Mesmerizing ! . Review on Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

In Frank McCourt's childhood memoir, Angela's Ashes, the writing so clearly depicts his emotions from his past that is amazing what great detail is captivated in his memory. As the story progresses, young Frank grows into an older, wiser, more mature, and more responsible young man. He works hard for what he believes in and he is very helpful to those around him and also to himself. The way that McCourt recollected his story was so believable and realistic that it was very easy to read and relate to.

He fights through the stereotypes of his nationality and social standings all as a young child. At a young age, Frank understands that his father has a problem with his drinking. He has been sent out to watch his father and to drag him home from the pub and he knows that his father has done no good for him. He loves to hear Malachy Sr.'s stories though, and he would give anything to keep his mornings with his father forever.

While relaying the story of his younger years McCourt says:

I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole money and Mam is desperate and has to beg at the St. Vincent de Paul Society and ask for credit at Kathleen O'Connell's show but I don't want to back away from him and run to Mam. How can I do that when I'm up with him early every morning with the whole world asleep? (260)

The innocence of this shows that it is how he felt as a child whether or not he agrees with it now. At a young age, Frank just wanted to be with his father no matter what was wrong with him and the unbiased way in which he wrote this along with other parts of his story really added to the authenticity of his storytelling.

As he grows older, this statement holds true in that he expresses how he feels at that time. When Frank's father is supposed to return home one year for Christmas, Frank is not even surprised when he doesn't arrive. He really shows the reader that he no longer gets his hopes up when it comes to his father when he tells his mother, ''He's not coming, Mam. He doesn't care about us. He's just drunk over there in England'' (338). Frank has finally looked past what he wants (a father who is always providing for him) and realizes that he'll have to deal with what he got.

After Frank gets past the reality of his father, he begins to form dreams of his own. He wants to support his family so that they have a warm house and food to eat, but ultimately, he wants to go to America.

He saw his father as the stereotypical drunken man and he chose the different path. The easiest thing he could have done was followed in his father's footsteps, but thankfully he had men like Mr. O' Halloran, Pa Keating, and Mr. Timoney telling him to pursue his dreams. For a young man put through death and tragedy at such great intervals, it is venerable that Frank resisted them.

Another thing that Frank fights with is his poverty. At one point in his story, he has an outburst against the ''respectable boys'' saying, ''We know they're the ones who will go to university, take over the family business, run the government, run the world'' (343). Because he grew up in such low class conditions, he knows he has little hope of a higher destiny.

He never stops pursuing his dream, but he keeps in reality. He is not allowed to stay in education because the church shuts him out, but instead of sulking he becomes a very high positioned messenger boy and for the first time, he can provide his younger brother Michael with a healthy meal. That is more worthy of praise than inheriting a business through family ties.

The thing that made this book so good was that the story was true. It is so inspiring to read of a young boy that worked hard to help his poverty stricken family when his own father didn't work hard to do so. He conquered his dreams and made it to America and lived the life that he wanted to live. He never once left his family behind although he probably had several chances and he didn't let the burdens of his past keep him from aspiring to be a very adequate man.

The abridged version of the audio does in fact sound kind of depressing because a lot of the humor from the book is missing and it takes away from the novel (you have to admire someone who had such a childhood and yet has such humor in retelling it).

No one could have narrated this book better than Mr. McCourt; he has a wonderful brogue and he tells stories of his mischief as a boy as if he were still that little mischievous boy. He narrates his book like the the quintessential grandfather telling stories in a chair in front of the hearth.

Not even Richard Burton narrates better than Frank McCourt.

The sequel to this book, 'TIS, has also been narrated by Mr. McCourt onto audio.