Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (Scribner, 1996) ****

This is Frank McCourt's first novel, a fictionalized memoir of his first nineteen years, which won a Pulitzer Prize and several other literary awards. It was a difficult book for me to review because I had very mixed feelings about it by the time I finished reading it. I was impressed immediately with his writing style, which puts the reader immediately into young Frank's head, but I was ready to put the book down after reading over and over and over just how miserable his childhood was. I've awarded it four (of five) stars primarily on the basis of his writing, which succeeds marvelously in transporting the reader to the time and place and circumstances of Frank's youth.

Frank was born in depression era Brooklyn, the offspring of a chance encounter between two poor Irish immigrants who had each recently arrived in New York. His father, reluctantly forced into marrying his pregnant bride, has a major drinking problem and that pretty much seals his family's fate insofar as any financial support is concerned. Unable to hold a job, he takes his family back to Ireland, jumping from the proverbial frying pan into the fire.

What follows is the detailed experience of a boy's growing up poor, Irish and Catholic under circumstances that would seem hopeless to all but a child. Young Frank manages to make friends, finish school, look after his siblings, and find odd jobs, all the while scavenging for firewood and scrounging for food. Later he learns about the workings of the church, discovers literature, deals with puberty (again, over and over and over) and experiences several short-lived love affairs.

Parts of the book are quite depressing but there's enough humor (often rather dark) throughout the story to rescue the reader when needed. It's a book I wanted to read and I'm glad that I did, but I can't imagine wanting to read it again, and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. If you are interested in writing, are male, of Irish extraction, and had a Catholic upbringing (or have a spouse or close friend who fits that pattern), it is a book you definitely should read. Otherwise, I'm not so sure.