The Frank McCourt Gift Package [Hardcover]

Frank McCourt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in his now-bestselling first memoir, Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either--not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting clichés about drunken Irish manhood are based. Mix in abject poverty and frequent death and illness, and you have all the makings of a truly difficult early life.

With 'Tis, the 1999 sequel to Angela's Ashes, McCourt picks up the story in October 1949, upon his arrival in America. Back on American soil, this awkward 19-year-old, with his "pimply face, sore eyes, and bad teeth," has little in common with the healthy, self-assured college students he sees on the subway and dreams of joining in the classroom. Initially, his American experience is as harrowing as his impoverished youth in Ireland, including two of the grimmest Christmases ever described in literature. McCourt views the U.S. through the same sharp eye and with the same dark humor that distinguished his first memoir: race prejudice, casual cruelty, and dead-end jobs weigh on his spirits as he searches for a way out. A glimpse of hope comes from the army, where he acquires some white-collar skills, and from New York University, which admits him without a high school diploma. But the journey toward his position teaching creative writing at Stuyvesant High School is neither quick nor easy. Fortunately, McCourt's openness in both books to every variety of human emotion and longing is exceptional; even the most damaged, difficult people he encounters are richly rendered individuals with whom the reader can't help but feel uncomfortable kinship. The magical prose, with its singing Irish cadences, brings grandeur and beauty to even the most sorrowful events of his life. --Wendy Smith

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition
• ISBN-10: 0684011379
• ISBN-13: 978-0684011370
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,538,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alcohol, Shame, and being Irish, August 7, 2000

By 

James P. Crowley (Kendall Park, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frank McCourt Gift Package (Hardcover)

Purchased Angela's Ashes in the late spring after hearing so much about the book and movie in the past 2 years and was completely blown away with Frank McCourt's life/work. Left hanging by the lack of ending in Angela's Ashes, it was quickly on to 'Tis and immediately thereafter, A Monk Swimming by Frank's brother Malachy McCourt.

Angela's Ashes is riveting for the sheer horror of escalating human tragedy. Just rented the movie and listened to my 11-year-old son repeat over and over, "just when you think it can't get any worse...it does". The book is far more graphic and not at all for the faint of heart. Malachy Sr., who loves his children desperately, is incredible in his alcoholism but even more incredible in his confused indifference to the suffering of his family. Angela is simultaneously pathetic and heroic possessing all the destructive sarcasm of her pretentiously proud mother and sister with an ability to do what is necessary to ensure her survival, along with 4 of her 7 children. Denial kills 3 children and a marriage, while the want of the most basic human contact turns a mother to incest. Miraculously, Frank survives and even thrives, driven by the things that his father did not possess...common sense, the gratification of a hard days work, sobriety, and I would argue literary genius.

`Tis is the ending that Angela's Ashes required and the reader learns that some of Frank's parent's demons have come home to roost. Despite his ability to succeed in America, Frank finds himself trapped in dysfunctional relationships and making several alcohol-induced blunders. Frank's observations/experiences about America/Education in the 50's, 60's, and into the 70's seem very fresh through his Irish eyes (2 holes in the snow they may be). With this, `Tis takes on a more historical/documentary feel rather than a personal memoir. My wife felt that Frank whined a bit in `Tis and I'd agree that some of the later chapters about his teaching experiences contain some unnecessary tangents. You are left with Frank McCourt's bittersweet feelings on the death of Angela in New York and finally Malachy Sr. in Belfast.

Both works are absolute page-turners with the shame, and alcohol, and Irishness fanning the flames of your humanity with horror, sadness, and delight. Hoping for a third book to bring us through Frank's eventual divorce and life in the 90's.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Angela's Ashes, January 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Frank McCourt Gift Package (Hardcover)

I don't often read a book that I actually put aside to delay the end. Frank McCourt made me cry at times and provided me with side-splitting laughter. I have recommended this book to all my frieds. I can't wait to read "'Tis".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't want it to end, May 22, 2000

By 

M. A. (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frank McCourt Gift Package (Hardcover)

The moment I finished this book I felt a bit lost. I really didn't want it to end. Wonderful book. I got 'Tis right after. Now i'm reading it.. too fast, again. I would like to thank Frank McCourt for sharing his life and this wonderful work. And to ask him to please keep writting.