Rescued it from the Westmont recycling day! I plan to read this book soon.

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."

It may have been a horrible, miserable childhood but it was a well written memoir. Frank McCourt describes perfectly the misery that his family endured because of an unemployed alcoholic father. Recent Irish immigrants, his parents find survival in America tough and after the death of a young daughter decide to head back to Ireland only to find conditions there much worse. Struggling with poverty, death and illness, it is amazing to think that anything good could come from this young man's life. If it weren't for the fact that I knew I was reading a memoir, thus knowing that young Frankie must succeed in the end, I would have suspected the absolute worst for him as well. If you have never suffered the ill effects of hunger or poverty, you may find this book shocking for the author has captured every detail with such clarity it made my heart ache to read each word. You can feel the pain and sorrow they went through and it makes you want to reach out and help them, somehow. A very touching memoir; it's too bad that it's not a tale of fiction.

RELEASE NOTES:

Shipping this out today as a RABCK. Enjoy!