Angela’s Ashes
- 15 hrs 8 min
- Pulitzer Prize winner
- Rated 4.6 ★ on Audible
Peter’s Verdict
McCourt is not only a great storyteller but a fantastic reader. Hearing him tell his own story with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness is something else, and I feel people who have only read the book have missed out.
Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, Frank McCourt was raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. His mother, Angela, had no money to feed her children, because his father, Malachy, rarely worked, and when he did, he drank his wages.
The memoir is the story of how Frank endured: wearing shoes repaired with tires, begging for a pig’s head for Christmas dinner, and searching the pubs for his father.
I was captivated by McCourt’s Irish brogue, his occasional songs and his joyful spirit. He gives every character a different voice, and the conversations flow so realistically you’d think you were standing in the pub in Limerick yourself.
I feel as if people who have only read the book have missed out on something.
It’s a classic, and it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 and a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996. Listening to it shows how an audiobook can add a dimension to literature that lifts the medium far above the convenience of listening on the go.
Some people find the book depressing. I find it to be just the opposite. McCourt’s attitude is inspiring: he got through a terrible childhood and triumphed, and the world is a better place for it.
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Listen if…
- You enjoy memoirs read by the author
- You like a storyteller with a voice, an accent and the occasional song
- You want a classic that’s moving but not hopeless
Skip it if…
- You’d rather avoid stories of poverty, hunger and a hard childhood
- You want a quick listen: it runs over 15 hours
Where to listen to Angela’s Ashes
Audible has the recording read by Frank McCourt himself.
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