Tis: A Memoir by Frank McCourt Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.02 You Save: $10.98 (78%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.90 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Tis: A Memoir
Book Review: People WILL go on about language these days...
Summary: 5 Stars
I have no idea why the public got so uncomfortable when this book came out. Life is not all daisies, and Frank McCourt worked on the docks of New York. What do the public think dockworkers say, "gosh darn" and "jiminy"? I heard more about that issue when the book first came out than I did about the content or the quality of the writing. I was so annoyed I bought it and read it on principle. If people were going to get bent out of shape about such principles, I was going to support the author. It's as though no one has ever sworn, and that it's somehow inherently evil to do so. Nixon did. Listen to his private office tapes.
As usual, I was glad I did read more McCourt. This book was a completely different one from Angela's Ashes, which makes sense becase, after all, the Frank of the docks was a very different Frank from the Frank of Ireland. I believe that he represented his own physical, mental and emotional growth brilliantly in prose and style and yes, "blue language," whatever that means.
As for length, I only wish it had been longer. Frank McCourt has a way of pulling his readers into a world, peopling that world thoroughly, keeping it current and then looking over his shoulder so that the past is remembered and incoporated into the present, thus tying up loose ends and bringing together all to make sense.
The beauty of this is that it's how humans live. We don't just move forward on a blind continuum. It's always one step forward, one or two back, then a few forward, and so forth. Frank McCourt writes the way we all live.
Book Review: The Irish.. at home in New York
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not sure what it is, other than abject poverty, that makes the Irish migrate. But everywhere I come across them, I'm glad of it.
Frank McCourt has that uncanny knack for self-hypnosis which enables him to step back into his own personal history and write, with the hindsight of age.. of the freshness of youth.
As a young man, I worked in Oxford, at a place that was more or less a refuge for Irishmen abroad. I was taught how to milk a goat by a Kerryman... at a time when I most needed it.
All of the guide books I ever read, said avoid Limerick, and every book that Frank McCourt has ever written screams 'Go there !'.
This book takes you in the footsteps of young Frankie McCourt arriving in a foreign country, that is really his ancestral home.
It captures the uncertainty and unquenchable enthusiasm of youth.
Book Review: Tis
Summary: 4 Stars
After Angela's Ashes, I had to find out how Mr McCourt advanced in life
after a very neglected childhood.
From an Irish background, myself, I never knew the poverty and
drinking effect on families. This was an eye opener.
Book Review: Tis a good book
Summary: 3 Stars
A continuance to McCourt's book Angela' Ashes, Tis is also a great book, however I do think that his first book is the best. Within the pages of Tis I found myself expecting his life to get better but at the end of each chapter I felt like maybe the next one will be better or better for him. Angela's Ashes was gold and I was probably expecting the same with Tis, don't get me wrong it is worth reading especially to find out what happens when he arrives in New York, but I guess me like so many others just wanted a big happy ending like winning the lottery and returning to Ireland to save all his family or something.Book Review: excellent book!
Summary: 4 Stars
Frank McCourt's writing style is witty, charming, thought-provoking, and absolutely enthralling. I have a hard time putting the book down when my lunch hour is over!!!