A Long Stone's Throw
by Alphie McCourt
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alphie McCourtEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-11-04
ISBN: 0981453554
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Sterling & Ross Publishers
Book Reviews of A Long Stone's Throw
Book Review: The Best Memoir Written By A McCourt Not Named Frank
Summary: 5 Stars
If you had thought you had read the last word in the McCourt family saga after reading Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man" and Malachy McCourt's "Singing My Him Song", then brace yourselves for yet another delightful read in Alphie McCourt's "A Long Stone's Throw". The youngest of the four surviving brothers McCourt, Alphie McCourt demonstrates that he has, like his older brothers, a keen ear for dialogue and a fine sense of comedic timing too. Like his oldest brother Frank, Alphie shows that he is a fine prose stylist too, writing a similar lyrical prose which readers of Frank's books, especially "Angela's Ashes" and "Teacher Man" have found so moving and so rewarding. And yet his is a personal saga that may not resonate as strongly with readers as Frank's - or to a lesser extent, Malachy's - have. Why? I suspect there shall be those who will regard Alphie's personal odyssey as an employee, and then later an owner, of several of Manhattan's Irish-American bars and a trend-setting Mexican restaurant, to be less the stuff of legend than the colorful lives led by older brothers Frank and Malachy. Yet those who subscribe to such a view will be ignoring a fascinating life well lived by the youngest McCourt; one that takes readers on an epic journey not only through the mud-infested lanes of impoverished Limerick, Ireland, but such far-flung North American cities like Toronto and San Francisco too.
Without question, the most moving passages in "A Long Stone's Throw" recount Alphie's own impoverished Limerick childhood. A childhood that sounds far more hopeful, and substantially less oppressive, than either Frank's or Malachy's. The only one of the four surviving McCourt brothers to attend, and then graduate from, high school, Alphie yields page after page of truly memorable prose recalling his excellent education at Catholic schools. Equally memorable are his recollections of himself growing up, alone except for his mother, and a few close family members and friends, as he becomes the sole McCourt brother still residing in Limerick, his older brothers having gone to America to seek their fortunes. Some of Alphie's most emotionally rich prose is devoted to his mother, Angela Sheehan McCourt, painfully describing her own loneliness and great sense of loss, as she tends to a tiny household consisting of herself and her youngest son, Alphie.
There are other, better, memoirs written by such great Irish-American writers like, respectively, Pete Hamill ("A Drinking Life") and Dennis Smith ("A Song for Mary") (Incidentally both are long-time friends and acquaintances of Frank and Malachy McCourt). They are better simply because theirs are truly memorable examples of Irish-American literature. Yet none of these have conveyed as well as the memoirs written by the brothers McCourt, the experiences of adult Irish emigrants living in the strange land known as the United States of America. Alphie's infectious tone of optimism present throughout "A Stone's Throw" betrays his life-long love for his adopted country, even when the proverbial chips are down, which, in Alphie's case, seem more often than not. For this reason alone, "A Stone's Throw" deserves a wide readership not only amongst the great clan of devout McCourt fans, but also among those interested in reading about an Irish emigrant's experiences in America. Without a doubt, Alphie McCourt deserves ample praise for rendering a life most ordinary into one replete in literary richness.
Summary of A Long Stone's Throw
The McCourt family gained fame through the books of brothers Frank and Malachy and in the two popular documentaries that profiled them. In A Long Stone's Throw, the youngest McCourt, Alphie, adds his gifted voice to this literary chorus with a vivid, emotional memoir that starts in his native Limerick. Alone and dispirited after his brothers leave for America, Alphie flees Ireland as soon as he's able. He spends the remainder of his adolescence in New York, aimless and half drunk. A return to Ireland to study law is a dismal failure. Back in America, things aren t much better until he reconnects with, and eventually marries, the beautiful Lynn. Still, things are rough: their daughter Allison is born with difficulties, business success alternates with business failures, he continues to drink. Finally, after an epiphany on Route 80, McCourt learns to navigate, clear-eyed, the happy chaos of New York City, and of life itself.Irish Books
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