Frank McCourt (placeholder)

I would like to meet Frank McCourt so that I could tell him that he is someone I idolize along with the Beatles and Abraham Lincoln. From the moment I opened Angela’s Ashes and saw the picture of Frank as a boy (the most adorable little Irish face ever), I started to be a fan. Then came the writing!!! The opening paragraph had me hooked. I think he deserved the Pulitzer Prize for that paragraph alone. It flows mellifluously; seamlessly creating an ambiance and setting for the story to come. You can hear the Irish accent in his phrases. I felt the poetry in my veins. If only I had a good memory, I would memorize the whole paragraph.
There is humor there too, that peculiarly Irish brand of irony in lines like, “The rain drove us into the church-our refuge, our strength, our only dry place.” and “Limerick gained a reputation for piety, but we knew it was only the rain.”
Turn a few pages and the real humor begins. I laughed out loud. After a few more pages, I was crying. I called my sister, the English Lit. major. “Get this book right away”, I said. She did. We started calling back and forth. Did you get to this or that part yet?, I’d ask. “Were you dying when you read the part about the McNamara sisters?”, she’d ask. “Oh, my God, this man can write!”, we’d say. ‘I don’t give a fiddler’s fart’ became my catch-phrase of the moment.
The movie didn’t quite capture the brilliance of the book. You need to read the words and experience the voice of the author.
The story of Frank McCourt’s life made me thankful for things I take for granted. In his most recent book, Teacher Man, he talks about middle class Americans and their ‘problems’, “It’s too hot.” “It’s too cold.” “I don’t like this brand of toothpaste”. I thought about how spoiled middle class Americans are and how much we take for granted and how whiny we must sound sometimes. I guess I was affected so strongly by his story because he’s someone I can relate to. An Irish-American (sorry, there’s that hyphen again, Mr. McCourt) high school teacher is someone I could easily know in the city where I live. Frank McCourt’s books have made me more aware of, and I hope, more sensitive to what others may have experienced in life. They have also made me less self-pitying about my own problems and more aware of the things I have to be thankful about.
One more thing I want to say is that I think Mr. McCourt must have been a really great teacher. The methods he used to spark his student’s creativity make me wish that I could have been in one of his classes.
He is just an all-around ‘darlin’ man’ and I wish he would look online and read this. Just in case he does-
Hey, Mr. McCourt, do quotation marks come before or after the period? I can never remember.

Frank McCourt guest-lectured at a University of Iowa lecture series in Iowa City in the fall of 2006. His humor and eloquence as a writer translates directly to his speaking abilities. How great it would be to be able to claim him as a former teacher.

Frank McCourt has written:

“Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir,” followed by ”’Tis: A Memoir” and “Teacher Man: A Memoir.”

He is an incredible writer, his first memoir conveys the horrors of living in poverty in Limerick, yet shares the joys and curiosities of a young boy.