Category: Book-of-the-Month Discussions Angela's Ashes [ORDER THIS BOOK] Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt Synopsis: Memories of an impoverished upbringing in an Irish Catholic family returning to Ireland from America. Author Frank McCourt recounts his early years in Ireland to his eventual return to America at the age of nineteen. For Discussion: Despite McCourt's horrid poverty, mind-numbing starvation and devastating losses, Angela's Ashes is not a tragic memoir. It is uplifting, triumphant even. How does McCourt accomplish this? Review: In his Pulitzer Prize winning memoir, Frank McCourt chronicles the childhood that produced his storytelling genius. If he is correct in his statement that “a happy childhood is hardly worth your while,” then he must have had a most rewarding childhood ever known. The most miserable childhood, the Irish Catholic childhood of the son of an alcoholic father who knows enough of his wife’s religion not to use birth control, starts off badly as the family’s move from New York to Limerick, Ireland foreshadows many wrong choices. His mother points out Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty where all the immigrants come in and then vomits as they leave the land of opportunity for the poison of the River Shannon. Humor is used as a buffer against the painful life of McCourt and his family and consequently the reader laughs through tears, running the gamut of emotions that McCourt himself must have experienced. 5 stars (* * * * *) - review submitted by John Submitted by Sharon, posted on Thursday February 22, @11:59AM