Angela's Ashes

Version: Unabridged (Abridged version available here)
Author: Frank McCourt
Narrator: Frank McCourt
Genres: Biographies, Non-Fiction, Literary, Memoirs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published In: November 2005
# of Units: 12 CDs
Length: 15 hours
Ratings:
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Overview

""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 the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.""

So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story.

Perhaps it is a story that accounts for Frank's survival. Wearing shoes repaired with tires, begging a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors -- yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness.

Imbued with Frank McCourt's astounding humor and compassion -- and movingly read in his own voice -- "Angela's Ashes" is a glorious audiobook that bears all the marks of a classic.

Selected Reviews

by Carrie Ritchie
  • Book Rating: 4/5

Angela's Ashes

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 1/5

More...

Read All 16

Reviews (16)

Written by Carrie Ritchie on December 24th, 2012

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I loved this book. The narration was excellent! I highly recommend it.

Angela's Ashes

Written by Anonymous on October 7th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 1/5

This book was extremely depressing, I couldn't wait for it to end.

Angela's Ashes

Written by Anonymous on September 22nd, 2009

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I liked the book, but was disappointed it was the abridged version. Too many details were left out.

Angelas ashes

Written by Anonymous on September 3rd, 2009

  • Book Rating: 1/5

Very boring. Poor ending. Hard to understand the narrator. The story is not that interesting. The end just stops without notice.

Angela's Ashes

Written by Bruce Curson from Slidell, LA on June 1st, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

This is a great book ... from the narration to the story line. Highly recommended. Now I can't wait to get the sequel ... "Tis".

Angela's Ashes

Written by rsecore from Dallas, TX on October 28th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Beautifully written and narrated by the author. It is evident as to why many high schools have added this book to their curriculum.

Angela's Ashes

Written by wlh2040 from Miami, FL on February 11th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I rented this book because I have read about it for quite some time, and have seen the movie. If you have seen the movie and are considering renting the book to better understand the movie, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover the two are virtually nothing alike. The book is MUCH better, in every way. Narration is also superb!

Angela's Ashes

Written by Marlene Alhandy on January 16th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Depressing, unresolved, too many loose ends. McCourt put down his pen prematurely.

Angela's Ashes

Written by Steve Y on September 4th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Another excellent Frank McCourt work. As with "Tis" and "Teacher Man'" McCourt weaves another view of his life story that occasionally mingles but never detracts from the life story as a whole across his other works. It's a rare opportunity to have a magnifying glass on various aspects of McCourt's life.

Lucky to be an American

Written by Tammy Henson on March 9th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I adore Ireland so found the historical aspect of the story very interesting, as the setting is relatively recent history. I also enjoyed hearing it in the author’s own voice. It did leave some questions unanswered. What became of Franks mother and the brothers he left behind in Ireland when he returned to the U.S.? The biggest impression – America offers unlimited opportunities. Anyone can succeed. Just because you have a bad (horrible) childhood, it doesn’t doom you.

Selected Reviews

by Carrie Ritchie
  • Book Rating: 4/5

Angela's Ashes

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 1/5

More...

Read All 16

Author Details

Author Details

McCourt, Frank

"Frank McCourt was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents; grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America in 1949. For thirty years he taught in various New York City high schools, including Stuyvesant, and in city colleges. He lives with his wife, Ellen, in New York City and Connecticut."