Angela's Ashes

Angela's Ashes is a memoir by author Frank McCourt about his childhood in Ireland in the 1930s and '40s. It made for an informative and interesting read. I had no idea how shitty everyday life still was for Irish people this side of the potato famine. But McCourt spares no details, filling the reader in on the gritty and gruesome details of his impoverished and tragedy-ridden childhood. His father was a hopeless drunk. His mother was a downtrodden and defeated Irish Catholic housewife and mother. His house was a shit hole - literally, as it was the only house on his street to contain a lavatory, and it often flooded. Three of his six siblings died very young. Several of his friends and classmates did too. The whole thing read like an over-the-top parody of Irish culture, and I was amazed and partially aghast to read a first-hand account of such stereotypes as total realities. But throughout it all, McCourt used plenty of dry humor and wit to add comic relief to the story of his childhood and to remind us all that even when born and raised in poverty, children, with their naivete and innocence, can't help but create fun and mischief and such. It was clear that no matter how horrible his childhood was by most modern standards, McCourt has nothing but love and respect for his homeland. The book ends with Frank leaving for America at the age of nineteen, and McCourt has also written a sequel  memoir ('Tis) about his life as a twenty-something immigrant in America - college student, Korean War soldier, husband, etc. - but I don't know if I've got enough interest in his life story to continue reading it. Even in this book, I found the earlier chapters more enjoyable than the later ones in which a teenage Frank begins to explore his sexuality, rebel against the teachings of the Catholic Church, and enlighten himself in a number of other ways. Still, this was a pretty decent book, and if you're into memoirs, the 1930s and '40s, or Irish Catholic culture, consider checking it out. Or maybe just see the movie.