Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
by Frank McCourt
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Simon & Schuster: 1996. Paperback: 460 pages. ISBN-10: 0-684-87215-3 Suggested retail price: $7.99 (US) Tags: autobiography; Biography; Catholic church; infant mortality; Ireland; made into movie; Memoir; poverty Tactical strength: [8/10] |
In Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt tells his fascinating story of growing up in poverty-stricken Ireland. Frank's father, Malachy, and his mother, Angela, had immigrated separately to the United States in the 1920s. They got married because Malachy got Angela pregnant, and good Catholics always got married if they were pregnant. Malachy couldn't keep a job, and what little money he did earn, he ended up spending in pubs.
At age four, Frank has a three-year-old brother, one-year-old twin brothers, and a sister that dies after seven weeks. The baby's death prompts Angela's cousins write to Angela's mother about her poverty. Angel's mother sends money for the McCourt family to travel back to Ireland. In Ireland, the McCourts can't find work or housing, and Malachy still drinks away most money he earns.
Frank McCourt tells a blunt story about his poverty stricken life, but he does show that as children, the McCourt kids really don't know they are poor. Only slowly do they learn to recognize that almost everyone has a higher quality of life than the McCourts and to want something different than their parents have provided. During his youth, Frank gets hospitalized for various illnesses. In the hospital, Frank realizes what it's like to get regular meals and always have a clean bed. But once back at home, not much changes for Frank until he's around fourteen. He gets a job as a Telegram courier and then as a magazine delivery boy. Frank saves his money for years until at nineteen he can buy a ticket back to the United States.
Once Frank reaches the United States, he sees that many of the attitudes that have kept the Irish in poverty come directly from the Catholic church. Frank's escape to the states also symbolize his escape from his Catholic upbringing, including Catholic inhibitions about self-satisfaction, relationships, and sex.
McCourt writes with a interesting style that never uses direct quotes. Even when presenting dialogue, McCourt leaves out quote marks. Perhaps he felt that his memory would not provide enough accuracy to present direct dialogue. For the most part, you can differentiate narrative from conversations, but in some cases you can't tell one speaker from another or even Frank's thought from his speech.
Even if you don't think you can stomach the poverty in Angela's Ashes, you should read the funniest Catholic First Communion story on pages 154-61.
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