Angela's Ashes

Angela’s Ashes Book Review

Angela’s Ashes is a memoir by Frank McCourt about his life growing up. This book is written in first person and is based on the first 19 years of his life. This story begins in Brooklyn, New York where Frank and his brothers Malachy, Eugene and Oliver are born from two poverty stricken parents Malachy and Angela. The family struggled to stay afloat while living in America due to the father’s lack of work and when he does; he drinks his wages away leaving nothing for his family. To make things worse the newly born baby sister Angela dies, sending the mother into a depression that she will never recover from and struggle to take care of her living children. The McCourt family is then sent back to live in the slums of Limerick, Ireland, where the father remains unemployed. The two youngest boys Eugene and Oliver pass away due to their poor living conditions, sickness and hunger.  With the family on dole and the father continuing to drink, Frank and his brother start to attend school full of cruel teachers and taunting children, they are often make fun of and reprimanded for their lack of clothing and shoes. Over the course of the next few years the family continues to have no money and two more children are born Michael and Alphie. Frank becomes sick with typhoid fever and is sent to the hospital for 3 months during this time he developed a love for reading which would help him later in life. When Frank’s father leaves for the war in England, Frank is left to be the man of the household and help find food for his family when the father never sends money home and eventually abandons his family all together. Frank finds a job as telegram deliver opening his opportunities to make money and starts to save the money that would allow him to go to America where he could leave his life of poverty and start a new and better life. This book is heart wrenchingly good. Frank McCourt’s detailed biographies are captivating and a must read!

H.W.