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Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank…
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Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (original 1996; edition 1999)

by Frank McCourt, Brooke Zimmer (Designer), John Fontana (Designer)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
21,791337187 (4)392
Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML:A Pulitzer Prizeâ??winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland.
"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 of 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 Malachyâ??exasperating, irresponsible, and beguilingâ??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 neighborsâ??yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.

Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks o
… (more)
Member:Hanneri
Title:Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Authors:Frank McCourt
Other authors:Brooke Zimmer (Designer), John Fontana (Designer)
Info:Scribner (1999), Edition: 1St Edition, Paperback, 368 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:Ireland, Non Fiction, Biography

Work Information

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (1996)

  1. 80
    The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls (cataylor)
  2. 52
    Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (Joles)
    Joles: Written in the same style as Angela's Ashes, this deals with Frank's teaching in New York.
  3. 30
    A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (readerbabe1984)
  4. 20
    The Life before Us by Romain Gary (olyvia)
    olyvia: Un reel bijoux de tendresse et d'emotion , a ne pas rater pour ceux qui ont aimé les cendres d'angela .
  5. 53
    The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (Headinherbooks_27)
  6. 20
    The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi (Nickelini)
    Nickelini: The Hiding Place is often compared to Angela's Ashes. The settings and subject matter are indeed very similar; however, McCourt's book has a lot of humour written between the depressing bits. And the Hiding Place is more creative and literary. Two very different approaches to poverty in the British Isles.… (more)
  7. 20
    Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor (raton-liseur)
    raton-liseur: L’Etoile des mers est un roman, il dĂ©crit l’Irlande rurale, les luttes politiques du XIXème siècle. Mais ce ne sont pas ses seules diffĂ©rences avec les Cendres d’Angela. C’est aussi et surtout un rĂ©gal de lecture, tant par sa trame que son Ă©criture et par son intĂ©rĂŞt historique.… (more)
  8. 10
    Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo (TomWaitsTables)
  9. 10
    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (caflores)
  10. 00
    The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (RoxieF)
  11. 00
    No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod (dpf2102)
    dpf2102: Similar stories of childhood loss.
  12. 11
    The Dark by John McGahern (Nickelini)
    Nickelini: Both stories are about young men growing up in poverty in Ireland.
  13. 00
    44: Dublin Made Me by Peter Sheridan (Fliss88)
  14. 00
    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (KayCliff)
  15. 00
    Nobody's Boy by Hector Malot (Cecrow)
  16. 01
    All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg (BookshelfMonstrosity)
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» See also 392 mentions

English (306)  Spanish (9)  Italian (6)  Dutch (4)  Catalan (2)  Finnish (2)  German (2)  French (2)  Czech (1)  Swedish (1)  Estonian (1)  All languages (336)
Showing 1-5 of 306 (next | show all)
Memoir of his childhood in Ireland
  bentstoker | Jan 26, 2024 |
Tough story. I made it about halfway through. Things just seemed to be getting worse and worse. ( )
  BookListener | Jan 18, 2024 |
Dit is echt een heel mooi verhaal. Nuchter beschreven, maar je voelt de emoties erachter. Glimlachend, en zo af en toe met tranen in de ogen, heb ik meegeleefd met het opgroeien van een arm, maar vastberaden jochie. Het einde vraagt om meer, want ik wil weten hoe het verder gaat met Frank. ( )
  weaver-of-dreams | Aug 1, 2023 |
Utterly fabulous. Sorry I took so long to get to it. Incredibly unique and absorbing writing style. Puts the reader right into the story. ( )
  Cantsaywhy | May 22, 2023 |
This story is a tale about Frank McCourt's childhood in Ireland. It's a story of survival because Frank endures poverty, cruel neighbors, and nearly starving. Frank's mother has no money to feed her children because Frank's father rarely works, and drinks away his money when he does work. Although irresponsible, Frank's father does provide Frank with a love of stories because of the tales he tells Frank. A heartbreaking story that readers can't look away from. Would recommend to high school readers. ( )
  amholland | Feb 23, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 306 (next | show all)
A spunky, bittersweet memoir.
added by Shortride | editTime, John Elson (Sep 23, 1996)
 
Frank McCourt waited more than four decades to tell the story of his childhood, and it's been well worth the wait. With ''Angela's Ashes,'' he has [written] a book that redeems the pain of his early years with wit and compassion and grace. He has written a book that stands with ''The Liars Club'' by Mary Karr and Andre Aciman's ''Out of Egypt'' as a classic modern memoir.
 
For the most part, [McCourt's] style is that of an Irish-American raconteur, honorably voluble and engaging. He is aware of his charm but doesn't disgracefully linger upon it. Induced by potent circumstances, he has told his story, and memorable it is.
 
This memoir is an instant classic of the genre -- all the more remarkable for being the 66-year-old McCourt's first book.
 

» Add other authors (42 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
McCourt, Frankprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Jonkheer, ChristienTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Risvik, KariTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Risvik, KjellTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rowohlt, HarryTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Walls, JeannetteIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wissen, Driek vanTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my brothers,
Malachy, Michael, Alphonsus.
I learn from you, I admire you and I love you.
First words
My father and mother should have stayed in New York where they met and married and where I was born.
Quotations
Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes, you can never get enough of him.
When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it 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.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (3)

Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML:A Pulitzer Prizeâ??winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland.
"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 of 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 Malachyâ??exasperating, irresponsible, and beguilingâ??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 neighborsâ??yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.

Angela's Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks o

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