Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader)

Author - Frank Mccourt ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Mary Glasgow Magazines was reviewed on 11-Dec-2008.

Search ISBN:1904720447 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) Reference Book. Classifications : General Education Nonfiction Subjects Books General AAS Education Nonfiction Subjects Books Reading English as a Foreign Language Instruction Foreign Languages Reference Subjects Books Paperback Mass . Click the following link to view the cover of Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader).

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1) Paperback Book Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) by Mary Glasgow Magazines. If that title had not already been taken it would have fit this book perfectly. I resisted and resisted and resisted this book, but sometimes the masses are absolutely correct. This was a brilliant read and totally absorbing. I read it in two days time. At moments, I was in tears, the scene where the surviving twin searches the house for his brother is burned into my brain forever and at other moments I found myself laughing. This is the single best memoir I have ever read. Pick it up, now.¤

2) Paperback Book Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) by Mary Glasgow Magazines. This was one of those best-sellers that truly lived up to its hype. Frank McCourt´s prose and his incredible story of growing up very poor in Ireland, is one for the ages. Over 1,800 reviews of it here on Amazon tells you something.

If you missed this book - and the hype has longed died down over it so there is a chance you may not hear about it these day - take the word of reviewers here and take notice of all the awards the book won: this is good stuff!

Rarely I have read a book with so much sadness, humor, sweetness and tragedy all rolled into one.

The storytelling here was so good that a movie was made (almost word-for-word with the book). a sequel to the book was written and documentaries have been made about the McCourt family. In addition, Frank´s ultra-crazy brother Malachy also wrote about his adventures.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but this is a story you will never forget.¤

3) Paperback Book Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) by Mary Glasgow Magazines. I read this story for a book club, and that sense of accountability was the main reason that I finished it.

The McCourt family´s life did not have to be so bad, and the children did not have to be malnourished.

I know we have no right to judge others, but how could the parents keep spending what little they had on alcohol and cigarettes and give the babies sugar water to quiet them when they were hungry? Didn´t the children deserve some kind of priority? Didn´t this constitute child neglect?

Some of the children did make it, but oh, things didn´t have to be that bad.

I must say, this book was depressing. Although, more power to the author for ending up alright despite his childhood impoverishment and neglect.¤

4) Paperback Book Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) by Mary Glasgow Magazines. I was loaned this book by a friend. He told me just to "trust him" and read it. I was hesitant and wasn´t sure if I would like this book, but now you can "trust me". If you have any interest at all in Ireland, culture, sociology, or that particular time period you will love this insightful memoir. This book will stay with you, and after only a dozen pages you will be hooked and unable to put it down.¤

5) Paperback Book Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader) (Scholastic ELT Reader) by Mary Glasgow Magazines. The basic problem with it is that while McCourt´s life of poverty in Ireland is interesting and there are a couple of dozen well written passages and anecdotes, the work is atrociously edited. All the more galling for the lack of good editing is that this was McCourt´s first book- he needed the help. The book is about 450 pages long and the 1st 300 pages deal with his first 6 or so years of growing up. We get the same images of infant death, Irish blarney, drunken dad, suffering mom, stalwart Frankie, and colorful Eriniana. The problem is that early childhood is necessarily the least interesting part of a life because a) the percentage of real memories per year is very low and b) the remembered is rarely cogitated upon enough to produce any coherent thesis of its import or meaning to a life.

At describing these things McCourt is excellent. The scene of him and his brother getting bananas from a vendor in Brooklyn and his mom thinking he stole them is excellent, BUT such only works its charms once. After about 50 pages we get the idea already: McCourt´s early life was bleak- it´s as if he wants us to really, really know he suffered. The opening page or so at first read seems to poke fun at the Irish habit of bemoaning their woes, but it quickly becomes apparent that McCourt intended no irony in its felicitous prose. He truly wants the reader to know the Irish suffering is on par with that of Jews, blacks, and American Indians. By going on for 300 pages with this the reader starts to turn off about a third of the way though, then skimming between the Godotvian feeling anecdotes of misery.

Things only pick up when Frank reaches his teens- he gets various employment, has a falling out with his mom and her lover, rues his dad´s departure, loses his virginity to a consumptive girl who dies, then heads off for America. There are many moving images and wonderfully non-stereotyped characters. The scenes with his tubercular lover are priceless, yet their whole affair is accorded a mere couple of pages vis-à-vis the dozens allotted the repetitious sufferings. A good editor would have told McCourt he had an intriguing 1st draft, but told him to cut the early years down to 100 pages, and double the teen tales to 300 pages. That 400 page edition of AA would have deserved all the acclaim the canonical edition has, while also being over 10% leaner.

This is the main reason why the film version of the book is actually better than the written version. That said, it´s far from a great film, but it more judiciously accords the interesting portions of McCourt´s life, with about ½ the film on the early years, and the rest on the teen years. As a writer I´ve often said that the poor practices of editors, publishers, and critics have had a disproportionately deleterious effect on contemporary literature. A bad editor either does not realize a gem that falls in their lap, passes on it, or butchers it, or they get a diamond in the rough, like AA, but have not the sense nor insight to demand the necessary revisions. Toni Morrison has made a career out of having her ill-edited novels published. Yes, she´s gotten acclaim, but once dead her trip to the canon will be fruitless because the poor editing of her work will become ok to speak of. But, McCourt was not Morrison- he was a first time author- his editor should have done a better job.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 8-Jan-2009, 19047204479781904720447, 650-460-730-900-870-471-6OB-IKB-8

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