Advantages: Funny in bits, detailed Disadvantages: Can leave you feeling a bit upset
I first watched Angela's Ashes a few months back in History. I fell in love with it straight away, and is now one of my favourite films. But, why...?
*****
Angela's Ashes is based on the book written by Frank McCourt, made in 1999. It is the story of McCourt's life as a child, followed right through until his early adult life. The director, Alan Parker, helps us connect with the characters and sets across a very clear yet important message.
In the 1930s, when he was just a small boy, McCourt and his family (mum, dad and two brothers) were forced to move back to Ireland. Here his mum gave birth to another little girl, who soon sadly died a little while after because of the terrible living conditions.
Life was in no way easy in Ireland. This was the time when many illnesses were going around, such as cholera and typhoid. Sadly, the Mc ...
Advantages: Very readable, heartwarming, amusing, a page-turner, not at all self-pitying Disadvantages: None
The late, ex-schoolteacher Frank McCourt had an amazing, humorous and very down to earth way of writing. It feels in the book Angela's Ashes, as if he is talking to you personally.
This is a journey of a poverty-stricken childhood, that begins in one of the poorer areas of New York, then moves down into the dark "lanes" of Limerick, Ireland, during the depression years of the 1930s. Though Frank's childhood was filled with despair, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illness, and was spent in a slum dwelling of the very worst kind, nowhere does Frank bemoan his unfortunate start in life or feel he has an axe to grind. From page one through to the end of the book, Frank tells his tale with a wry humour, and his childhood oscillations from vulnerability to tough kid and back again, are a delight to read.
What for me shines through ...
Advantages: Simple, Genuine, Good for kids Disadvantages: Simple, More for kids
"Deep down,
inside our bodies,
lives the soul.
No one has ever seen it,
but we all know it's there.
Not only do we know it's there,
we know what's in it, too"
My grandfather was a religious correspondent for the BBC, he also wrote many books about religion, but after many years of searching he decided that he was a Quaker. My grandmother was also a Quaker and a few months before she died she gave me The Soul Bird, I read it quickly and then put it on my book case and forgot all about it. After she was gone I spent some more time reading this book, it can be quite powerful.
The Soul Bird is written by Michal Snunit, an Israeli author born in 1940. She has taken on many literary roles from editing a weekly magazine to being a journalist for a daily paper or writing lyrics for children's musicals. She is best known for her ...
