Beautifully written. Tugged at all my heartstrings. The entire series is not to be missed.

Довольно позорно порыдала в самолёте, испугав простодушных грузинских тётушек.
Две великие книги про загадочную ирландскую душу.
A must read.

Maybe not as engrossing as Angela's Ashes, but still very worth reading. I love memoirs for their ability to act as a door into another time which I'll never be able to experience for myself.

Depois de ter dado 5 estrelas a As Cinzas de Ângela (o meu rating traduz sempre o prazer que me dá a leitura de um livro, independentemente das polémicas que possa haver sobre ele), este segundo volume das memórias de Frank McCourt ficou bastante aquém das expectativas.

No início parecia ser um bom seguimento do livro anterior, mas depois comecei a aborrecer-me com as constantes referências aos olhos vermelhos e a outras circunstâncias que o autor vai repetindo, sempre com a mesma formulação, num registo de autocomiseração que não esperava. De tal forma me aborreci que interrompi a leitura durante alguns dias para desanuviar um pouco.

A qualidade da escrita parece ir decrescendo ao longo do livro e as últimas páginas nem pareciam ter sido escritas pela mesma pessoa.

Tenho o terceiro volume desta autobiografia, O Professor, e tenciono lê-la, mas talvez lá mais para o ano que vem...

Do I Detect an Irish Brogue? ;)

I listened to this book as read by the Author. I recommend that, as I read Angela's Ashes and enjoyed it a lot as well, but there is something special about the reading by the author that adds a diminsion to the work that you can't quite catch reading it.

Up front, many are uncomfortable with this work and Angela's Ashes because of the language, which is quite blue in places. I don't find it the most endearing quality myself, but as a memoir it captures the language of the army, the loading dock, the teachers lounge and the bar. Be warned up front, if you are not comfortable hearing swearing, then this is NOT the book for you.

That having been said, listening to McCourt read, I caught the poetic, lyrical, stream of consciousness attributes that I knew were present in Angela's Ashes, but hearing the cadence, the lilting roll and flow of the language; there are parts of this book that come close to poetry. It is an amazing and endearing quality that is rarely achieved in most modern literature.

McCourt has a rare transparency with his insecurity, his dysfunctional relationships, his family dynamics, his romance with his first wife and his transition to teaching and moving toward writing is very revealing and almost has a therapeutic value as you listen and can recognize the human condition in general.

My one criticism, is that, perhaps, this book stretches a little long for the material he includes. The actual narrative events can be condensed to a very short story line. It is the embellishment, the thinking out loud and the dancing around in what becomes a farily discernible pattern by the end of the book to where, it "almost" becomes a little tedious, although this is faint criticism when weighed against the overall impact of the book.

A very entertaining listen and read! It is hard to follow-up on a Pulitzer Prize. The goal is lofty and the expectations overwhelming. My opinion is this book does not surpass its progenitor, but it certainly comes close and provides more of the same type of reading and entertainment.

I look forward to reading, and hopefully hearing the next installment.

Entertaining, he has had one messed up life and has a lot to write about! His Mom becomes more hilarious as she ages, but this is a sad story in general.

Pales in comparison to its prequel Angela's Ashes, which is heart-wrenching and brilliant.

I must admit that my first reaction to this book was to be offended...here was this American-born Irishman returned to America to fulfill his dreams and all he could do was complain. I kept reminding myself how hard it would be at 19 yrs to ride the "learning curve" of customs, language, job & adult responsibilities while being mixed into the melting pot of NYC in the 1940's. He was frustrated, disenchanted, tired, confused. I continued reading - I wanted to see how this guy redeemed himself. Frank, like so many of us, tries on many different "suits" until he finds the one that fits - education. He steadily works his way through college and aspires to teach literature to high schoolers. Once this becomes reality for him, he's still at unrest (mainly b/c the students don't have interest in what he wishes to teach). I was hoping to read accounts of students who came back professing what a difference he had made in their lives. Maybe he was too humble to include this in the book, or maybe he was too overwhelmed and disappointed being a teacher to have made a difference at all?

In my opinion...
The constant theme: Individuals are always fluctuating between feeling "better than" and "not good enough". And, sometimes life is nothing but hard work.
The most endearing part of the book: Frank's vantage point of his adult students when he teaches community college, and those same students gratitude towards him
Would have gladly read more about: all the crazy "characters" he comes into contact with (i.e.-the elderly Italian with the loud tie collection and rare book who wills money to Frank & with which Frank buys his first house)
Overall: This book is more disjointed than Angela's Ashes & I was expecting to see Frank GROW, yet sadly did not...in some ways, he's repeating the life of his alcoholic, dead-beat dad in this sequel. Mistakes are a foundation for learning - Frank does plenty of "book learning" but little "real learning"...

An enjoyable read that tells the story of struggle, a colliding of worlds and the life experiences of Frank McCourt. It offers a bit of everything, humour, thought provoking sentiments and a realisation of how different and difficult life can be for others.

McCourt speaks with simplicity and brutal honesty. Incredible to imagine that even as a young boy alone in New York he recognized he wanted something more in his life/career. While he knew only of a life of suffering, the way he explained the suffering of his mother was acutely heart wrenching.

Angela's Ashes, deixoume unhas expectativas altísimas. Agora, o protagonista deixou Limerick, Irlanda, para emigrar aos EEUU, e perdeu a inocencia inicial. Isto influíu en que non a desfrutara tanto como a primeira parte. Con todo, o autor non deixou atrás o seu humor tan característico e seguiume interesando coñecer o camiño do protagonista. Quizais sería máis preciso un 3.5/5.

I have several books currently reading and a ton in the "to be read" pile but couldn't wait. Started this last night. Enthralled.

Really enjoyed this book. I felt the first half of the book better than the last. Although his teaching experiences were a delight to read. The differences he felt between growing up in Ireland and then the apparent wealth in America - I'm sure relates to a lot of immigrants. I found the book useful for tracking down inherited feelings of a particular kind, the inbred Irish thoughts of not being good enough.