Angelas ashes summary
Angelas ashes summarySUMMARY
"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 “Angela’s Ashes” of author 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 pleasant-- 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 is colored on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding
humor and compassion. It is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a
classic.
ORAL BOOK REVIEW
"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 “Angela’s Ashes” of author Frank
McCourt. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and
raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. This novel was the number one New
York Times Bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Also, this book is
now a major motion picture. The sequel to Mr. McCourt’s memoir has also
been released and is entitled “ ‘Tis.” My father suggested that I read this
book and this is mainly the reason I chose to read it.
This novel was a memoir about Frank McCourt and all the hardships
that he endured. 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, however somewhat
pleasant, nurtures in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide, a
story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, a great hero who saved
Ireland, and also for the tales of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings
his mother babies. Throughout this novel there are many things which bring
the feeling of sadness to the reader’s mind. First of all,...
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