Synopsis
Arriving in the United States as a poor, fairly uneducated young man, Frank McCourt became an accomplished English teacher and author. This is the story of his incredible transformation, a follow-up memoir to the Pulitzer Prize-winning ANGELA'S ASHES. A New York Times Notable Book in 1999.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1999-09-01 | | Narrated by: | Frank McCourt | | Edition Description: | Unabridged |
| Size | | Height: | 6.8 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 2.2 in | | Weight: | 16.8 oz |
Publisher's Note
A sequel to the phenomenally successful and award-winning Angela's Ashes picks up the sometimes harrowing tale of McCourt's youth as he immigrates from Ireland to America, joins the Army, goes to college, and begins building a life. Simultaneous.
Industry Reviews
[T]his book has the same clairvoyant eye for quirks of class, character, and fate [as ANGELA'S ASHES], and also a distinct picaresque quality. It's a quest for an America of wholesome Hollywood happiness that doesn't exist, and it's about the real America--rendered with comic affection--that McCourt discovers along the way."
Klepp
"McCourt seems less in control in this book and at times is powerless to keep himself from becoming the stage Irishman, crying in his beer, milking sentiment until it becomes false, mistaking talk for thought....If 'TIS sometimes becomes tedious when telling how McCourt became a stranger in a strange land, it is profound when dealing with his unappeasable past....'TIS has all those elements that made ANGELA'S ASHES such a success--the narrative brio, the fierce sympathy for human tic and torment, the intuitive feel for character and above all the love of language and that very Irish understanding that words are our only weapon in our long quarrel with God."
Collier
"This is a refreshing Frank McCourt--learned, ever so thoughtful. He is almost given to 'emotion recollected in tranquillity.' In writing of the dissolution of his first marriage and the deaths of his parents, he does not strive for Dickensian poignancy. Here's the fellow who can prove himself in ink and need not romanticize the writer or presume there was no place of honor for the teacher. 'TIS a success story, after all."
Howard
"'TIS is a more ambitious book than ANGELA'S ASHES and a more complicated one....McCourt's prose is still distinguished by his perfect pitch. His dialogue is second to none, precise, evocative....Powerful and haunting, this second book will cement his reputation as an accomplished and important writer."
Flanagan
"'TIS is a considerably angrier book than ANGELA'S ASHES....largely animated by the feelings of resentment and envy that the young McCourt experienced in trying to overcome his family's legacy of poverty and deprivation....[The] descriptions are enlivened by McCourt's resilient sense of humor, they do not possess the lyricism or searing intimacy that fueled his childhood reminiscences in ANGELA'S ASHES."
Kakutani
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