"It was, of course, a miserable childhood. The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood."
So starts one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, Frank McCourt's memoir 'Angela's Ashes' is wonderfully written and even thinking about it now takes me back to Limerick, Ireland where Frank grew up amidst so many ordeals; poverty, an alcoholic dad, malnourished siblings (he had to watch some of them die), the rigid catholic values of that era... to name a few. He was a teacher by profession who took to writing after he retired at the age of 60, his books are a joy to read… he just tells his story in a pure and natural form and you grow to love the man for who he is. Angela's Ashes was followed by two more memoirs 'Tis' and 'Teacher Man', these books are extremely entertaining too... but it was Angela's Ashes that catapulted him to the limelight. He won the Pulitzer prize for it and since then he has become a renowned literay figure... his books are now taught in schools and they are bound to become classics.
Frank McCourt left this world for his heavenly abode a few days back and I hope he is still writing up there, his students are a lucky lot to have had him as their teacher... I love the books you wrote Frank, and I love you for writing them the way you did, rest in peace always.
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