'Tis

This is the continuation of the autobiography begun in ANGELA'S ASHES, watching the author return to America, navigating through his late adolescence and early adulthood.

Although every bit as delightfully drawn as the first volume, the voice changes into just what one might expect from a boy loose, on his own in New York City, drinking, whoring, surviving a stint in the military, and struggling to find a comfortable place teaching in the NYC public school system.

Be prepared for the change in tone from the one McCourt used in Angela's Ashes. He's raising himself now, from the street up, and his language is peppered with all the color (what my parents would call unnecesary cursing) you might expect from most any young lad his age. If you listen carefully, though, you'll hear the same sensitive heart beating in the story, again masterfully read by McCourt.

Frank McCourt continues the narrative of his life begun with "Angela's Ashes." His reading of the book adds a whole new dimension to the printed page, as he mimics the voices and accents of the people he quotes and adopts a slightly bemused and detached tone to some of the darker passages, giving a greater complexity of meaning.
The last quarter of the book reads more like an epilogue. The stories become more fragmented, the character descriptions more circumspect and less insightful. All in all, however, I found the book a good read and difficult to put down. It was almost as good as "Angela's Ashes."

I've been a books on tape junkie for a decade but this is my first review.

I like reading customer reviews and just wanted to say that this story totally rocks. I haven't laughed out loud this much with an audio book in years. He's a excellent story teller.

McCourt is an excellent storyteller. Admirable, not too dramatic. You'd love his natural, unexaggerated Irish accent, and his picuresque metaphors. Human and humorous.

The previous review by Philip of Ft. Worth Texas shows that the man didn't even read the book. Frank McCourt didn't drown in the bottle. If he did, he wouldn't have been writing the most wonderful memoirs of his life. Frank McCourt rules when it comes to narration. Frank Mccourt can teach us all a thing or two about life. LISTEN TO HIS BOOKS!! There are no better. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

If you give me a line from any of Frank McCourt's books, I can probably give you the next line. I have listened to his three memoirs so many times, I feel I know him better than the people in my own family.

He is an amazing story teller. He is amazingly generous in what he shares.

This book is the best. Don't hesitate!

I listened to 'Tis straight through and couldn't wait to get Teacher Man loaded on my Ipod. Frank McCourt has such a way of saying the truth about everything. He says things other people wish they could say. He keeps things simple, real and funny. And that's the way life should be.

This is the best read (listen of the year). Between the tears there is a good laugh and sooo much heart. Never a boring minute.

'Tis is the final chapter of a story begun with Angela's Ashes. In this book Frank McCourt, like many of us, struggled with much of the banality of life. This seemed so more evident in 'Tis than in Angela's Ashes. 'Tis lacks the vivid imagery, the depths of pathos and the unmitigated joy and anticipation of childhood dreams unfulfilled. But McCourt's lilting Irish voice is still there adding to 'Tis that same quality of intimacy and authenticity. By much of 'Tis, McCourt has overcome the real impediments in his life. It doesn't matter that not as much happens in 'Tis. He has made it back to America, after all. (In how many cases do our adult lives measure up to our childhood fantacies, anyway?) 'Tis is the needed punctuation to complete his story. McCourt's often inability to know what to do is only obvious to us because we are viewing from the outside with the benefit of his 20/20 hindsight. If most of us did what McCourt did and penned our own lives as openly and honestly, we would see that in this sense Frank McCourt is truly Everyman.

It is a book that affirms the beauty of being human with all its dreams, hopes, banalities, failures and successes.

Angela's Ashes left me wanting to know what happened to Frank and family and 'Tis answers.