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Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes
Angela's Ashes
Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

Angela's Ashes

Written by Frank McCourt

Narrated by Frank McCourt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

A Pulitzer Prize–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 Malachy—exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling—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 neighbors—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 of a classic.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 1, 1998
ISBN9780743541596
Author

Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt (1930–2009) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America in 1949. For thirty years he taught in New York City high schools. His first book, Angela’s Ashes, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. In 2006, he won the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award for Exemplary Service in the Field of the Arts and the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education.

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Reviews for Angela's Ashes

Rating: 4.026541980923492 out of 5 stars
4/5

5,934 ratings205 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the best books I have ever read. Thank you Frank McCourt
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Simple yet rich prose. I cried and laughed throughout the reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I will start by stating that, I am not a big reader of non-fiction. I saw the cover and wondered why the boy looked so sad and lonely. This is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. Frank McCourt tells the story of his family with such heartbreaking reality but with a humorous side as well. It made me hug my children and be thankful for all we have. I couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened to the little boy on the cover. And bought the sequel, Tis before I even finished Angela's Ashes.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    McCourt begins his popular memoir, Angela's Ashes, stating - "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." and thus begins the journey of Frank McCourt's life as a child in Ireland. And while The Great Famine may have been a thing of the past for most in Ireland, you would never know it from the McCourt household.

    An enduring story. It took me a bit to get used to the voice and the grammar used in the book but enjoyed it quite a bit. Some parts were extremely sad, leaving me near tears while others had me laughing (his first Communion and his Grandmother's dress were a riot) but at all times it gripped my heart. I just kept wanting something good to happen to this family. A great story on the struggle of life and overcoming that struggle against all odds. I look forward to the continuation, 'Tis, to see what becomes of the young man named Frank McCourt.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'm not a big fan of memoirs in general, but this one blew me away. Both poetic and real.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The writing is excellent. The author put me there. The story is rough and sad which is why I didn't like it so much. The social evils of poverty, alcoholism, and religious attitudes toward sex have huge impacts on a boy growing up. He does run into kindness, but it is a rough road.

    There were several places where I was disgusted. McCourt uses words powerfully.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a great story of growing up poor in Ireland. Large parts of this made me laugh till I cried. However, when McCourt writes about his eye troubles and the (shudder) treatment he experienced, I shrank in my chair and cried ordinary tears. If you want a a book to take you to all extremes of emotion, or if you are at all interested in Ireland, this is the book for you.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This story of Frank McCourt growing up in Limerick, Ireland deeply touched my heart. Every life has a story worth telling and Frank tells his well. Anyone that felt defenseless as a child and at the mercy of a parent, or other elders that were abusive or weren't equipped to be in charge, will cry with Frank, cheer with Frank, and find this book therapeutic. Thanks so much for sharing your story Frank.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was hooked from the very first sentence! Everyone should have the chance to read 5his amazing book!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely wonderful. One of the very best books I have ever read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a story!!! I read this book long long time ago as a little girl still in school. My cousin gave it to me and it was the first book i ever read. I call this book starting point of my reading addiction. After all these years i still wondered about this book and never really understood the great reviews i occasionally read in different forums which off course meant i had to read it again some day! And so it happens that i stumble upon this epic.

    Finished this book in 3 sittings spread over 2 days and o boy what a story. Having grown up in India, i always imagined that all European countries are rich ones. This book is a glimpse into the irish history & poverty and what its like growing up in utter desperation. Heart touching and definitely a book that will keep me thinking about Frankie and his growing up years, Angela and her utter frustration of raising a family with husband who cares all about his pint and all other characters

    Now i know and understand this book so much better after having read it as a grown up
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I craved greasy fish n chips while reading this. There is a great flow to the book. I read the book years ago and there are still some touching images that stand out in my mind from it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Pulitzer prize winner. My heart breaks for what these children went through. Written through the eyes of a child, McCourt shows us a world of abject poverty, of near hopelessness, constant hunger, cold, damp, of living daily with death, depression and despair. And yet ... there are moments of humor and delight. The reader knows, of course, that Frankie will survive; but one finds oneself hoping desperately that he'll escape, that he'll grow and flourish, love and be loved. An extraordinary book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What’s it like to grow up in Ireland during the depression? Here’s insight into that experience. The narrator by the author added an extra layer of authenticity and made this moving coming-of-age story even better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Irish family boys born in America, family goes BACK to Ireland (who does that?) where they live in poverty with a drunken father and mother who has babies who keep dying. The story of Frank and his brother.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have revisited this book many times. The content represents a time in history when life was hard, unpredictable, and tested family relationships, human strength, and faith. The book helped me understand the difficulties of not belonging - the family moving to America and back to Ireland, the father being from Northern Ireland and that being a reason that Angela couldn't get financial help, how teachers treated the students. Listening to Frank McCourt read adds credibility and flavor. Plan to laugh and cry.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ah and what a lovely book Angela's Ashes 'tis. Frank McCourt recalls his horrible youth with such humor and charm that it kept me smiling most of the time. McCourt was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1930 to Irish immigrants. The family lived in poverty in New York but became truly destitute after they moved back to Ireland in the mid-1930's. The father is a good-natured but irresponsible alcoholic who can't get or keep a job and spends any money he gets at the pub leaving the family starving and living in unspeakable circumstances. The mother somehow manages to struggle on through the death of three children, living in a house which floods all winter, where there are no blankets, only old coats on the beds, where the children have one set of ragged clothes and shoes full of holes and where the biggest dream imaginable is to someday have enough money to afford an entire egg for each member of the family. Frank, an intelligent boy, has as his goal leaving school at 13 and getting a job as a messenger boy so he can support his family. And yet, he grows up to write an account of these years that is full of warmth. It's a treasure.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautifully written, it reminds me of Charles Dickens. Thank you
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I do believe I'm the last person on earth to have ever read this book and everyone but I got the memo that it's brilliant and awe-inspiring and I wish I could write trains of thought without punctuation so majestically as Mr. McCourt.It's not going to blow anybody's mind to say that I loved this book. It rips your heart out, it really does. When Frank had to lick leftover newspaper from his uncle's fish and chips wrapper, that's how desperately hungry and at the bottom of the barrel he was, my gut wrenched. His poor mother, losing three babies and married to man addicted to the drink and so far gone into the addiction that he can't see (or refuses to see) that his family needs the money for literal survival. Poor Frankie and his brothers, all of them sweet and good and somehow able to be positive in the most desperate of situations, the way only children can. How terrible that his own aunts and uncles and grandmothers treated him with disdain for the sole reason that his mother married a man from the North.What a tragic childhood.Yet at the same time, I wonder if Mr. McCourt found his childhood to be tragic. As a child, did he think he had it terribly? He knew his family were dirt poor (literally), he watched as his mother lost three children, he stood by his mother as she weeped over her husband who continued to let his family down, but Frank and his brothers were able to find happiness and light in the darkest of places and times, such is the resilience and power of a child's mind.If ever there were a book that forced you to be grateful for everything you have, grateful that you have a bed, your own toilet, shoes, food and that you don't have to lick the grease off a newspaper to stave away the hunger, this book is it.Bring on 'Tis and Teacher Man.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Much better than I'd expected. It's a wonderful look into history through carefully-crafted memoir. It's also very sad.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What an amazing story. I did not actually read this one, I listened to the audio book from my local library app, hoopla. All opinions are my own. I hung on every word. My heart bled for Angela and then later for the kids. This poor family and all the struggles they had. I also felt Angela's family were cold and really should have stepped up more to help out but I guess times were different then. This story will truly tug at your heart. Frank survives so many near death experiences and so much neglect you almost have to hate everyone he comes in contact with. His amazing ability to forgive is what keeps this book moving forward. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Amazon, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Twitter @jason_stacie, and my blog at readsbystacie.com
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    McCourt's reading adds so much -- while the actual events described are objectively horrifying, you get the sense they weren't to McCourt; it was just the way things were with happy/funny things among the sad/bad. Ultimately this can be seen the text too which is not bitter or angry.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The ordeal of the author and his siblings reads like something out of the Middle Ages when most children did not survive. Hard to believe it happened in this century but it did.[br/][br/]jerry-book
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My Baby Brothers Must Eat. Imagine years and years of a life in which this is the primary, if not sole, impetus, and you have Frank McCourt's Irish childhood in a nutshell. Angela's Ashes grabs you by the guts and doesn't let go. Right up there with the greatest autobiographies of all time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    l read thebook...this abridged version.... not as great/grim

    do unabridged!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lyrical and captivating narrative. Frank McCourt does not disappoint. Mesmerizing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sad story, but very engaging drawing the reader in one page at a time deeper and deeper into the story. 10% in = meh, 25% in = seems ok, 50% in = hooked in and ready for each page
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Frank McCourt lived a remarkable life, overcoming incredible poverty to become the man he now is. I think this is a great book to teach a reader compassion and understanding for those brought up in lesser cicrumstances.

    I was shocked at the circumstances in which he lived as a boy. It is so foreign it is unimaginable.

    Well worth the read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Mostly very readable and also very sad for the constant poverty and a father who spends it all on drink. Parts are nice and there is humor, but it gets a bit raunchy in the end. Irish might appreciate it the most.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Non-fiction memoir about Frank McCourt’s family from his birth in 1930 to 1949. After being born in Brooklyn in 1930, Frank’s father, Malachy, has troubles with alcohol and with finding work, and, during the Great Depression, decides to return to Ireland. The alcohol and work issues continue in Ireland, and the growing family lives in poverty.

    The titular Angela is Frank’s long-suffering mother. She endures a seemingly never-ending series of hardships, including her husband’s alcoholism, abandonment, and the deaths of multiple children. McCourt gives us an idea of her character: “You never know when you might come home and find Mam sitting by the fire chatting with a woman and a child, strangers. Always a woman and child. Mam finds them wandering the streets and if they ask, Could you spare a few pennies, miss? her heart breaks. She never has money so she invites them home for tea and a bit of fried bread and if it’s a bad night she’ll let them sleep by the fire on a pile of rags in the corner. The bread she gives them always means less for us and if we complain she says there are always people worse off and we can surely spare a little from what we have.”

    While the misery is vividly portrayed, McCourt offsets it with subtle humor. For example, his father would drunkenly awaken his children during the night, singing patriotic songs and making them pledge to die for Ireland, leading Frank to observe: “The master says it’s a glorious thing to die for the Faith and Dad says it’s a glorious thing to die for Ireland and I wonder if there’s anyone in the world who would like us to live.” At one point, his mother wants him to learn to dance, leading to: how I can die for Ireland if I have to sing and dance for Ireland, too. I wonder why they never say, You can eat sweets and stay home from school and go swimming for Ireland.”

    It is written from a child’s perspective in present tense. Much of the narrative is extremely detailed, and it may be too much description of misery for some people. I found it poignant, filled with both tragedy and humor. I particularly enjoyed all references to books and storytelling McCourt encountered in his youth, as it would be very easy for people living under dire conditions to never be exposed to literature.