Not the book behind the movie Angela’s Ashes, but the sort of interesting sequel.

Author:	Frank McCourt
Publisher:	Scribner Book Company. 28 August 2000
ISBN:	ISBN-10‏: ‎ 0684865742 ISBN-13‏: ‎ 978-0684865744
Characteristics:	368 pages, Hardcover ; 24 cm.
Source:	From BE, donated to Street Library.
Date Read:	5-Dec-2024

When I borrowed this book from my mother, I was thinking it was the book behind the movie Angela’s Ashes which I thoroughly enjoyed. Instead, it is the less structured sequel, covering when Frank leaves the poverty of his family and Ireland to try his luck in New York.

Annoyingly the author had decided to do away with quotation marks, which is becoming a bit of a pet hate with books for me. The unstructured style is a hard to follow at times and I tended to skip the large blocks of text in the book. Frank is an English teacher, so his complaisant style of writing is surprising. Maybe writing this book he wanted to break free from rules and record how his early life was; messy, lawless but still going places.

There are some very funny situations and some odd ones. Right at the start of the book the Catholic priest meant to help him on his New York arrival turned out to have too much affection for young men.

It would have been better to read Angela’s Ashes first. Although I had seen the movie it was quite a while ago.

Conclusion

It’s an ok read. Those interested in the series of books by Frank McCourt may enjoy it, but I was expecting better. This sequel probably wasn’t necessary, and I think watching the movie Angela’s Ashes is time better spent. When donating it to a street library there was already a copy there, so another reader not wanting to keep it!

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Summary of ’Tis, by Frank McCourt

’Tis continues Frank McCourt’s life story from where Angela’s Ashes ends, following his arrival in America as a young Irish immigrant determined to reinvent himself. The memoir traces his struggles with poverty, identity, and belonging as he navigates menial jobs, military service, and the bewildering social landscape of postwar New York.

McCourt’s journey is marked by constant tension between the world he left behind and the one he hopes to join. He battles insecurity about his education, yet slowly discovers a talent for storytelling and teaching that reshapes his future. Through humour, self‑deprecation, and sharp observation, he reflects on family, faith, love, and the long shadow of his upbringing.

The book ultimately charts McCourt’s transformation from an uncertain labourer to a confident educator, capturing the messy, hopeful, and often painful process of becoming oneself in a new country.

Themes in ’Tis

1. Immigration and Identity

McCourt wrestles with what it means to be Irish in America—caught between pride in his roots and a desire to shed the shame of his impoverished upbringing.

2. Class Mobility and the American Dream

The memoir constantly questions whether hard work truly leads to advancement, or whether class barriers simply take new forms in America.

3. Education as Transformation

McCourt’s hunger for learning becomes the engine of his self‑reinvention. Teaching ultimately becomes the place where he finds purpose and confidence.

4. Shame, Guilt, and Catholic Upbringing

His Irish Catholic childhood shadows him—shaping his insecurities, relationships, and sense of moral obligation.

5. Family Ties and Emotional Distance

McCourt’s complicated relationships with his mother, brothers, and absent father continue to influence his choices and self‑worth.

6. Humour as Survival

Even in bleak or humiliating moments, McCourt uses humour and self‑deprecation to cope, observe, and connect with others.

Notable Anecdotes from ’Tis

1. Arrival in New York

Fresh off the boat, McCourt confronts the overwhelming scale of America—its noise, its indifference, and its promise.

2. Working Menial Jobs

He takes on a series of low‑paid, often degrading jobs (janitor, hotel worker, warehouse labourer), each offering sharp, funny, and sometimes painful insights into American life.

3. U.S. Army Service

His time in the military exposes him to new cultures, new prejudices, and the absurdities of institutional life. It also gives him a sense of structure he never had in Ireland.

4. Struggles in Higher Education

McCourt battles imposter syndrome at university, convinced he’s too uneducated or too “Irish” to belong—yet he slowly discovers his intellectual voice.

5. Becoming a Teacher

His early teaching years are chaotic, comic, and transformative. He learns to command a classroom not through authority, but through storytelling and honesty.

6. Encounters with Prejudice

McCourt experiences both anti‑Irish sentiment and broader social tensions in mid‑century New York, shaping his understanding of class and race in America.

7. Complicated Family Visits

Trips back to Ireland reveal how far he has travelled—and how deeply his past still grips him.

Further Information