'Tis: A Memoir

Frank McCourt was at his very best with a continuation of sorts to Angela's Ashes. His discriptions bring you to the times and places he lived through. I can not express enough how much I admire the man he became and the love he expressed for his Mother.

OK I agonized about writing this review. To what degree can you complain about Frank McCourts second book not comparing to his first, Angelas Ashes? Is it fair to say he couldn't get lightening in a bottle two times in a row? Is it fair to blame someone who knocks it out of the park and wins a Pulitzer on his first outing for hitting a double on the next? Finally, can you write ill of the dead after they shared their suffering with you?

Think about this, the second book costs the same as the first one, so I think it is. In both books McCourts style is repetitive. He tells us he did A, B and C, the tells us how here he is having done A, B and C and this is how he feels about it. But in Angela's Ashes, A, B, and C are shocking tales about the horrors of slum life thrust upon a boy in Ireland and is so foreign to anything any of us understands it needs to be repeated. It is almost s if he is shocked at having lived.

This is an older and better educated and still introspective, but not any wiser or improved Frank McCourt. Indeed, he is falling into the vices of his father and often just awful to his wife and mother. If anything, the lack of a day to day struggle makes his just another guy way too inside his own head. When he sums up over and over, it just comes off as making his actions seem more intentional, like a justification: cruel.

Besides, getting over the aspects of divorce, drinking, etc, he faces the same uphill battle American situational comedies face when they get long in the tooth. Peoples 20 something problems are funny and cute. Peoples 30 something problems suck. Think Friends. Joey with 3 dates for the same party-funny. Chandler and Monica cant have a baby-not as funny.

It would have been better for his legacy to stop at one. Still worth a read, but find one at 1/2 price and don't expect to get anywhere near the same experience.

In my opinion, anything written by Frank McCourt is fantastic so i'm bound to be just a bit biased in my review but, this truly is an excellent book. I recommend reading the three in chronological order because he does refer to various things in his past in the more recent books and they're alot more meaningful when the reader knows what he said in the first place.

If you liked Angela's Ashes, you'll probably enjoy 'Tis. While the first book, dramatic and shocking, explored the author's childhood of poverty in Ireland, this one follows up with his life in New York as a new immigrant -- learning new customs, new terminology and the nuances of both. Creates some interesting, thought-provoking situations, some funny, some touching.

When finally got around to reading Angela's Ashes, I looked for this authors other books, and found "Tis." I think it is as good as Angela's Ashes. I have ordered his brother's book now, and hope I enjoy it as well as the two I have read. Keep it in the family!

This book is as honest and compelling as McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" which is one of my favorite books ever. His writing is a slice of life picture of Irish Immigrants to America that make you laugh, cry, and be more aware of all those people observing you and thinking "this is America?"

I thought this was a beautiful, flowing book and a must read after Angela`s Ashes (which is even better than Tis. It's hard to believe it isn't fiction.) There are points when the prose sounds like poetry. I recommend it to adults and nature youths. Great for people who enjoy Irish literature and culture. Great for those spoiled upper middle class kids who think they're lives are so hard.

I like Frank McCourt's writing style, generally. I really liked Angela's Ashes-his painfully impoverished childhood was well descirbed. As I read "Tis, I felt like he was whiney-his life was infinately better than it was in Ireland, but he never seemed to feel like he was better off. And in the first book, I admired his mother, Angela, for her strength and fortitude. In "Tis, Frank portrays her as a spoiled, rather mean-spirited, fat, used up old woman.

The battered but hopeful child of Angela’s Ashes comes to New York and turns into a bitter young man, maudlin and racked with Irish Catholic guilt. Although he constantly rails against the Church, he’s been so brainwashed as a child that he can’t escape the continual self-imposed moral blame for much of what he wants to do in his personal life. I found him to be an unlikeable man, permanently marred by his experience growing up in abject poverty in Limerick. The writing is choppy and repetitive, the same phrases popping up again and again. I put it down half way through.

McCourt's first book, Angela's Ashes, was absolutely wonderful. I'm enjoying this second book just as much. Living in the U.S. And Ireland during those early years and in poverty, is such an eye opener. And yet, he was able to add humor to the story. I loved both books.

Another homerun as the wonderful story of the McCourts continues! You get to know his Mother in this book and she is worth knowing. Again totally honesty regarding himself and his family and he holds nothing back. Recommend it highly!

Most interesting as the author details his life as an Irish immigrant to the New York area. My own mother came to the US from Northern Ireland about this same time and the author helps me understand the difficulties the Irish faced. Great reading!