By Frank McCourt
I’m not one to normally pick up a non-fiction book and read it enthusiastically but Teacher Man was an exception. As a teacher myself, I found this creative non-fiction to be highly inspiring, informative and entertaining. Although, I would have to say that some of the practices McCourt used in his classrooms would not fly particularly well with the new curriculum or new expectations (or lack of expectations) on students and teachers. But all the same, this book was very enlightening and reminded me just why I love my job.
As with Angela’s Ashes, McCourt has a very unique way of capturing the audience’s attention right from the start. His stories range from light-hearted, tongue in cheek to dark and serious. He accomplishes a lot of this though his vivid detail and description. The only criticism I have is that there are elements that he describes of personal things that happen in his life that come across as cold and uncaring, for example, with regards to his marriage. I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t yet read the book but I read that part of his life and thought that he didn’t really paint himself very well there. Although, I suppose I should give him credit for being honest and perhaps it was an editor’s decision to cut back on the emotion linked to the particular situation.
Either way, I realize that Frank McCourt recently passed away and I am sorry for it. He was an amazing writer and I know that his work will be relevant and appreciated well beyond his life and death.
Review by Angela Minchella
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