Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

Unabridged / Go to Abridged (Audiobook)

Written by:

Frank McCourt

Narrator:

Frank McCourt

Length:

14 hours 59 minutes

Summary:

THE RUNAWAY "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER

AND AUDIE AWARD WINNER

"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 does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story.

Perhaps it is a story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father, 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.

Ratings:

Book (84)

Narration (1)

Publisher:

Simon & Schuster

Date:

October 2005

Genres:

Biographies > Memoir
Biographies > Literary
Biographies

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Customer Reviews
Customers Also Liked

Bruce Curson

This is a great book ... from the narration to the story line. Highly recommended. Now I can't wait to get the sequel ... "Tis".

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

rsecore

Beautifully written and narrated by the author. It is evident as to why many high schools have added this book to their curriculum.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Carrie Ritchie

I loved this book. The narration was excellent! I highly recommend it.

Anonymous

This book was extremely depressing, I couldn't wait for it to end.

Anonymous

I liked the book, but was disappointed it was the abridged version. Too many details were left out.

Anonymous

Very boring. Poor ending. Hard to understand the narrator. The story is not that interesting. The end just stops without notice.

wlh2040

I rented this book because I have read about it for quite some time, and have seen the movie. If you have seen the movie and are considering renting the book to better understand the movie, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover the two are virtually nothing alike. The book is MUCH better, in every way. Narration is also superb!

Marlene Alhandy

Depressing, unresolved, too many loose ends. McCourt put down his pen prematurely.

Steve Y

Another excellent Frank McCourt work. As with "Tis" and "Teacher Man'" McCourt weaves another view of his life story that occasionally mingles but never detracts from the life story as a whole across his other works. It's a rare opportunity to have a magnifying glass on various aspects of McCourt's life.

Tammy Henson

I adore Ireland so found the historical aspect of the story very interesting, as the setting is relatively recent history. I also enjoyed hearing it in the author’s own voice. It did leave some questions unanswered. What became of Franks mother and the brothers he left behind in Ireland when he returned to the U.S.? The biggest impression – America offers unlimited opportunities. Anyone can succeed. Just because you have a bad (horrible) childhood, it doesn’t doom you.