Angela's Ashes

By: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction

Narrated by: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction

Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Biography/Autobiography, 1997

National Book Critics Circle, Biography/Autobiography, 1997

Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, movingly read in his own voice, bears all the marks of a classic. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, Frank was later raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. His mother, Angela, had no money to feed her children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely worked, and when he did, he drank his wages. Angela's Ashes is the story of how Frank endured - wearing shoes repaired with tires, begging for a pig's head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father - a tale he relates with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.

Listen to Frank McCourt talk about this book on C-SPAN's Booknotes (7/11/97).

©1997 Frank McCourt, All Rights Reserved (P)1997 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, Audioworks is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

"Frank McCourt is a marvelous writer whose words are made all the better when he reads them aloud..." (Bookpage)

"...one of the best I've heard in years." (The Boston Globe)

"...so good it deserves a sequel" (The New York Times)

"Here we have the stereotypical Irish characters - the drunken poet father; the all-suffering mother; the miserable, hungry kids being turned away by a haughty Church - all made three-dimensional and brought fully to life by both McCourt's language and his loving, intimate narration.... Grim it is - but the tale and its teller transcend the poverty - and so does the listener, who glories in the story and voice from beginning to end." (AudioFile)

Story of true resilience

Amazing what one can endure yet see a future goal. Most of us cannot imagine nor have ever experienced the hardships Frank McCourt lived.

A tragic, beautiful, funny, wildly colourful tale.

Frank McCourt gives life to his memoir through this beautiful, tragic, comical and wildly colourful narration. The book itself is wonderful, but the book as read by the author is magnanimous and powerfully real.

Brilliant

Never read anything Ike this before. It is everything Jeanette Walls says it is in her introduction- making you laugh and cry.

Angela’s Ashes

Read this book when it first came out but audiobook read by Frank McCourt did not disappoint at all. From nothing, to something, to everything. Love this story and inspires me to visit Ireland someday.

Touching, funny, beautifully written

Wonderful book. Hearing it read in Frank McCourt's own voice takes the reader to the times and places he describes so vividly. Throughout all the hardships, McCourt shows how the kindness of others sustained and strengthened him.

I Didn't Want it to End!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! This a a recommended audiobook. I have not read nor seen the movie "Angela's Ashes" and I don't know if the movie would do it justice. Listening to McCourt read his own words brought me right into the story. This was a perfect depiction of the Depression as it effected the United States and Ireland. I laughed and cried.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters all had different means of survival. The children would steal to get a meal, the father drink, and Angela wound up in her feelings of being overwhelmed and in despair.

Which character – as performed by Frank McCourt – was your favorite?

Himself - Frankie.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The struggle that Frank had with religion was quite moving. He turned his back on St. Francis and then realized he truly needed him.

I just love this story.

I've read or listened to this book half a dozen times at least, over the years. For me it's the story of a tragic beginning as seen through the unspoiled, unsentimental and hopeful eyes of a child. I laugh and cry at the same time throughout his journey. I'm reminded that to take the events of our lives at face value, the way a child does, is often the easiest way to move forward.

‘Tis lovely indeed

A most enjoyable listen that will change your speech patterns for weeks and make you long for Ireland, even if you’ve never been there.

Don't listen to the introduction-

I enjoyed this book and I thought the author did a great job narrating the story. I really wish the introduction had been at the end of the book and NOT at the beginning. I think it would have been a nice summary of the author and his story with some information about what happened next in his life-AT THE END!!

you'll cry and you'll laugh

great story. it's always a pleasure when the author narrates. There were moments I teared up and plenty of times I burst out laughing causing me to rewind and re-listen. Use the credits. I'm purchasing 'Tis right now.