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"Tis' feels like a friend, telling the tales of his life over a pint, with charm and humour, economy and pace. There is a sense of loss when you have to close the pages and sleep, or go on to other things. McCourt is a masterful writer. All who read 'Angela's Ashes' will read "Tis'. They will love it, and so did I.' Independent on Sunday 'Few will be able to resist this pacey and fluid sequel. In post-war New York, McCourt moves through work as a longshoreman, a spell in the army, to night-school, to become a creative writing teacher encouraging his kids to "write about what you know" -- the same policy that has led him to belated international celebrity. McCourt's gift lies not simply in having lived through interesting times, but having developed his skills as an editor and narrator to produce two fine, funny and moving slices of a past that is not simply Ireland's, but everyone's.' Guardian 'Every page contains an unforced laugh. The gloom is indivisible from moments of great joy and compassion -- the sound of jazz pouring from a club, the comforting arm of a fellow worker -- which McCourt is able to express in his fresh and supple prose. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, McCourt has the power to transform even the saddest recollections into sentences of great beauty, and in that beauty lies the possibility of salvation.' Mail on Sunday
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Frank McCourt continues his life story in the brilliant, bestselling sequel to the million-selling 'Angela's Ashes'. 'Angela's Ashes' was a publishing phenomenon. Frank McCourt's critically-acclaimed, lyrical memoir of his Limerick childhood won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award amongst others, and rapidly became a word-of-mouth bestseller topping all charts worldwide for over two years. It left readers and critics alike eager to hear more about Frank McCourt's incredible, poignant life. "Tis' is the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant with rotten teeth, infected eyes and no formal education to brilliant raconteur and schoolteacher. Saved first by a straying priest, then by the Democratic party, then by the United States Army, then by New York University -- which admitted him on a trial basis though he had no high school diploma -- Frank had the same vulnerable but invincible spirit at nineteen that he had at eight and still has today. And "Tis' is a tale of survival as vivid, harrowing, and hilarious as Angela's Ashes. Yet again, it is through the power of storytelling that Frank finds a life for himself. 'It is only the best storyteller who can so beguile his readers that he leaves them wanting more when he's done. McCourt proves himself one of the very best' (Newsweek). 'With 'Tis', McCourt blesses his readers with another chapter of his story, but as it closes, they will want still more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every bit as good as Angela's Ashes,
By Chelli (Yorkshire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 'Tis: A memoir (Paperback)
It's very rare a sequel to an autobiography is anywhere near as good as the first, but this flows straight on from Angela's Ashes in exactly the same detailed evocative prose. Frank's life as a naive just off the boat Irish man in New York is every bit as fascinating as his poverty stricken childhood in Ireland. There's a touch more humour and a touch less misery but the tale is still full of intriguing characters and events.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tis a Triumph,
By
This review is from: 'Tis: A memoir (Paperback)
The sequel to Angela's Ashes is an enchanting tale of what happens to Frank when he leaves the grimy, depressing slums of Limerick as a young man and travels on his own to America in search of a new life. 'Tis avoids the self pitying, sanctimonious tone of many memoirs of people who have toiled their way to fame, and, despite being a sequel, the book stands alone magnificently and is a totally rivetting read.
Frank's experiences in America, ranging from being a scorned cleaner in a hotel, an array of roles in the army, and various manual jobs, and his fight to better himself by going to college, are depicted in vivid, glorious detail, and there are numerous hilarious incidents, and colourful characters who grasp the reader's attention tenaciously and don't let go. Some of the scenes had me doubled up with laughter, in particular, the occasion when Frank tries to surreptitiously eat a slice of pie in the cinema, the time a pal of his is trying to dump a frozen joint of meat, which ends up being hauled away as a suspected accident victim, and Frank's wonderful and unconventional wedding. Frank's transformation from a spotty, awkward,rotten-teethed, conjunctivitis-ridden boy to a confident young man is mesmerising, and the rites of passage of a young man discovering the world, sex, love and himself are painted with a beautifully light touch. 'Tis is a thoroughly hypnotic read, with moods and emotions spanning the whole gamut from fascinating insights through moving scenes to wonderfully entertaining anecdotes. McCourt manages to transform the everyday to an art form. This is a hard book to put down.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark secrets and shame,
By
This review is from: 'Tis: A memoir (Paperback)
After his struggle for sheer survival in Ireland as a child and an adolescent, Frank McCourt retained the lesson his uncle taught him (‘Make up your own mind’) and took his fate in his own hand. He immigrated to the US. Having had a poor education, he survives on low paid jobs with the help of a not so uninterested gay priest, who has privileged contacts with the US Democratic Party. Without a high school certificate, he nevertheless gets through university to become a teacher. By fighting in the ‘blackboard jungle’, he assures a decent life for himself and his relatives left in Ireland. These memoirs are heavily tainted by the author’s Catholic education and ‘guilty’ conscience, full of ‘dark secrets and shame’: ‘If I had any belief left in anything I could go to confession, but where is the priest who could hear my sins without throwing his hands up in disgust.’ From being rather cynical and direct in ‘Angela’s Ashes’ under the biting impact of hunger and coldness, the author’s style evolved to a more distanced, ironic and less rebellious texture. A very worth-while read.
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