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Once again, Frank McCourt has captured the trials of his life using his very special narrative voice to make us chuckle while we despair right along with him, sometimes all in the same sentence! Humor starts in the very beginning with a very funny tale of having to share a bed with a naked, snoring priest. Perhaps in parts he is a little self-pitying, but a very emotional highlight is when his short story "The Bed" is read aloud by his college professor at NYU. The reflections on his relationships with his parents are remarkably honest, especially his trying to remember the good times with his Dad even though his memories are clouded with the "darkness" of his father's drinking and abandonment.

Although this book is not as good as "Angela's Ashes", I felt the same way as I neared the end: I was disappointed that it was ending. It's not so much that I really care so much about what happens to him going forward, it is the lyrical prose of his memory that is so captivating.

The ending is quite different from Angela's Ashes, and having gone through that particular episode very recently in my own life, I found some solace in knowing someone else's reflections on the topic. Besides, how can you top the ending to "Angela's Ashes"? Young McCourt realizes his childhood dream of getting back to the US (after poor and miserable childhood conditions in Limerick), gets off the boat and gets laid! Bottom line: If you loved "Angela's Ashes" you will like "'Tis" a lot.

I really enjoyed the book and was disappointed when I read a New York Times book reviewer who panned it for being too cynical and bitter. The innocence, openness and hope that came out of Angelas Ashes reflected the child and youth of Frank McCourt during the time about which he was writing. In 'Tis, Frank confronts the reality of adulthood on his own, in the multi-cultural, and multi-spectral world of NYC - as an immigrant Irishman, Paddy-off-the-boat. His humanity shows. He describes with a lot of humor but not too much rancor, his envy, bitterness, anger, a tendency toward irresponsibility, and occassionally confusion about life's travails as they came his way. He also doesn't lose his ability to laugh at himself and see the humor and humanity in the situations and adventures he describes. It was about Frank's real life as an adult. It was written in the same lyrical,humorous and extremely perceptive style as Angela's Ashes and was just as much fun to read. I STRONGLY recommend it.

Sequel of "Angela's ashes", I was not disappointed a second. The book starts exactly when Angela's...finished. It's written with talent. We hear about what happen to the dad & mum afterwards(You can also learn more on Malachy's first book...Read it).
By the way you'll learn of anything happened to Frank in USA, his return to Europe (after war as a soldier) and in Ireland.
A life that could have finished in an Irish lane fortunately made it in USA successfully.