"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." It is a quotation from
Angela''s Ashes, A Memoir of A Childhood written by Frank McCourt published by
Flamingo, London 1999. Have you ever told your
misery like that? Do you have a gut? Frank does have the gut to tell the story of his miserable life in a way like a novel.
Sometimes it
is worth to wait. Yes, sometimes it is really worth. Having waited 40 years to tell his story, finally Frank tells his poor life in Limerick, Ireland. Having emigrated to the United States, McCourt''s family returns to Ireland after Frank’s sister dies in Brooklyn. It is there that things turn from bad to worse. Then his family moves to a row house in Limerick that is located next to the street''s lavatory. The
book is written in a lyrical style from the point of view of Frank McCourt as a boy. While the book is often angry, it is also filled with forgiveness without bitterness.
Angela''s Ashes is the story of Frank McCourt''s struggle to escape from poverty and a tale the dark ages in Ireland. It is memoir full of tragic events as well as humor. Everybody has his or her own misery, but not all people can make it into a good writing for us to learn. Even sometimes we should be able to laugh at our own tragedy or misery or whatever you call them. And you can learn it here. Oh yeah, there has been a movie based on this book too.
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