Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (Paperback)

As I listened to this story as read by the author, I kept hearing my own grandfather's voice. Yes, I'd heard all the stories about childhood deprivation and inner strength, about drunken fathers and run-down houses, but I'd never really listened when my grandfather told them. "He's exaggerating," I thought, "Nobody ever lived like that." But after hearing the details of Frank's childhood, I realize that my grandfather wasn't complaining about his childhood or looking for sympathy. He was just trying to paint a picture of the experiences that he lived through, which were so very different from my own. There was something about my grandfather's style of speaking that made him sound different from everyone else I knew. He was born in the US so he didn't have an Irish accent at all, but there was something peculiar about the rhythm of his speech and the style of relating to others that I never noticed in other people's voices. As McCourt narrates conversations between his parents and aunts and uncles, I can hear my grandfather jumping into the fray, a bit drunk, but not so drunk that he couldn't come out with a witty remark that still leaves people laughing when they remember it forty years later. I understand now- -my grandfather was simply Irish. This book is a wonderful telling of childhood with all its ups and downs, honesty and deceit, grief and joy. McCourt's writing draws the reader into Frank's world, where they can hear his father singing in the pub and smell the bread and onions frying on the stove.

I am just one of the millions that have read this book, making me one of McCourt's fan.

Why I like this book?. Firt of all, I am no Irish (I'm an asian) ; I had no idea how bad growing up in Europe would be like in those days. I've seen movies and all ...but with this book, I can actually not only picture his life, but feeling the hardship he and his family went through. He showed me very clearly life in Ireland was at the time...and at the same time, showed me how beautiful Ireland is too !.

It made me realize, no matter what you are, where you come from, who you are, what your belief is,..the concept of life is the same everywhere. He made me looked back on my own childhood and really value it.

I have also read the sequel "'Tis"...and I can't wait for the next one "The Teacher Man"..will be released in November this year!.

To me, he is a very one of a kind writer. I definitely agree when one of his professors told him he's got a 'rich past(childhood)'. I also like his way of writing...it's almost like he's speaking his mind right out to me when I'm reading it.

Frank McCourt is definitely one of my favourites.