Angela's Ashes

This is a really good book. It is filled with the sadness, though. And is in teeny tiny print, so it takes you an awful long time to read not that many pages. And you are depressed whilst you are reading not that many pages. What I'm saying is, this book almost broke me.

A few years ago, I suggested the Twilight series to a friend. I said they were just dumb, light, fast reads. Well, I guess she hated them. Months later I said something to her about what books she was reading and she said. "Nothing lately, Twilight ruined books for me and I haven't wanted to read anything since." I kind of felt like a shit and have never recommended Twilight to anyone since.

Anyhow, as much as I loved the writing and can see why this book is so good, it was sort of too much to take. The book details Frank McCourt's early years where his parents moved their brood from NYC back to their home country of Ireland. They had no money, the father was a drunk and couldn't keep a job, the mom was an enabler who couldn't stop getting pregnant and the kids kept dying. I kept thinking that no more kids could die, but then another one would pass away. Luckily the parents kept replacing them.

A lot of people compared this book to The Glass Castle and while I understand the comparison, I can't get on board with that. The Glass Castle was okay, but this book is gorgeous and tragic and so finely written that you can taste and feel and smell the squalor that surrounds the author. The Glass Castle did not have that effect. It is like The Glass Castle in that you want to smack the mother upside the head and sucker punch the dad.

I gave the book 3/5 or 8/10 stars. I rated it a bit lower because of the depression it sent me into, but if you like grim, it won't be so bad.