Let me cut to the chase and say that this is heartbreaking. My first McCourt book I was thrilled that the author himself narrated the audio and in all his Irish glory it made it so much more! I am pleased that I chose this as my introduction to this writer, as I feel I will now have a better understanding of his ambition and how his childhood made him view the world and people around him.

Heartbreakingly sad due to the horrible poverty and surroundings, I was amazed at how humorous this memoir actually was. The Irish are a hearty people and McCort is a true example of that! His style is lyrical...even with the run on thoughts and conversations that a young McCort spews. We follow his story from a young boy, with adult responsibilities to a young man setting out on his own.

This is a story of his desire for something better, which the reader knows he achieved if you are aware of this writer. This story however is only the first chapter of what I imagine was a life and outlook formed by these early years. I look forward to continuing his journey.

I ended up really enjoying this book, in spite of my earlier frustrations with it.

To say this book is depressing is one of the grossest understatements I've made in the past year. The book is narrated by the very young Frank McCourt and follows a child's stream of consciousness to describe the things he sees but doesn't always understand. As he gets older, the narration implies less and becomes more stark as Frankie develops the ability to see and understand what is happening in his family.

There is no punctuation used to annotate spoken words from written prose and it took awhile for me to accustom myself to the format. But I found that over time, it became easier to follow and the writing became quite lyrical. I can't help but think this would make a fantastic audiobook if read in an Irish accent.

I have the sequel to this book on my shelf but I can't say as I'm looking forward to rushing out and reading it. The alcoholic father and the dying babies and the dirty, starving children and the helpless mother were all a bit much for me to stomach in one go. I need a long break, so perhaps someday.

(review in English below)

4,5*

Este foi mais um daqueles livros que estava na prateleira à espera que eu tivesse coragem para lhe pegar, por achar que ia ser uma leitura deprimente, dado o tema.

Afinal nada havia a recear. Apesar da miséria e do sofrimento que estão presentes ao longo de toda a narrativa, a forma como o autor conta as suas peripécias durante a infância e adolescência é maravilhosamente cativante, conseguindo dar um tom cómico à desgraça, um pouco à maneira de Charlie Chaplin.

Fiquei com vontade de ler os outros dois volumes que se seguem a este e também de ver o filme, de 1999, realizado por Alan Parker, com música de John Williams (nomeado para os Óscares e para os Globos de Ouro para melhor banda sonora) e com Emily Watson no papel de mãe do autor.

Muito bom e muito recomendável.

4.5 stars

This was another one of those books sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to have the courage to pick it up because I thought it would be a depressing read, given the subject.

But there was nothing to be feared. In spite of all the misery and suffering throughout the narrative, the way in which the author tells his mishaps during childhood and adolescence is absolutely captivating, as he manages to put a comical spin to tragedy, somewhat like Charlie Chaplin.

Now I want to read the other two volumes following this one and I also want to see the movie, from 1999, directed by Alan Parker, with music by John Williams (nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score) and starring Emily Watson as the author's mother.

Very good and highly recommended.

Angela’s Ashes is a beautifully written, painfully honest account of Frank McCourt’s childhood in Limerick, Ireland.

Frank’s parents, both Irish, met in New York and began their family there. McCourt himself was born in New York, but this was in the 1930s and the depression hurt everyone and everywhere, especially immigrant Irish with no resources.

So back to Ireland they go to live near his maternal grandmother. 1930s Limerick was not much better than New York, especially for Frank’s father who spoke with a “north of Ireland accent”.

Succinctly stated, the novel begins with this statement: “Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood”.

Told with equal parts humor and sobriety, this swings rapidly from hilarious to heartbreaking. A good book.

Pulizer-palkitun Seitsemännen portaan enkeli teoksen kirjoittaja Frank McCourt (1930-2009) eli ensimmäiset vuotensa Brooklynissa, josta vanhemmat halusivat palata takaisin Irlantiin. Kirja on muistelmallinen teos, mutta uskoakseni siinä on käytetty runsaasti kirjailijan vapauksia perheen lapsuus- ja nuoruuskuvauksissa, jossa isä joi kuin pesusieni ja äiti yritti pitää perheensä koossa. Elämä oli köyhääkin kurjempaa, mutta eipä naapuristossa juuri kovin rikkaita näkynyt. Kun luet kirjan, tiedät mitä nälkä on ja miten sukulaiset, naapurit, opettajat, papit, viranomaiset ym. kohtelivat huono-osaista McCourtin perhettä. Frank oli perheen vanhin lapsi ja kaikesta kurjuudesta huolimatta hän selviytyi sairauksien ja nälkäkuoleman partaalta hengissä, ja muutti takaisin Amerikkaan, ja on siellä kirjoittanut pitkän liudan kirjoja. Seitsemännen portaan enkelistä on tehty myös samanniminen elokuva.
Kirja on kuvaus rutiköyhästä perheestä. Kirjan muisteluiden lomasta nousee kuvaukset Irlannin yhteiskunnan tilasta toisen maailmansodan aikana. Historia ja kulttuuri sekä katolisuus värittävät perheen elämänmenoa. Koulunkäynti ja opettajat olivat uskomattomia. Kirja on todella tämän vuoden lukuhelmi, paras lukemani kirja tänä vuonna. Olen odottanut pitkään, että voin sanoa, että suosittelen kirjaa lämpimästi. Frank McCourt, toivottavasti olet siellä, missä tähdet kimaltavat, sillä Seitsemännen portaan enkeli on tähtikirjallisuutta.

Angela's Ashes: a memoir of a childhood (Frank McCourt #1), Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood.

The narrative is told from the point of view of Frankie as a child.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 19 August 1930, Frank (Francis) McCourt is the oldest son of Malachy McCourt and Angela Sheehan McCourt.

Both of his parents emigrated from Ireland and married in a shotgun wedding over Angela's pregnancy with Frankie.

Angela is from Limerick, Ireland, and is fond of music, singing, and dancing.

Malachy, from Northern Ireland, is an alcoholic known for his "odd manner" and for telling the stories about Irish heroes.

Frankie is said to resemble his father, having a hang-dog face and the same "odd manner."

In Brooklyn, the McCourts live in modern tenement housing next to a park and share a floor, and an indoor lavatory, with other immigrant families.

Frankie has four younger siblings in Brooklyn: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and an infant sister, Margaret, in 1935.

The family struggles with poverty because Malachy Sr.'s efforts to find work are complicated by his alcoholism.

The family's prospects, and Angela's spirits, lift whenever he finds a new job and brings home his wages, but soon he finds himself spending all of his pay in bars, despite Angela's schemes to prevent him from doing so. He loses each job after a few weeks. ...

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «خاکسترهای آنجلا»؛ «خاکستر آنجلا»؛ «اجاق سرد آنجلا»؛ «اشک آنجلا»؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز هجدهم ماه سپتامبر سال 2001میلادی

عنوان: خاکسترهای آنجلا؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ مترجم: پریسا محمدی نژنده؛ تهران، درفام، 1377؛ موضوع: سرگذشتنامه امریکاییهای ایرلندی تبار - آداب و رسوم مردمان ایرلند - سده 20م

عنوان: اجاق سرد آنجلا؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ مترجم: گلی امامی؛ تهران، فرزان روز، 1379؛ در 600ص؛ شابک 9643210529؛ چاپ سوم 1385؛ شابک 9789643210526؛ چاپ پنجم 13933؛

عنوان: اشک آنجلا؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ مترجم: زهرا تابشیان؛ تهران، نشر دشتستان، 1378؛ در 518ص؛ شابک 9649174877؛

عنوان: خاکستر آنجلا؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ مترجم: نینا پزشکیان؛ تهران، بدرقه جاویدان، 1380؛ در 618ص؛ شابک 9649345469؛

عنوان: خاکسترهای آنجلا؛ نویسنده: فرانک مک کورت؛ مترجم: منیژه شیخ جوادی (بهزاد)؛ تهران، پیکان، 1384؛ در 470 ص؛

خود نگاشت زندگینامه ای اثر «فرانک مک کورت» است؛ «خاکسترهای آنجلا»، یا «اجاق سرد آنجلا»، اتوبیوگرافی نویسنده ی ایرلندی تبار آمریکایی، که در سال 1996میلادی برای نخستین بار منتشر شده‌ است؛ رمان زندگی «فرانک مک‌ کورت» در «کودکی»، و «نوجوانی»؛ در «بروکلین نیویورک»، و «لیمریک (شهری در ایرلند)» است؛ داستان، شرح زندگی فقیرانه ی «فرانک»، پدر دائم‌ الخمرش «مالکی»، که پولی برای خانواده باقی نمی‌گذاشته، و نیز بازگویی تلاش‌های مادرش «آنجلا»، برای نجات خانواده است؛ خاکسترهای «آنجلا»، برنده ی جایزه ی «پولیتزر»، در رشته ی زندگی‌نامه در سال 1997میلادی شده؛ «فرانک مک‌کورت»، کتابک «تیز» را در سال 1999میلادی، و «آقا معلم» را در سال 2005میلادی، به عنوان دنباله ی «خاکسترهای آنجلا» به چاپ رسانده اند؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 09/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

4,5*. Ce carte apăsătoare și grea! Daca macar jumătate din carte e adevărat, o Doamne ce viață amară duc unii oameni pe Pământ. Irlanda cea veșnică umeda și friguroasa, sărăcie crasă, boli care duc copii la groapă, tați bețivi și iresponsabili, mame terminate de greutăți și lipsuri, toate sunt adunate în acest roman autobiografic deosebit, distins cu Premiul Pulitzer.

Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

This book is kind of like that bit in A Chorus Line where the director is making everyone tell him about their childhoods and the one guy goes, "Nobody wants to admit they had a happy childhood." There are two instances where this statement is extremely true: show business, and memoir writing.

Angela's Ashes (which is apparently the first in a series?) chronicles the childhood and adolescence of Frank McCourt, born into a poor Irish family with no money but a surplus of babies. His mother, Angela, does the best she can to prevent her children from starving to death on a daily basis; meanwhile the patriarch of the family is a man who, as Jack Donaghy might say, "belongs in the Smiling Irish Bastard hall of fame." Things aren't good, is what I'm saying. The kids dress in filthy rags, they have to collect coal on the side of the road to heat their depressing shack of a house, the majority of the kids die of some horrible disease, the father insists on drinking every goddamn penny he earns, and Frank just wants to drop out of school so he can get a job and maybe afford a meal every few weeks. Bleak does not begin to cover it.

(giant sidebar: did anyone else watch Enlisted? Of course no one did, that's why it got cancelled after one season even thought it was fantastic. Anyway, there's a bit where one of the characters is super depressed so he decides to read Angela's Ashes, to further wallow in misery, and he tells another character, "I'm at the part where he gives a raisin to the boy with no shoes." I watched that part and thought, well obviously the writers made that up, that's just a spot-on parody of the stuff that goes on in miserable memoirs like that. But then I read the book a few weeks later and guys, that scene totally happens. That's the level Frank McCourt is operating at.)

Look, I'm not saying Frank McCourt had to put a happy face on his horrible, horrible childhood just to make me less uncomfortable. His memoir is searing and honest, but it is also unrelenting in its bleakness. There are small flashes of happiness here and there, but the book was so overwhelming sad that every time something good happened to the family in this story, my first thought was, "Well, this can't last." Which, actually, is a very Irish-Catholic reaction to have, so congratulations to me for making my ancestors proud.

The writing is very good, at least, so all the misery is very well-described and the characters are subtle and well-drawn. The book certainly deserved the Pulitzer it won, although if we're being really honest with ourselves the prize was probably awarded not for the great writing or characters but because the people at the Pulitzer awards get giant literary boners for misery porn like this.

Realistically, I should give this four stars, because I liked the book, but I'm docking a point because of the ending. Without giving anything away, it's just too abrupt. Nothing gets resolved, there's no sense of a conclusion, it's just like McCourt got tired of the book and said, "Well, let's just stop here" and then it ends. It was not satisfying, and not worth all the misery I went through to get to the end.

I tried to read this about ten years ago and gave up after the first chapter - I just couldn't connect with it. This time around was a completely different story. I loved the way Frank McCourt writes, it's lyrical and beautiful even while describing a very bleak situation. His childhood is one of poverty--- siblings die, his father is a drunk, there is never enough food, the housing sounds appalling. It's a very depressing book, as this was the reality for so many people, but there are also moments of humour and sweetness.
I'll be reading the second volume soon as I am very invested in Frank's journey.

فرانک مک‌کورت «فقر» را در این کتاب فوق‌العاده به تصویر کشیده است؛ خواننده با تمام وجود با آن آشنا می‌شود و همدردی می‌کند.‌
در تمام طول کتاب، منتظر باریکه‌ای از امید و روشنایی بودم که فقر و بدبختی تمام شود و در آخر هم با ناامیدی و تاریکی مواجه می‌شدم. انگاری که واقعا فقر و مصیبت‌هایی که با خود به همراه می‌آورد تمامی ندارند و فرد «محکوم به فنای ابدی» هست.
منتظر این بودم که پدر خانواده از خرج کردن تمام حقوقش در میخانه دست بردارد و حقوق چند پنی‌اش را به خانه بیاورد و فرانکی، مادرش و برادرهای کوچکش بتوانند ذغال بخرند و با آتش خود را گرم کنند و تکه‌ای نان سرخ شده بخورند اما ... .
مک‌کورت تعصبات بی‌جا در مورد دین، مذهب و وطن را با طنز و کنایه به خوبی هر چه تمام‌تر نقد کرده است و بسی از آن لذت بردم.
به قلم نویسنده پنج ستاره اما به خاطر ترجمه و ویراستاری کتاب که پررررر است از اشکال و نامفهومی، یک ستاره کم می‌کنم.

پ.ن.: فکر می‌کردم اجاق سرد آنجلا از اولین کارهای ترجمه گلی امامی باشد و برای همین آنقدر اشکال دارد اما در کمال تعجب، اینطور نیست و برایم جای سوال است!

Io lo so che adesso prenderò fischi e parolacce, qualcuno si metterà in fila per ricoprirmi di guano di rinoceronte e un altro scalderà il gatto a nove code con un accendino Bic in attesa di scagliarlo veementemente contro il mio (magro, inesistente) deretano. Ma "Le ceneri di Angela" non mi ha fatto impazzire.

Non posso negare di essere rimasto colpito, e saltuariamente anche commosso, dalle peripezie della famiglia McCourt, e Frank è meraviglioso nella sua premura di protezione dei fratelli, e nelle insperate capacità di ritrovare strade per la resistenza. Ma pagina dopo pagina non riuscivo a non provare la sensazione di una "già letto", come se sapessi esattamente che cosa aspettarmi e come aspettarmelo.

In questo senso, il disperato umorismo irlandese diventa quasi manieristico, ed anche questo non aiuta. La scorrevolezza di una penna è un valore, non dico di no, ma non sono riuscito a entrare davvero negli avvenimenti, a chiudere il libro pensando "questo lo devo assolutamente consigliare". Tutto ciò detto, alcune perle impreziosiscono decisamente queste pagine.

Citazioni a caso: "Il maestro dice che è una cosa meravigliosa morire per la fede e Papà dice che è una cosa meravigliosa morire per l'Irlanda e allora io mi domando se al mondo c'è qualcuno che ci vorrebbe vivi" "Manco per sogno sposerò il capo degli Unni, rispose Ursula, e gli unni ammazzano lei e le sue dame. Ma io mi domando perché non poteva dire di sì e salvare la vita di undicimila vergini? Perché le vergini e martiri devono sempre impuntarsi?"

Это книга мальчика, который выжил — в беднейшей большой ирландской католической семье. В этой книге нет ни одного злого человека (ну, кроме бабули и парочки монахов-иезуитов), в ней все умеют с блеском рассказывать истории и пришивать сикось-накось велосипедные шины к истоптанным подмёткам, здесь тёплый второй этаж зовётся "Италия", а в пустынном тифозном крыле больницы запросто можно выучить парочку стихотворений.

Я считаю, что аудиокниги — замечательное изобретение человечества, хотя бы за то, как читает Нил Гейман, за Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, за Фрэнка Маккорта, который поёт все песни своего отца и читает каждый, даже самый трагический, абзац так, будто вот-вот рассмеется.

Конечно, это книга разобьёт вам сердце.

Все лучшие в мире книги так делают.