Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
 

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

by Frank McCourt

"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 luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent... (read more)

Top tags: memoirirelandnonfictionnon-fictionautobiography (all tags)

Discussions

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  • Selina C

    selina c said:

    The story is interesting and hilarious at times but he has a serious madonna/whore complex and that's the sad thing about it (apart from the poverty). It is pretty obvious to me.

    posted Monday, June 30 2008
  • Selina C

    selina c said:

    (spoiler)I didn't like the ending. I mean I like that he finally got to america but then he hooks up with some whores (or maybe just free sluts) and I thought..I don't want to read any more. I felt sorry for Angela...but when he grows up with the idea that a women's only function in this society is to have children to work the land and feed the family I guess it doesn't occur to him to have any respect for a woman's mind.

    posted Sunday, June 29 2008 ( | view 4 replies )
  • Meghan  G

    meghan g said:

    Weatherly R, you are absolutely right. It's depressing and funny at the same time, which is why it works when the movie doesn't--the movie completely overlooks the humor and makes it just a sad life. Stick with it, Maria B!

    I actually have family members in Ireland who grew up this way...

    posted Sunday, June 29 2008
  • Maria B

    maria b said:

    I'm still on page 84... after a long crying jag, I didn't pick it back up yet.

    posted Sunday, June 29 2008
  • dineenbecky

    dineenbecky said:

    Very well written and an enjoyable read. It's about a terribly hard way of life but I didn't think the author dwelled on so I didn't find it so depressing. It made me sit back and wonder at how people in such circumstances survive. I'm looking forward to reading his other books!

    posted Friday, May 16 2008
  • Weatherly R

    weatherly r said:

    I read this book for summer reading, and I have to tell you- it took me a while.
    However, I went back and skimmed it the other day for a report, and I found that I really liked it. It is depressing, but it's also very funny.
    I do recommend it, but you have to read it with an open mind.
    and a blanket- because it doesn't matter how hot it is, some of the descriptions will make you shiver.
    :)

    posted Wednesday, April 16 2008
  • lady_shade

    lady_shade said:

    I first read this book when I was in high school. When it was required reading for other kids, I read it for fun. It always makes me laugh and cry when I re-read it. It's just one of those books that makes you stop and think of everything people take for granted like food, clothes, a home, and even family. Very uplifting as well, because it shows that when you really want something, you can't let anything stop you from your dreams.

    The movie is also very entertaining. As far as movie adaptations from a book, I found it to be very acurate. Some differences, of course, but nothing too terribly far from the book.

    posted Thursday, December 13 2007
  • Stanley C

    stanley c said:

    I have an audible copy, actually (from audible.com), a double treat as it is read delightfully by McCourt.

    posted Thursday, December 13 2007
  • lildaisy

    lildaisy said:

    the 1st few pages when i read this book i felt so awful. geez i cant imagine how they've gone thru. it was so depressing ... ].[

    posted Sunday, December 2 2007
  • SO

    so said:

    Heartbreaking, wonderful, sad - ah the Irish!

    posted Thursday, November 1 2007

Displaying 1-10 of 23 discussions

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