The Angela's Ashes/'Tis Boxed Set

Mariah Whitehead

Rating: really liked it
A very entertaining book that holds someones difficult life story.

Kathy C.

Rating: really liked it


There are a few books in my life which I have read, reread, and never truly forget. Angels' Ashes is one such book.

Initially, the fact that Frank McCourt was raised in Ireland piqued my interest. My mother's ancestors came to the US from Ireland, so I saw a common thread. However, I had a fairytale like idea of what all of Ireland must be like: glorious green countryside, castles and the Blaney Stone.

However, I quickly learned from McCourt's moving memoir that this romantic notion was far from the truth. His descriptive passages about his family's life in the US and then in Limerick still haunt me: poverty, his father's drinking, unemployment, horrid living conditions, and especially the death of his siblings.

I am still amazed that all of this happened before the author was 18 years old! I so admire the tenacity of his mother, himself, and the children who survived.

C.J. Fosdick

Rating: really liked it
Angela's Ashes was a roller-coaster read for me. I loved the writing style and POV and touch of Irish humor, while appalled by the poverty that Frank McCourt described in his childhood. It was puzzling that he could remember such detail beginning at the age of four when his parents moved the family from New York back to Limerick, Ireland. The matter-of-fact honesty and introspection in his account, I'm certain, led to his Pulitzer Prize.

'Tis is the sequel I couldn't put down, as it details his life after "escaping" back to New York in 1949 to 1985 when his estranged father died. McCourt's honesty and wit carries over in a memoir hard to forget.

Jeff Trueman

Rating: really liked it
I've read both these books, as well as "Teacher Man", and gone on to purchase them in hardback for my library. What wonderful, wonderful reads. No, "Angela's Ashes" is NOT about the Holocaust! Many people seem to think that. It's about a boy's experience growing up in extreme poverty in Ireland. Filled with pathos, yes, but also that wonderful Irish humor that they manage to find in the direst of situations. A wonderful, poignant, rollicking read!

Laura

Rating: really liked it
You love it and hate it and are disturbed, yet reassured that McCourt is very real. By the time you are finished with the books, you feel like you know him - and I felt like I knew a little bit more about my own history in a weird way since part of my family ping ponged similarly between Ireland and the US.

Cheryl

Rating: really liked it
I kept reading and waiting for this book to get better (happier) but it just got worse and worse. However, it is one of my absolute favorites. It opened my eyes to the life of a boy growing up in extreme poverty and gave me an understanding I did not have before of how that shapes ones life. I have a first edition signed copy (met Frank McCourt in Denver) that I treasure.

Sandra

Rating: really liked it
My father came from Ireland and although I aware of the poverty he endured, not a lot was said about it. This book really brings it to life, how people even survived is hard to imagine. Somewhat sad in parts and funny in others. Just started Tis.

Norma Zenkus

Rating: really liked it
Very sad book about his terrible childhood

Victor Wong

Rating: really liked it
this book is mainly about frank and how he struggles in life a a poor person and later becomes greater of himself. then beginning is where his family goes to Ireland and need to get to America. he works hard to get to where he wants to get and in the end he reaches where he always wanted to get to.

Theme I have found in Angela’s Ashes is the limit of what different classes of work can get and afford and how hard they have to work to get to what they really want. I saw this in the book while frank himself is very smart and denied many opportunities he could not go far from where he is because of how he was dress and how he was dressed was with rag and made him seem very poor. I can relate this to a movie I have see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory even when Charlie was poor he was given a great opportunity that he took to go to a giant factory that was later given to him by the owner Willy Wonka this was one great opportunity to take Charlie’s life to a greater extend.

i really thought this book was boring in my opinion, but i'm not really into the history thing so it wasn't really filled with action to me.i wouldn't really read this but if u like history go ahead and read it you might like, hate or love it.this is my review on this book

Tommy

Rating: really liked it
Tis' is essentially the story of an immigrant and his new life in New York City. Beginning with his voyage to America, the autobiographical story follows his struggle to make it in a country that isn't always accepting of strangers. Don't be mistaken to think of this as an extension of the dark tone of Angela's Ashes (which I also liked). I found this book much lighter in tone and more optimistic. McCourt finds his way to the promised land and has to deal with the realities of American society. It's full of the irony of everyday life and his struggles for education, happiness, love, and acceptance. Yes Mr. McCourt is an Irish immigrant, but it's not soley about his being Irish in America. If anything, it's about his struggle to be an American.

Roberta

Rating: really liked it
Only four stars because I am lumping these two together. I loved Angela's Ashes even though it could be mighty depressing at times. Although, being of Irish descent myself, I didn't find it as depressing as my non-Irish friends did. We can be a maudlin bunch, us Irish. I also liked Tis, but not as much as Angela's Ashes.

Mike Duffy

Rating: really liked it
This is a very compelling book about the struggles of an Irish family. I am making an attempt to trace some of the Irish's history of moving to America. Boy, was i in for a surprise reading this masterpiece by Frank McCourt.

eliza

Rating: really liked it
I was ready for this book to be a total cliche, but actually it's very amusing, unmistakably Irish, and really good at conveying the issues of a country we tend to over-simplify.

NOTE: I have not read 'Tis, but the boxed set is the only option.

Rose

Rating: really liked it
This book was a great book. I liked the in depth look of the famine in Ireland and the daily struggles his family endured from a child's point of view. I sacrificed studying time for this book, I couldn't put it down.

Beccahartzell

Rating: really liked it
I didn't read this book...Brent did and accidentally posted it to my goodreads account...in fact, all of the books that are rated - were rated by Brent. I promise I'll get on and rate some books at some point. I'm reading books...just haven't gone on to rate them yet!!!