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- Biographies and Memoirs
Title: 'Tis Author: Frank McCourt Rating:  Must Read!
Publisher: Scribner Web Page: http://www.simonandschuster.com Reviewed by: Harriet Klausner |
 
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In October 1949, an elated nineteen years old Frank McCourt thinks he owns the world when he disembarks from the ship in New York. As a little boy, Frank had left the city when his mother (see ANGELAÆS ASHES) moved back to her native Ireland. Now he is back and feels nothing can stop him from earning his fortune. That is until he begins to taste prejudice. However, he barely ekes out a living with chump change for drink while cleaning the mess of the rich at the Biltmore. The army drafts Frank, sending him to Korea. Upon his return to the city, Frank envies the college students riding the subways. He charms his way into NYU even though he has no high school diploma. That provides him a path to teaching in the cityÆs high schools where his love of literature reaches several generations of kids. However, through the years of triumph, there is much sorrow that makes the victories taste even greater. Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt scores another big time winner with his second autobiographical book that highlights his life from the time he returns to America. The story provides the audience with intriguing insight into social class distinctions, racial prejudice, and gender behavior especially towards the opposite sex. Most of the poignant moments center in the high school classroom where FrankÆs love of literature overwhelms the misfortunes that also haunt him. æTIS makes three decades of New York City sing with a lyrical beauty that would make Joyce and Eliot proud.
Harriet Klausner
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