A late comer to reading Angela’s Ashes, it was fascinating. As a memoire, it read like a novel. It would be easy to call it a rags to riches story, or a coming of age story and let it be. However, Frank McCourt shows us the rags, lets us wear them, feel the weather and smell the poverty the family endured. It was the 1930’s when Malachy McCourt and Angela Sheehan met in New York City. After a ‘knee-trembler’ putting Angela in an ‘interesting position’, they were married and had four children, Frank being the oldest. Malachy proved to be an unreliable husband and spent any earnings at pubs and speakeasies. The children, Francis, Malachy, Michael and the baby, Margaret were starving and were often sent out of the house to the park to play. Baby Margaret died suddenly, at only seven weeks old, crushing Angela’s will to function. Malachy had stopped drinking until his little daughter died but that resumed unabated. Neighbours intervened to support Angela, clean the two year old twins bottoms, and fed the children from their own supplies. The same neighbours called her cousins in to help sort out the household. After much turmoil, a letter was written to Angela’s grandmother in Ireland, who sent money for their passage back to Ireland. If they hoped that life would be better there, it only changed for the worse in Limerick. Malachy, a staunch Irishman, lived in a dream world of past glories, and had, in his drunken state, his boys learn the songs of the past. He would get them out of bed and have them sing and promise to ‘die for Ireland’. Angela could only try to stop him without success.
Ireland was divided between the Catholics and the Protestants. In Limerick, the Catholic Church held sway. Families and children were under constant threat of eternal damnation and punishment. If children asked questions they were either dismissed out of hand or told they should know. This to me was more disturbing than the poverty, but possibly the result of poverty. Francis McCourt’s story was also laced with the laughter of boys growing up and learning about their bodies and the bodies of the opposite sex.
There were some adults in young Frank’s life that fostered his interest in words and story. Although his father was often drunk, he fascinated his son with his stories. He had a teacher who encouraged his students to learn, and recognized Frank’s ability to write. His Uncle Pa, encouraged him to think for himself; to not tie himself down to work that did not suit him. He learned to write and read, getting a side job writing threatening letters for an unpleasant woman; this ability also got him a job at a magazine that helped establish him as working man.
Francis McCourt was also a very misguided thief. What started as just stealing food for his brothers, continued throughout his young life. His final goal was to get to America so he started saving money from his jobs and from a bit of thievery here and there. He always determined to pay it all back, but somehow that didn’t happen. He did leave for America which is where the book leaves us. The author’s follow up book ’Tis takes up his story from there.
“Tis’ your life, make your own decisions
and to hell with the begrudgers, Frankie.”
~ Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes
Title: Angela’s Ashes
Author: Frank McCourt
Copyright: 1996
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Type: Memoire
ISBN -13 - 978-0-684-87435-7
ISBN - 10: 9780-684-87435-7
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