'Tis: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Frank Mccourt
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  591 reviews
Sales Rank: 17080
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0684865742
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.7100491620092
EAN: 9780684865744
ASIN: 0684865742
Publication Date: August 28, 2000
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
'Tis a blessing that the author narrates his own work. McCourt follows up his Audie Award-winning performance in Angela's Ashes with another brilliant reading as he chronicles his return to post-World War II New York. Like all good storytellers, McCourt has good stories to tell; 'Tis pulses with grim adversity and quiet triumphs--character-shaping moments that gain the listener's empathy. What makes McCourt a great storyteller is his ability to give these moments just the right amount of humor and perspective. His lyrical tones are wise but not weary; he's survived life's challenges to tell his tale. And while it may be trite to credit McCourt's verbal skills to his Irish heritage, these war stories were undoubtedly polished amongst friends in the pubs. 'Tis is Grammy material, and a perfect example of how an author's voice can enhance the written word. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --Rob McDonald
Product Description
Frank McCourt's glorious childhood memoir, Angela's Ashes, has been loved and celebrated by readers everywhere for its spirit, its wit and its profound humanity. A tale of redemption, in which storytelling itself is the source of salvation, it won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Rarely has a book so swiftly found its place on the literary landscape. And now we have 'Tis, the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant to brilliant teacher and raconteur. Frank lands in New York at age nineteen, in the company of a priest he meets on the boat. He gets a job at the Biltmore Hotel, where he immediately encounters the vivid hierarchies of this "classless country," and then is drafted into the army and is sent to Germany to train dogs and type reports. It is Frank's incomparable voice -- his uncanny humor and his astonishing ear for dialogue -- that renders these experiences spellbinding. When Frank returns to America in 1953, he works on the docks, always resisting what everyone tells him, that men and women who have dreamed and toiled for years to get to America should "stick to their own kind" once they arrive. Somehow, Frank knows that he should be getting an education, and though he left school at fourteen, he talks his way into New York University. There, he falls in love with the quintessential Yankee, long-legged and blonde, and tries to live his dream. But it is not until he starts to teach -- and to write -- that Frank finds his place in the world. The same vulnerable but invincible spirit that captured the hearts of readers in Angela's Ashes comes of age. As Malcolm Jones said in his Newsweek review of Angela's Ashes, "It is only the best storyteller who can so beguile his readers that he leaves them wanting more when he is done...and McCourt proves himself one of the very best." Frank McCourt's 'Tis is one of the most eagerly awaited books of our time, and it is a masterpiece.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 586 more reviews...
'Tis not Kansas December 4, 2008
More "Oliver Twist" than "The Wizard of Oz" this book is not for the faint of heart. McCourt's autobiography "Angela's Ashes" had a Hollywood ending with the young immigrant (McCourt) arriving in New York to start a new life. It left readers with such high hopes. His second book "Tis" lacks the childhood innoncence of his first. In fact, the book is both tedious and somber but I still enjoyed it immensely. What ruined the book is that we know too much about McCourt's success and too little about his journey. He is brutally honest about his New York life - alcoholism, divorce, his mixed feelings about his mother, his lackluster career - and the book at times is a rambling alcoholic. But that's what makes it unique. The book is like the man; brilliant but flawed. It was a challenging read but pure tonic compared to the popcorn novels on the best sellers lists.
 'Tis worth reading October 18, 2008
This book isn't Angela's Ashes, nor should it be, but I'm disappointed that it couldn't maintain the momentum in Angela's Ashes. This book picks up where Angela left off and appropriately ends with Angela's death. The beginning of this book is filled with humor and fun scenes depicting McCourt's early days in America. Unfortunately, I found myself boring of the book about the time McCourt entered the army. Still had its humorous moments, but definitely lagging. By the time Mike became Alberta, I was counting pages to the end. This book lacked the optimism I found so endearing in Angela's Ashes, but it did give closure at the end. Taking Angela's ashes back to Ireland seemed a fitting ending to the tome. The book only vaguely glosses over what's going on with Malachy, Michael and Alphie, focuses on the hardships that are mostly McCourt's own fault. But overall, I still think the book was worth reading.
Better than Angela's Ashes, but still could have been more October 16, 2008
In `Tis we get some anecdotes about his life as a teacher & the attitudes of public school officials, students, & parents that potentially could have been good reading, but FM- oddly- seems to lapse into a bit of romanticism about those times. I went to public school in New York only a decade or so after many of the tales spun by FM so I know that much of what he relates is very buffed up. Again, why? If AA's success was so based on the misery factor it would seem that dealing with some of the worst the NYC public school system could dredge up would leave him rife with possibilities. Yet, again, he refrains. In AA FM seemed to indulge in both inner & outer misery, yet in `Tis he goes full bore only on the inner wrecks- the outer world is a hazy place that seems to frighten him, & rob him of some of the potentially better tales of his life.
Despite the relative ease of his life, compared to AA, FM seems to spend an inordinate amount of time just whining with no cause. This would not be a problem if FM used this quality for a higher purpose in a bildungsroman- but `Tis is not such a beast. It's almost as if FM wrote the book from a far place hermetically sealed off from himself, with emotions later dubbed in, but a bit off (like a Godzilla film) because he has not properly reflected long nor hard enough on his life. It's as if he's trying to convince himself of the myth of `Frank McCourt'. Having recently read The Great Gatsby for the 1st time I was struck by how similar a voice FM has in `Tis, towards his past self, is with the voice of that novel's narrator- Nick Carraway- towards the titular character. Whereas this technique works well in TGG because it allows a reader an almost scientific detachment from the events, in `Tis FM does not allow this for he deliberately hazes events & characters. Part of this is due to the book probably being too compressed & rushed in to print to coincide with the release of the film Angela's Ashes, but most of it is due to FM's understanding of human nature (& himself) not measuring up to his lyrical ability with words.
This is the basic difference between the 2 books- AA is too bloated & `Tis too compressed, AA has lesser tales, but FM explicates them better. In short, AA has some literature-worthy events that are given short-shrift, but `Tis is a series of vignettes about a very average life that's made a bit better in the telling. AA has been way overpraised, & many are already readying its spot in the literary canon, but `Tis, despite many manifest flaws, is a better book- albeit only slightly.
Yet, I cannot help but wonder what might have been done with these tales had FM 1st cut his teeth on a few novels, then mastered prose well enough to really hit a couple of home runs. Oh well- here's what we're left with: on a scale of 1-100 Angela's Ashes rates about a 75-80 while `Tis is in the 80-85 range. Somewhere, though, the bell rings in at 100, & Angela McCourt takes her place in literature- it's just not in this life, either.
 Bad Service October 14, 2008
After numerous attempts to contactthe seller, Istill have not received the book. Connie spahr 10/13/2008
Disappointing follow-up to Angela's Ashes October 13, 2008
I loved Angela's Ashes and was thrilled to learn there was a sequel. I was very disappointed in Tis, however. McCourt's writing style was charming in Angela's Ashes since he was writing from the perspective of a child but didn't translate well once he was recalling his adulthood. The book is way too long and there are many random, uninteresting anecdotes. I won't be reading McCourt's 3rd book.
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