Frank McCourt

The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies

A Memoir

Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt       

Angela's Ashes was a true publishing phenomenon. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Royal Society of Literature Award (amongst others), this lyrical and poignant memoir topped bestseller charts the world over for more than two years and has since become a much loved modern classic. A heartfelt account of poverty in Ireland and emigration to America, Angela's Ashes combines a personal perspective on a little-known aspect of modern history with Frank McCourt's spellbinding story-telling, creating an enduring masterpiece in the process.

A Memoir of a Childhood

Jaden Nelson

1/8/20 Woah wait a minute, why did I never write a review for this?? I guess it was for English class (10th), so maybe I figured I'd written enough about it (a speech :) Anyways, I don't really know why I gave this 4 stars because from what I remember, I didn't particularly love many parts of it. I remember it feeling VERY LONG, slow, repetitive, and extra depressing. That being said, there was a sort of overall wholesome feel to the story (I often get that feeling from long books where I am with the book for a long time), so maybe that's why I gave it 4 stars. I don't have anything else to say really.....

Tracie McMurray

If you get the chance to listen to the audio, read by Mr. McCourt I highly recommend it!

Jaymie Lemke

This is one of the books that got me back into reading again. I loved the way that as Frank grew, the writing grew as well. When he was 5, it was written as a 5 yr old would write. Very well done.

""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 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.

Sarah Escorsa

Caroline Lewicki

I didn't know what to expect when I started Angela's Ashes, as I'd heard so many varied things - always good but ranging between hilarious and depressing, which is hard to do. Angela's Ashes truly is both. Frank McCourt has such an incredibly child-like, lighthearted way of telling his story, and his family's story, despite the first 19-20 years being incredibly depressing. I found myself laughing at some of the things he recounted, and then immediately cringing when I realized the nature of what he was saying. It made me think of all the times my Irish grandmother said "starving kids in Ireland..." and I can finally fully understand the gravity of that.

If you're looking for a rich, compelling autobiography, this is the one.

michael haaf

Halfway through before mysterious disappearance. Will come back to it later.

Pamela Alvarado

That Pulitzer Prize is totally well-earned. He totally makes you feel involved in this story and the use of present tense adds more reality and tension to it. Highly recommended!

Jehan Chawla

Kristen Savage

Olivera Filipas

En cada pagina abunda el incomparable sentido del humor y la compasion de Frank McCourt. Con todas las cualidades de una obra clasica, "Las cenizas de Angela" esta ahora disponible en edicion rustica en espanol. Esta autobiografia ganadora del Premio Pulitzer y de gran exito de ventas internatcional trasciende las fronteras culturales y linguisticas con su narracion sobre la infancia, la pobreza y las relaciones familiares.

Una Memoria

Las Cenizas de Angela (Angela's Ashes)

Donaji 

The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies.

Ember Skies

Chana

Jen Murphy

The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies. 40,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. First serial, The New Yorker.

Angela's Ashes A Memoir

Reviews