Angela's Ashes
by Frank McCourt
reviewed by Saf Krauss

Angela's Ashes is a true story that will take you back to a time in history where poverty and war tested your resolve and made you stronger or weaker. The author, with his poetic language and hidden sense of humor, describes a period in his life that is depressing to the average American... but it will leave you with a compassion and understanding of why people left Europe in droves to come to the site where the Statue of Liberty rests. And why they continue to do so to this very day.

Frank McCourt was fortunate to be born in America, but life here was hard for the McCourt family. Hoping to find support and opportunity in Ireland, his father and mother return to their homeland with their young family. What they find on their return to Ireland is that their families are all in the same desperate situation and can not afford to be generous with free room, food, and money. This memoir is about family survival, however painful, making up good times to erase the bad, and about growing up and developing self-confidence. It is also about allowing your strength to guide you and believing that you can turn your life around for the better. There is a lesson here for us to understand poverty and misfortune, and an opportunity to erase ignorance.

This book took a couple of years for me to even consider reading. I come from a family of European immigrants who suffered through WWII and my mother found it very difficult to talk about that period of life... there were many secrets that were never told. I also have family who suffered through the Serbian attacks in Yugoslavia. I am glad, though, that I took the plunge and committed myself to reading Angela's Ashes. There are books that you read and forget and then there are books that you read and remember

Frank McCourt's second book entitled, 'Tis, is now out in hardback and covers the period of time when he returns to America at the age of 19 and begins his life here.

You'll find Angela's Ashes in paperback at $14.00 and 'Tis in hardback at $26.00 at your independent bookstore. Most independents will discount their hardbacks and if the paper or hardback is on the IBSL (Independent Best Seller List) you will find discounts there, too.

Happy reading…