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Mary Balogh
| Posted on Saturday, May 29, 1999 - 9:27 am: | |
The book is a personal memoir of Frank McCourt's childhood in an Irish Catholic slum in the 1930s. It is written as a series of memories, beginning when he was an infant of three or four and ending when he was nineteen. While harrowing in its descriptions of almost unbelievable poverty, an alcoholic father, a mother who just could not cope, numerous siblings, many of whom died as children, McCourt is never self-pitying and is frequently hilariously funny. The book ends on a note of hope when Frank as a young man sails for New York and a new life. It is a book that should provoke lively discussion. As well as describing the life of a family, it tells us much about Ireland, the Catholic Church, the 1930s, and World War II seen from afar (Ireland remained neutral). ANGELA'S ASHES, for a long time on the New York Times bestseller list, is now available in paperback |
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