Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize -- winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York.
Now, here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City. His methods anything but conventional, McCourt creates a lasting impact on his students through imaginative assignments (he instructs one class to write "An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God"), singalongs (featuring recipe ingredients as lyrics), and field trips (imagine taking twenty-nine rowdy girls to a movie in Times Square!).
McCourt struggles to find his way in the classroom and spends his evenings drinking with writers and dreaming of one day putting his own story to paper. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. McCourt's rocky marriage, his failed attempt to get a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his repeated firings due to his propensity to talk back to his superiors ironically lead him to New York's most prestigious school, Stuyvesant High School, where he finally finds a place and a voice. "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights."
For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in Teacher Man the journey to redemption -- and literary fame -- is an exhilarating adventure.
Frank McCourt was one of those teachers who fell into the job whilst secretly wishing he could do something else (in his case, a writer - an ambition he has now achieved). As a result this is a curious memoir of a man who has spent many years reluctantly at the chalk face. He conveys something of the workload of a typical classroom teacher: all that lesson planning and marking; and also the difficulties of idealistic teacher battling with technocratic school authorities.
McCourt admits he was never the type of teacher who could drill his students to achieve stellar exam results. Nor could he impose discipline on a class as evidenced by the story of taking a class of black Puerto Rican girls to the Cinema.
What he does have is a deep seated love of stories, which clearly came out in his classes, and shows why he was loved by some of his students.
This is not a great memoir to inspire people to teach, but it is a revealling account of a man's life shackled to a profession he only half commits to, but nevertheless picks up a university's worth of learning on the way.
Doggone it....... one of my favorite books of all time is ANGELE'S ASHES: A MEMOIR by Frank McCourt. It is the story of this author and his horrendous childhood years growing up in Ireland during the 1930's & 40's. The hardships that he (as a child) and his family endured in a depressed Ireland at that time were amazing. The fact that he ever survived his childhood, and the way he told his story are equally amazing and entertaining. The book went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. I highly recommend ANGELA'S ASHES, but it's for mature audiences and the reader has to have a strong stomach. It's an awesome story. It was also a movie....don't waste your time with the movie.
The author followed up with a second book........ TIZ: A MEMOIR in which he describes his early adult years and move to America. Wow....what a crumby book. I loved the author as a child, but my whole image of the kind of person he became was washed away with this book. I wish I'd never read it.
So I caved in and decided to read this third memoir (a trilogy of his life) as I hoped it would reflect the kind of Frank McCourt I'd wished he would eventually become. Though I enjoyed this book better than book #2 (TIS), I still have trouble reconciling my feelings about the kind of person he is. First off, the story focuses on McCort's entire teaching career. I thought I would enjoy this story because being a teacher is something that I'd also considered back in college. I respect teachers and had a wonderful aunt as my 4th grade teacher in Walla Walla (Hi Aunt Bev....I love you). I had many wonderful teachers, but I also had many teachers that were pretty worthless. In retrospect, I must admit that I was probably not my teacher's favorite student most of the time......I was always getting into trouble.
Anyway, let's get back to the book...... I enjoyed some of the stories that McCourt shared with the reader and the stories he constantly shared with his students, but I also think that some of the stories seemed a bit far-fetched (which then makes me wonder about each of his books, and all of his recollections.......does he stretch the truth to make for a better read?). I still think he's not the most wonderful person (book two popped that bubble). I think he was an easy "A" grade for his students. I think the book is a story of survival, as this third book in the trilogy sums up his life. I do believe he loved his students, but I also think they knew how to manipulate him.
If you are at all interested in reading a McCourt book. I'd read ANGELA'S ASHES first. I'd then skip the other two in the trilogy. Maybe I was just in the right frame of mind when I first read ANGELA'S ASHES, but for everyone else I've ever recommended it to, they've also enjoyed it tremendously. It was awesome. Unfortunately, the second two books fell flat and their shadows have affected the memories I have of book one and how I now perceive the author. TEACHER MAN was OK, but it wasn't great.
I loved Angel's Ashes. I thought Tis was pretty good, too but Teacher Man did not move me. I kept waiting the whole book for him to figure it out. He started to, and had a few poignant moments but it wasn't till the very when he seemed to begin to connect with this students and that's really what teaching is all about, isn't it? It never grabbed me.
