Picked this memoire to experience some more foreign countries through literature. Good choice. What could have easily been another misery porn (immense poverty, hunger, never-ending unwanted pregnancies, drunkenness, strict religion, deaths of TB and pneumonia on every other page) became something more because of the author's remarkable voice, filled with innocence, humor and almost unwavering optimism of childhood. Amazing that McCourt managed to preserve this voice well into his 60s.

I reread this really well-known and very popular memoir. The first time I read it, I found Mr. McCourt's childhood exhausting and bleak, with cloying language that sometimes left me rather bored and hating that its the cliched vision of a scrappy childhood, triumphing over adversity, and eventually moving to America.

However, on this second read, I found Mr. McCourt's language and prose to be humorous and generous. He loves his family so much, especially his mother, the spirited title heroine of the autobiography; his alcoholic father Malachy, his brothers Malachy, Michael, and Alphie; deceased siblings Margaret, Eugene, and Oliver; grumpy Aunt Aggie, generous Uncle Pa, harsh Grandma Sheehan- all memorable family members of the Sheehan/McCourt families.

At the end of this book, it ends where it began- in New York; where all dreams come true, and the one true place if one can make it.

The memoir is a triumph over adversity, and a testament to Mr. McCourt's strength in his pathos of depicting his Dickensian childhood.

I had not planned on writing a proper review, so I began to read others'. Quite a few unleashed verbal vitriol at McCourt's memoir, claiming that it is not entirely accurate and that it is too mawkish/maudlin/bathetic. Others claim that the author romanticizes the penury and destitution of the lives in his lane.

First, no memoir can ever be 100% truthful; our memories are incomplete and sporadic (at best). In fact, as I read I liked that there were NO quotation marks used to indicate speech. I actually thought that was a subtle way to indicate the author wholeheartedly admitting that it is impossible to accurately recall conversations from one's childhood. The book does not have to represent a meticulously accurate picture of what Limerick was like at the time; all it has to do, and all any memoir purports to do, is reveal what life in a particular place was like AS EXPERIENCED BY THE AUTHOR. Plus, who cares about inaccuracies--a good story is a good story.

To say it is maudlin is extreme. There are many unfortunate events that take place; however, not once did I get the sense that McCourt was trying to manipulate his readers' sympathies. Events were described as a child would experience them...kind of like a Scout Finch as narrator. It is this fact that led some reviewers to claim that McCourt romanticized the rampant squalor and death. That would be like saying To Kill a Mockingbird romanticizes racial prejudice.

Anyway, it was an absorbing read filled with personal tragedies and laced with humor. Definitely worth a read.


If I were not such a jackass in high school, perhaps I would have appreciated Frank McCourt speaking at my graduation and even read this ten years ago. I wish I had.

If you are afraid of your emotions, whether the depth or variety of them, don't read this book. If you can allow yourself to explore them fully by being led through an incredible life's early journey and experiencing the range of feeling available to humanity, you will love this book.

I just felt depressed while reading this novel. You can't imagine that people could live in such poverty and yet survive somehow. The book is gripping but makes you feel helpless..

Frank McCourt, não precisou puxar pela cabeça para escrever um livro repleto de ingredientes que lhe garantissem sucesso imediato, bastou-lhe desfiar as memórias da infância passada nos bairros pobres de Limerick, na Irlanda.
Quis a sorte (ou o azar) que tivesse nascido numa família regada a cerveja, reinante na ignorância e na miséria, abençoados e condenados por um catolicismo fervoroso. A educação - em casa e na escola - era feita na base da chapada pedagógica, desde cedo que os miúdos aprendiam a defender-se e a desenrascar-se por sua conta.
O brilhantismo do autor está na façanha de fazer deste ror de misérias uma história emocionante que ultrapassa qualquer ficção, de a ter contado com graça e ternura quando tinha todas as razões para se deixar levar pelo rancor. Com um sentido de humor extraordinário conta-nos a sua vida dos quatro aos dezanove anos. Anos de fome e desamor, mas também de momentos mágicos que só na inocência da infância se conseguem desfrutar.
Um livro maravilhoso que se lê sempre com sorriso. Fez-me rir, fez-me chorar, às vezes as duas coisas ao mesmo tempo.

Recebeu vários prémios literários de relevo: o Pulitzer de 1997, O National Book Award, e o Los Angeles Times Award.
Mereceu-os todos!

Quite different from other memoirs I read--especially the brand of memoir that's been coming out in the last few years--Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes tells of the author's poverty-stricken childhood in Ireland in the early 20th century. It's told from the first person present perspective, which doesn't allow for as much mature reflection, but it does create a very immediate & immersive atmosphere. And speaking of atmosphere, McCourt writes so descriptively and which such skill that you can really picture everything he's talking about. It's incredibly well written, with a Joycean stream of consciousness that again contributes to the immersive quality of the story. I'd recommend taking your time with this one, not only because it's depressive nature is a bit too much to bear in large quantities, but also because there's so much to savor and appreciate about McCourt's story and writing. I see why this is a modern classic.

Angela's Ashes was really not the sort of book I would enjoy. In fact, I found that the further it progressed, the less enthusiastic I became. McCourt uses the modern technique of describing the protagonist's struggles and life day by day. The intention is to make his own unique experiences feel universal because people look past each individual day and look at it as a whole, and see the supposedly universal themes.

However, I am not a believer or practitioner of this contemporary writing style. Excruciating detail of daily life is not a brilliant writing style; in my opinion, it is exactly what it is: excruciating. Sure, the stories and people were interesting/tragic/funny at first, but when the same mundane themes keep repeating themselves, it grows dull very fast.

I understand the tragedy, humor, beauty McCourt wants us to see in his childhood, I just wish he wasn't so repetitive about it, because as I said, the tactic of excessive day-by-day writing gets old quite fast, making this book a less than enjoyable read.

And for the love of God, PLEASE introduce Mr.McCourt to quotation marks. Not a single one used in the entirety of the memoir. I'm not interested in how fanciful or unique that writing style is. It's damn annoying.

In conclusion, Frank McCourt is a skilled writer, with very deep themes, and good stories to write about. However, his style of writing makes for a less-than-enjoyable experience that leaves the reader overwhelmed and frustrated. I would only recommend this book to people who want to read slow, emotional, stories about living in poverty.

What makes this book special and makes it evocative of the era, is not just the painful details of a poverty-stricken Irish Catholic childhood lived during World War II, but the beautiful voice of the young Frank McCourt. The man, the writer of this book, the adult Frank McCourt, brings his youthful self alive in a way that brings the reader into direct contact with the author as a child.

The details of McCourt’s life and the things that young Frank notices evoke a certain era, and certain struggles that have been well documented both in fiction and non-fiction. But no one produced a young Frank McCourt. This character, real and reanimated, leaps from the pages to join the reader’s household.

Like few other books I’ve read, Angela’s Ashes is a cure for loneliness. When you read this prize-winning memoir, you’re not alone, but instead have young and humorous Frank standing over your shoulder telling you what mam says and what da says. In this classically dysfunctional Irish Catholic family the parents advice rarely agrees leaving little Frankie to figure life out for himself—another archetypal element from the Irish Catholic childhoods of a few generations ago.

This book transcends the genre, making it fully deserving of the attention and prizes lauded to it and its author.

“Ripensando alla mia infanzia, mi chiedo come sono riuscito a sopravvivere. Naturalmente è stata un’infanzia infelice, sennò non ci sarebbe gusto. Ma un’infanzia infelice irlandese è peggio di un’infanzia infelice qualunque, e un’infanzia infelice irlandese e cattolica è peggio ancora.” Quello che più colpisce di “Le ceneri di Angela” è la riuscitissima compenetrazione dell’elemento comico in quello tragico. Nel romanzo di McCourt, infatti, morti, disgrazie e disavventure varie si susseguono con implacabile sistematicità, senza peraltro che venga mai meno il tono fondamentalmente umoristico della narrazione. Non si ha una deformazione grottesca della sofferenza; l’effetto è ottenuto soprattutto grazie alla prospettiva con cui è raccontata la storia, che è quella di un bambino per il quale, ad esempio, il dolore per la morte di una sorella è in qualche modo risarcito dai dolci che può avere l’occasione di mangiare dopo il funerale. Purtroppo la storia perde il suo mordente al termine dell’infanzia del protagonista e con la quasi contemporanea scomparsa di un personaggio particolarmente significativo e ben riuscito. Ad ogni modo, è una lettura che consiglio, vi farà guardare un semplice tozzo di pane con occhi diversi !

اجاق سرد آنجلا اتوبیوگرافی نویسنده تا سن بیست سالگی و ابتدای مهاجرتش از ایرلند به امریکا رو شامل میشه که همزمان با رکود بزرگ و جنگ جهانی دوم بوده . پدر الکلی و بیعار فرانک هرگز تلاشی برای نجات دادن خانواده ش از اون همه فلاکت ناشی از بی پولی نمی کنه .. روایت فرانک صادقانه به نظر میاد و چیزی که جلب توجه می کنه لحن طنز و بی خیال نویسنده برای بازگویی اون همه بدبختیه . برام جالب بود که انگار راوی هم با گذر زمان بزرگ می شد. زبان راوی زندگی ده سالگی فرانک به اندازه ی همین سن متفاوت از زبان راوی هجده سالگی فرانک بود چیزی که باعث می شد من با عمق بیشتری بتونم اوضاع رو از دید فرانک متصور شم.

تا پایان کتاب اون طور که انتظار داشتم نویسنده هرگز پدرش رو به عنوان مقصر اصلی اوضاع معرفی نکرد . حتی اون طور که شایسته بود بد مادربزرگ و خاله و داییش رو هم نگفت . فکر می کنم از سیاستش بود که فقط همه چیز رو صادقانه روایت کرد و با سپردن قضاوت به خواننده ، حس همدردی بیشتری رو از طرف خواننده با خودش همراه کرد. پدری که ممکن بود روزها گرسنگی بچه ها رو ببینه ولی باز هم ناچیزترین درآمدش رو تا قرون آخر صرف الکل کنه و فامیل های نزدیکی که می تونن اون همه فلاکت و گرسنگی رو ببینن و باز هم از خودشون دفعت کنن و نه تنها کمکی نمی کنن بلکه با زخم زبون داغ مصیبت رو بیشتر کنند.
ایرلندی که مک کورت تصویر می کنه پس از مدت ها مبارزه با انگلستان آزاد شده ولی این طور القا می کنه که انگار مبارزات ارزش نداشتن و از ایرلند فقط سرزمینی برجا گذاشته که ملتش دارن تو فقر دست و پا می زنند . تفکرات مک کورت اصلا میهن پرستانه به نظر نمیاد. مذهب هم خیر چندانی براش نداشت و غیر از اضطراب بعد از ارتکاب کوچیک ترین کارهای زشت و استرس این که " وای من الان به این گناهم اعتراف نکردم و با کله میرم جهنم "فایده دیگه ای براش نداشت. دو جای داستان هم که کلیسا با صراحت فرانک رو از خودش می رونه یه بار برای خدمت و یه بار هم برای پذیرش دبیرستان و ادامه تحصیل !!! اگه برای ترس از پیوستن کاتولیک ها به پروتستان ها نبود کلیسای کاتولیک همون چندرغاز کمک خرجی بیکاری رو هم بهشون نمی داد هر گز . متاسفانه تو داستان متوجه می شیم که جنگ که برای خیلی ها بدبختی و مرگ و مصیبت اورده بود برای خیلی از ایرلندی های فقیر به واسطه ی ایجاد کار تو کارخونه های اسلحه سازی و ارتش و .... خوشبختی به همراه داشته که خب تناقض جالبیه . ادم نمی دونه ارزوی تموم شدن جنگ رو داشته باشه یا ادامه دار شدنش رو
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دیگه این که از اونجایی که رویای همه زندگی فرانک مهاجرت به امریکا میشه و به هر کاری برای رسیدن به این آرزو دست می زنه تا هدفش رو محقق کنه خیلی خوشم اومد . کتاب ظاهرا جلد دومی داره که امیدوارم پیداش کنم و همچنین آرزو دارم که تو امریکا از فلاکت هاش کم بشه که بعید می دونم

احتمالا این بدترین و نامنظم ترین ریویویی هست که تا به حال نوشتم ولی با خودم گفتم بهتر از ننوشتنه :دی

والسلام

In his autobiography, the author brilliantly describes his memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s.