Frank McCourt's memoir of his childhood in Ireland exposes a poor Catholic family's continual struggle against severe poverty, almost starvation. To complicate things, the children cannot help but naturally love their crying mother and unemployed alcoholic father. McCourt objectively recreates a turbulent, bleak story, softened only by such love, humor, and perseverance. Frank, the oldest child in the family, begins his narrative as a three-year old, when they were still living in America. The parents, …showed first 75 words of 426 total…

…showed last 75 words of 426 total…the book. Frank begins working when he becomes fourteen and even his mother has a part-time job then. With their wages now, there is always food on the table, and Frank even saves enough that he can finally return to America. The dialogue which McCourt gives his characters is excellent and typically Irish. Even the discriminatory attitudes between Protestants and Catholics are evident, plus the general hatred the Irish still feel towards England. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**