Frank McCourt: Angela's Ashes

[h_carnahan]

I was much more grateful for my full refrigerator today than I was before reading Angela's Ashes.

I can't agree with you more. I did not particularly enjoy the book, but when I finished reading I was much more appreciative of my great-grandparents who went through the same thing.

 

[urbi]

I'm about a 1/3 of the way through this book.
A friend of mine has been going on at me to read this as he thinks it is briliant.. and I kept saying "oh I will when I get around to it". I ended up picking it up as not to dissapoint him... and I'm really enjoying it.. It very well written.. and very interesting about his life.. I'm reading it and thinking "this is terrible" but then his writing is full of wit and has some humour in it and it really is amazing that he is not come across as being sad or angry at his childhood and family.

good book..

 

[Dreamer]

I loved Angela's Ashes as well. I could not put this book down and it really wetted my appetite for reading other memoirs. I think they are beautiful and give such insight into the human spirit.

I read a number of reviews which criticized Angela's Ashes for being called a memoir when so much of the story is "fabricated" (i.e. specific conversations and dialogue). The critics said that McCourt could not possibly remember such details from such a young age. What do you guys think about this?

 

[Peronel]

I read a number of reviews which criticized Angela's Ashes for being called a memoir when so much of the story is "fabricated" (i.e. specific conversations and dialogue). The critics said that McCourt could not possibly remember such details from such a young age. What do you guys think about this?

I've heard this too, and I think a lot of the criticism stems from his brother, Malachy, who also wrote a memoir based on their childhood. He claimed that much of the detail of their early years was fabricated.

Look, I really don't mind, as it just enhances the story. You don't want to read: "Yeah, I was born, don't remember that so I won't discuss it, now let me tell you about my boring childhood...". It's not like McCourt was making great false claims about heroic or commendable acts. The man is a great storyteller. I'm sure if the events weren't experienced by hims personally, they were probably tales of friends or relatives. Ashes is supposed to give the reader an account of growing up poor in Ireland, not a straight sown the line factual account of Frank's life.

But that's just me, what does everyone else think?

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

But that's just me, what does everyone else think?

I agree - I don't think that it is a major downfall of the book at all. I didn't read it thinking "this is a memoir, every single word has to be true". I think that most rational people who pick up the book realise that people don't remember every single thing that people have said throughout their lifetime, and that sometimes details of events (especially in your younger years) become hazy. As Peronel said, if people were expected to write only the things they knew for certain in memoirs, they would be pretty darn boring.

On the other hand, pure fabrication is a no-no in my book, and that should be criticised. All I look for in memoirs is a generally accurate account of their life - sometimes people can fabrciate stuff without knowing that they have (human memory has a funny way of creating memories of events that never happened in the first place, or of you seeing something that you have only heard about - especially when you're younger). The thing to do with most memoirs is not to take everything at face value - I think that most people do expect embellishments and patch-ups when reading memoirs, and so treat the information in the memoir accordingly.

Along the lines of memoirs of childhood - does anyone know how accurate A Child Called 'It' is? I've always wondered, because I just can't believe that a mother could have done some of those awful things to her child.

 

[Wells83]

I just read angela's ashes for the first time and enjoyed it immensly. I have no idea why I waited so long to pick it up because I'm a fan of memoirs. As long as the storyline is intriguing, I have no problem with some fabrication sprinkled in. I have 'tis on the way to me now and I'm anxious to read it.

 

[silverseason]

I agree - I don't think that it is a major downfall of the book at all. I didn't read it thinking "this is a memoir, every single word has to be true". I think that most rational people who pick up the book realise that people don't remember every single thing that people have said throughout their lifetime, and that sometimes details of events (especially in your younger years) become hazy.

I also agree. The best memoirs are stories based on the writer's memories. I may not remember word-for-word what my mother said, but I can remember how she talked, her usual language, our interactions, what meaning I took from it. From this I make my account, my memoir. But it would be unfair to my mother and to you, the reader, to fabricate events that never happened or twist her language to make her look better - or worse - than I really think she was.