Angela's ashes door Frank McCourt

Review
I liked the story. That is the first thing I ‘d like to say.

Frank McCourt writes about his poor, Irish miserable and catholic even more miserable childhood. He writes about the suffering, the begging and about his stout addicted dad. He writes the whole story of his life, beginning with his birth and ending with the death of his mother, and he writes with a remarkable lack of anger and with so much tolerance and forgiveness.

Through laughter and tears he lets us have a glimpse of the world he knew. At times loving and hating it in one instance. While reading the story, he lets us meet all the characters of a comedy he calls his childhood.

First of all, I liked the irony McCourt uses in the book. He talks about a truly depressing period of his life and yet he succeeds to bring us the whole story like a comedy. Everywhere you find indications of humor and irony.

The most important character in the story is Sr. Malachy, his father. Although he is absent most of the time, his dysfunctionality in family and society plays an essential role. He is the cause of all the suffering of Frank and his family. We love him, we hate him, we pity him, we loathe him, but we can’t forget that he is Frank’s father. After all, he ‘s also got some good sides.

McCourt also highlights the good moments he spends with each of his family members, for example the lovely mornings near the fireplace with his dad, in wintertime, or the fun he and his brother Malachy had while playing with their little brothers.

Angela is the one who always has to pay for Sr. Malachy’s mistakes. She’s the one who has to forget her pride and has to go begging in decreasing steps of dignity, ending with begging on the streets for only that little penny to give her three children some kind of food. I like the way McCourt shows us how he loved his mother, how he idolized her as the perfect woman.

In my opinion, McCourt has succeeded in his goal to illustrate the world what an awful childhood he had and how miserable an Irish childhood was in those years. And if this was not his purpose, then he has nevertheless learned me much more about how spoiled we actually are today. Before reading this story, I couldn’t even have imagined that people in Western Europe have been living in such a miserable way.

My conclusion: I read the book with joy and anticipation for the next chapter. That is why I read the whole book, and not only the 200 pages we had to.

In the end, Frank sets off for America, after 10 years of saving his money. So finally his dream came true. A lovely end.