Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland

While I appreciate McCourt's laid back approach to Ireland's history, his style in Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland revolved around individuals and I feel that there is so much missing from his narrative. I didn't actually get a sense of the Irish people themselves or any of the major events.

McCourt explains events such as the Easter Rising and Bloody Sunday only in contexts of who was involved. This tactic resulted in a vague and disjointed telling of the story, as well as a lot of redundancies. I read a review that questioned the editing of the book and I totally agree, it wasn't well-formatted.

The sections on Irish writers and Mary Robinson were particularly good, though I found it odd that Oscar Wilde wasn't included in the former. I also noted the absence of Roger Casement from the chapter on the Easter Rising.

Overall, it was very clear that this wasn't necessarily a history of Ireland, but was instead a collection of what McCourt happens to know. Not a terrible waste of time at all, just not very comprehensive, not particularly well written, and sometimes politically dry.

Frank McCourt

"Trilogy of Human Tragedy Turns Thoughtful and Uplifting" would be the title most appropriate for a review on Frank McCourt's three volumes: Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man. Each illuminates the dark tragedies that exist in life and poignantly show the humble humor in each sad existence.

I snubbed Angela's Ashes for a long time, put off by the foreboding title and slightly eerie reference to my own name. When I finally got around to reading it it made me want to fly to Limerick and adopt sad little boys with names like Eugine, Alphie, and Malachy, bring them home with me, give them names that are a little less ridiculous, and feed them waffles with bananas, Nutella, and whole milk. I might still do that. At any rate, Angela's Ashes is an "Oliver Twist with a mother and no happy ending" sort of a story. And, truthfully, it doesn't so much end as it stops and gives you time to decide whether or not you want to continue traveling with this despairing man and read 'Tis or if you'd rather leave well enough alone.

'Tis is McCourt's follow up to Angela's Ashes and I found myself irritated by the author's whiny, lonesome, self-loathing tone until it occurred to me that I was reading the heart and soul of a homesick, self-loathing, twenty-something alone in the world for the first time. I would have been miserable too. In fact, I've been there and it is miserable. Ok, his whining was excused. This volume just got a bit long. He couldn't figure out why so-and-so liked him enough to sleep with him and truthfully, neither could I.

Teacher Man, however, was a bit better. At this point he has narrowed his focus off of himself and onto his subject matter: teaching English in various high schools in New York City. It made the book easier to read and it led me to feel two things:
1. I'm so glad I'm not teaching any more, and even more thankful I didn't pursue it as a career. There are fantastic teachers in this world, I married one and have had the privilege of learning from many others. I would not be a good teacher. You're welcome schoolchildren of America.
2. I want to do exactly what I'm doing here: reading everything I can get my hands on and engaging with people in conversation about what I've read. "You'll love it" "You'll hate it" "I thought it was fantastic/pretentious/tragic/bullshit."

Beyond that, having researched Mr. McCourt a bit, I found that his brothers Alphie and Malachy also wrote memoirs, and Malachy even a history of Ireland. I've requested them all from the Augsburg Park Library. I'll let you know.