kinship. The magical prose, with its singing Irish cadences, brings grandeur and beauty to the most sorrowful events, including the final scene, in which Angela's ashes are scattered over a Limerick graveyard. --Wendy Smith

Review
'Isn't this a great country altogether?' remarks an acquaintance to Frank McCourt on arrival in America. 'Tis,' Frank replies - for 'tis the country of his dreams. And although New York is shorter on instant dream-fulfilment than he'd hoped, cunning intelligence, ambition (and desperation) eventually bring graduation from New York University, and he becomes a successful, inspirational teacher. Aficionados of Angela's Ashes won't be disappointed. (Kirkus UK)

While not as tightly structured as his Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela's Ashes (1996), the irrepressible McCourt's follow-up memoir has the same driving rhythm, charm, and infectious humor that so captivated readers of the earlier installment. The story picks up in 1949 as McCourt, aged 19, sails to America to seek his fortune. Befriended by a priest who helps him settle in New York City, he's shocked when the man makes a drunken pass at him. His life in New York becomes one of seedy boarding houses, menial labor on the docks and warehouses, and, always, heavy drinking, often with his brothers Malachy and Michael. Conditionally admired to New York University (he had no high school diploma), he's thrilled to show off his textbooks on the subway but bored with the class work. He'd rather read Scan O'Casey, "the first Irish writer I ever read who writes about rags, dirt, hunger, babies dying. . . ." He falls in love with and eventually marries Alberta "Mike" Small, a beautiful Episcopalian from New England. It's a marriage that will "become a sustained squabble." His early years as a high school teacher, first at a vocational school on Staten Island, later at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, are humorously and revealingly retold. His first words as a teacher? "Stop throwing sandwiches." McCourt occasionally interrupts his chronological narrative with lengthy, if funny, portraits of characters he's met along the way. Angela, who has moved back to New York to be near her sons, has become a difficult, sickly woman upon whose death McCourt would write: "I thought I'd know the grief of the grown man. . . . I didn't know I'd feel like a child cheated." Those whose hearts went out to the little boy who suffered so in Limerick might be put off by the hard-drinking, carousing grownup. But there's no denying McCourt's engaging wit. Is it as rewarding as Angela's Ashes? 'Tis. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Publisher
Reviews for 'Tis
''Tis feels like a friend, telling the tales of his life over a pint, with charm and humour, economy and pace. There is a sense of loss when you have to close the pages and sleep, or go on to other things. McCourt is a masterful writer... All who read Angela's Ashes will read 'Tis. The will love and, and so did I.' --Independent on Sunday

'Few will be able to resist this pacey and fluid sequel... In post-war New York, McCourt moves through work as a longshoreman, a spell in the army, to night-school, to become a creative writing teacher encouraging his kids to "write about what you know" - the same policy that has led him to belated international celebrity...McCourt's gift lies not simply in having lived through interesting times, but having developed his skills as an editor and narrator to produce two fine, funny and moving slices of a past that is not simply Ireland's, but everyone's.' --Guardian

'Every page contains an unforced laugh...The gloom is indivisible from moments of great joy and compassion - the sound of jazz pouring form a club, the comforting arm of a fellow worker - which McCourt is able to express in his fresh and supple prose. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, McCourt has the power to transform even the saddest recollections into sentences of great beauty, and in that beauty lies the possibility of salvation.' -- Mail on Sunday

'Full of the narrative brio, the fierce sympathy for human tic and torment, the intuitive feel for character and above all the love of language that made Angela's Ashes a success.' -- LA Times

Customer Reviews

Deliciously written
Frank McCourt has a wonderful style of writing that ties the reader to the pages. He writes in a conversational manner which makes the entire book seem like a story your friend Frank was telling you. The story continues from Angela's Ashes and young McCourt lands himself in America. As a European living in America for a while, I encountered the same oddities and quirks about the Amerikcan McCourt found when he described his experiences in America. All and all it's an entertaining story to read, and and definetly an engaging book.

a triumphant, if challenging, read.
'Tis' holds parallels with 'Sons & Lovers', albeit set in the bustling metropolis of post-war New York as opposed to 19th century Nottinghamshire. The educated elder son of an awkward mother and absent father struggles to find his own identity in a land that displays prejudice against his background and compulsively remarks at 'the Irish brogue'.

The young adult Frankie takes several menial jobs and has to endure providential college students who ride the trains: handsome guys and wholesome girls with perfect teeth and skin and NYU folders flaunting their superiority. A stretch in the army enables Frankie to learn useful administrative skills, and he finally pleads to be allowed to study at NYU, eventually becoming a teacher.

At this point, McCourt's memoirs cease to follow the path of 'Angela's Ashes', and with each progressive chapter the verse loses the lilt and cadence that so coloured the previous work. Writing that was once a joy to read becomes tedious and monotonous: the repetitive references to life back in Limerick and seemingly endless prose leading apparently nowhere. The reader is left confused by Frankie's attitude towards his family and somewhat weary with the dry anecdotes of his time spent teaching dispassionate students.

As with DH Lawrence, however, one can only share McCourt's obvious frustration with his life, particularly the way he feels trapped between the life of a bohemian, listening to jazz and discussing philosophy, and the comfort and security of his wife, child and home. As such, Frankie seldom seems to learn any lessons from his experiences or those of his family. Students, and their fashions, come and go but McCourt treads slowly along, disenchanted and unable to find fulfilment.

Although 'Tis' continues with the life of Frank McCourt a few unanswered questions frustrate throughout, particularly why did it take so long to write 'Angela's Ashes' following the triumphant debut University essay, 'The Bed'? From such an extraordinary life in Limerick to the abject normality of a teacher's lot in New York, the reader can only empathise with the apparent loss of exuberance and vivacity that, despite the unimaginable poverty, 'Angela's Ashes' portrayed.

'Tis' could never match McCourt's Pulitzer Prize winner, but as a reflection of one man's determination and soul searching it still remains a triumphant, if challenging, read.

One to buy
After reading Angela's Ashes and loving it I wasn't that keen on reading what can sometimes be a poor sequel. After reading the first page of Frank McCourt's Tis I was gripped. McCourt manages to lead you into the journey of life. Predominantly set in post war New York it tells the story of a man who wants to turn a dream into reality. The man who wants to discover the joys of America and the girls with white teeth. As you wander through his life with him and encounter the prejudice, the love and loss of so many of his dreams you can't help but wonder whether Ireland would have been better for him. Towards the end of the book, it begins to lack flare and begins to tire a little but to be honest the rest of the book makes up for it. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes this kind of genre. Even if you haven't read Angela's Ashes you could still follow it because it does acknowledge his past. After finishing it, you want to read it again just to join and share McCourt's life. Its gripping, powerful and provocative. Not as good as Angela's Ashes but well worth a buy! When's the next book?