Posted on 07/19/2009 4:16:44 PM PDT by Steelfish
Interesting, your comments; I’d never heard of him or his brother.
I did a bit of Googling and snatched this scene from his First Communion day:
“We ran to the church. My mother panted along behind with Michael in her arms. We arrived at the church just in time to see the last of the boys leaving the altar rail where the priest stood with the chalice and the host, glaring at me. Then he placed on my tongue the wafer, the body and blood of Jesus. At last, at last.
It’s on my tongue. I draw it back.
It stuck.
I had God glued to the roof of my mouth. I could hear the master’s voice, Don’t let that host touch your teeth for if you bite God in two you’ll roast in hell for eternity. I tried to get God down with my tongue but the priest hissed at me, Stop that clucking and get back to your seat. God was good. He melted and I swallowed Him and now, at last, I was a member of the True Church, an official sinner.”
I had to admit it had a distinctive voice, the voice of a child, as he said; reading farther the charm of the first few dialogues wore off as I got to know his characters, I say “his” for, even though he presented them in vocal detail, region and all, it was still his child’s voice and the perfected memory of a miserable child’s cast aside past rang too artificially clear.
I got my ears boxed from behind by my own maternal grandmother at five for picking her flowers and I was only pulling weeds, I guess I’m lucky she wasn’t Irish.
Richard Harris gave a great interview on the lieing sack of shite Mc Court..
http://www.limerick.com/angelasashes/controversy7.html
‘I also knew Angela McCourt quite well and I visited her regularly and I spent a lot of time with her and they treated her really badly.
The way they spoke about their mother made me very angry.
They had an obvious disdain for their mother and I remember on one occasion in the pub where I grabbed her son Malachy by the neck and shouted that she is your mother and you cannot treat her like this.
Malachy’s only answer to me was that they were bringing her lots of beer and cigarettes in the hope that she would die because she is costing us rent money.
I believe in my heart that they were willing a death.
I found that very offensive to such an extent that I threatened to kill him.
‘When I met Angela she was in her old age and she was very quiet and once when I was alone with her she told me that she knew that they didn’t like her and wanted her dead.
She said that they don’t like me Dickie, they don’t treat me well, they don’t want me to be here, I am a nuisance to them and I am no more than a rock around their neck.
Angela told Richard that the boys treated her so badly that she wished she were dead and gone.
My wife is Polish
No, your wife is Polish and beautiful! (as is your daughter)
You are a fortunate man!
Some people collect misery the way others collect stamps; pasting them in a book and clutching it tight as though its loss would be the end of life.
Karl Malden also died recently a few days after another Gary, Indiana, native who got more publicity. Malden was 97 and as far as I know a good guy, so doesn't have much in common with the others apart from dying about the same time.
If it wasn’t for the Church, the entire family wouldn’t have made it in Ireland that’s for sure.
Thank you for your kind comments..
I had forgotten about him until today,but years ago when the book came,Americans would come up to me and feel sorry for what went on in Ireland as they had just read the book.
So i went and bought it and was disgusted by what he wrote..
Misery sells.
Everyone I talked to in Limerick and throughout Ireland slammed his book and we have a monsignor in AZ who does not like the man’s work either. He used to have a home behind my nephew’s and he said McCourt was a werid bird. Rest in peace.
I loved Angela’s Ashes.
Rest in Peace, sir.
Yep but his book painted this horrible picture of Ireland.
I went to school in Ireland with some kids who had 12 or 13 other siblings,lived in a 2 bed house,they took turns sharing bikes,pants and shoes..
The happiest kids i ever grew up with.
I guess know one likes happy stories anymore,misery sells...
Don’t miss the movie or the book, Angela’s Ashes. Both are simply unforgettable.
Every once in a while, I’ll have a memory of something dumb or silly or sweet or sad that happened when I was a kid and I’ll write a four or five paragraph piece here to try and paint it where I can see it and others can look in too.
Each time I go to edit it grows bigger and I have to go back and cut off its nose and its ears before it outgrows itself.
Maybe the memory works like that, the more you bring it back the more it seems to be real until it’s realer than real can be.
I’ll never forget the time I licked the lightbulb...
I read the links put up with Richard Harris’ comments and found this:
“So they decided to cremate their mother who allowed them to put her ashes into their overnight bags and take her back for nothing.”
Antbody who can write like that can paint my pictures all he wants.
I had a solitary childhood, my sister saw to that.
We have a friend who lives in the USA but grew up in Ireland, and he was very angry about ‘Angela’s Ashes.’ He firmly believes it wasn’t true.
I have no way of knowing either way, but my wish is that Mr. Frank McCourt does RIP.
RIP.
<>Maybe the memory works like that, the more you bring it back the more it seems to be real until it’s realer than real can be<>.
If you dwell on the bad parts of your growing up you will be miserable,i did not have a nice growing up but have learned from it and made sure to make changes so it was not repeated as a adult with my family...
As Monty Phyton says “Always look on the bright side of life” ..
Is this not one of the core ideas that seperate cons from libs?
Libs are miserable and angry about the way the world is,cons accept it and enjoy life for what it is.
I presume the lightbulb was on,as you would learn a life lesson?
Right up until I licked it; I forgot which hand had the lollipop so caught up in my task.
Thanks for the post. I much enjoyed reading the opinions of Richard Harris. I think I will avoid the book and the movie.
If you decide to become a lib and you want to dwell in the horrors of life,it is a excellent movie.
Guaranteed to make you hate the church and cry at the injustices in the world.
You will cry out for free healthcare, no more poor people and no bad mommys.
I will “Dún mo bheal” i do not want to give the movie away..
Slainte..
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