Angela's Ashes

by Frank McCourt

Paperback, 432 pages

Published Oct. 10, 2005 by Harper Perennial.

ISBN:: 978-0-00-720523-3

(63 reviews)

Stunning reissue of the phenomenal worldwide bestseller: Frank McCourt's sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s.

1 edition

Ted reviewed Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Review of "Angela's Ashes" on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I took many breaks in the reading what is a masterful piece of work. No quotation marks to delineate dialogue can add labor to the reader's work. The narrow viewpoint of a child adds layers the reader must work through. The experiences described, the poverty and toxicity, I needed breaks. I'm glad I got to the end. McCourt is gifted with vernacular and dialogue, of using people's interactions to convey the confusions, the injustices, the hypocrisy of being raised.

The Gnome King reviewed Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Review of "Angela's Ashes" on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Oh dear this was a "did not finish" book for me, I have tried 3 times to read it, this time I made it half way before getting bored and giving up. It's a very bleak book, which I have no problem with, I think my problem is I was unable to connect with the characters and one thing kept bugging me, the detail, if you had gone through what McCourt did as a kid would you be able to remember every single little conversation? Even the times he chats with his mates you get the whole conversation, (a conversation that quit often leads nowhere and doesn't add to the flow of the book), surely that can't all be recalled? Too much embellishment for me.

I haven't seen the film, a lot of reviews on here have done the film before the book, maybe that might help you feel more …

Pentapod reviewed Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Review of "Angela's Ashes" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Sometimes it's good to read a memoir like this to remind you of just how fortunate your own life has been. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this book - I'd heard it was extremely depressing, but although it paints a bleak picture of a near-starving childhood of abject poverty, the author somehow keeps an optimistic outlook and the determination to escape his situation, which (since this is a memoir, not fiction) he clearly succeeded in doing. I'm sure that a child's memory may have blurred some of the details but it's nonetheless an interesting look into the country and politics of the time, not to mention the hopeless situation of the young mothers who are wholly dependent on their husbands to provide (or not) for sick and starving children.