A story of surviving the crushing poverty of his childhood - told with humor and eloquence

Will read and then send on to Guinneth

A story of crushing poverty, an alcoholic father, a mother forced to beg to feed and clothe her family, children dying of illness - in short it should be a depressing story. Yet it is a story of hope and humor. Very recommended

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing to Guinneth

This arrived safely and I am REALLY looking forward to finally reading it! Thanks for the trade, Bkind2books. :-)

Sad but also humorous, this memoir was hard to put down. Here is how Frankie McCourt's story opens:

"When I look back on my childhood, I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than an ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."

It's a heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting story, really. And once past the deaths of Frank's little sister and brothers (which were so difficult to read about), there was quite a bit of humor to be found.

A very good book. I'm glad I finally read it!

I'm sending this off to a dear relative in the hope that she hasn't read it yet. I won't do a controlled release, just in case she chooses not to journal it.