Product Description

"All of us are scarred, but some go to extremes in the quest for the happy childhood they never had."

Malachy McCourt -- actor, gadfly, raconteur, and author of the internationally bestselling memoir A Monk Swimming -- grew up amid death, squalor, poverty, and abuse in the lanes of Limerick, Irland. When he came to America as a young man, he brought a gargantuan appetite for what life had to offer -- and an equal drive to forget what it had delivered to him thus far.

Alternately amused and aghast, but always fascinated, millions of readers followed McCourt through his twenties as he caroused his way all over the world, becoming a familiar face in movies and television, in New York and Hollywood, and in bars from Paris to Calcutta.

In Singing My Him Song, McCourt tells us how he went from living the headlong and heedless life of a world-class drunk to becoming a sober, loving father and grandfather, still happily married after thirty-five years. We meet the woman who stood by his side all those years, watch as they build a family together, and listen as McCourt pursues a career of surprising successes and comic missteps.

But while becoming the host of television and radio talk shows, appearing in dozens of movies and plays, and establishing himself as a well-loved regular on Ryan's Hope and One Life to Live, McCourt must also face the wreckage of his past. McCourt fights for the rights of his handicapped stepdaughter, exposing a scandal that still reverberates; helps steer his children away from the path he took; and finally comes to terms with the people and places that sent him careering along his misguided course. Then, just when it's time for the happy ending, he must gather all that he's learned, and the support of everyone he loves, to face and overcome the threat of cancer.

Bawdy and funny, naked and moving, told in the same inimitable voice that left readers all over the world wondering what happened next, Malachy McCourt's Singing My Him Song tells as honest and entertaining a story as anyone could hope for.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272704 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"If ever there was an unexamined life on this earth," says Malachy McCourt, "it was mine." No more. In this sequel to his memoir A Monk Swimming, McCourt examines his every itch and scratch. These confessions of "a recovering Catholic" are written with obvious anguish and great personal insight, but in public view the insights often become clich?s: the mea culpa of a charming Irish alcoholic, womanizer and deadbeat dad who recounts, in an enchanting brogue, the violence, irresponsibility, self-righteousness and self-pity engendered by his childhood of poverty and despair. Though the abridgment lacks smooth transitions and the author has a habit of dropping his voice at the ends of lines, this will surely become a popular recording for most listeners. For McCourt knows how to tell a story, how to read his lyrical sentences and how to get the most out of his rich, sardonic humor. Based on the HarperCollins hardcover (Forecasts, Sept. 18). (Sept.) n
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In his second memoir, actor and rogue McCourt overcomes alcoholism, cancer, family problems, and more, and in the end, admits to enjoying his tumultuous life. His "gift of the tongue" creates charming phrases, e.g., the "nattering insistent voice of alcoholism" made him "the man who gave good intentions a bad name." With Irish charm and humor his reading of these lively stories adds a dimension denied his popular printed books. Some profanity and a few criticisms of Catholicism will rankle the pious, as did the famed Angela's Ashes by his brother Frank. McCourt is his own person, from a whimsical Micawber dodging creditors to a liberal radio talk show host exposing corruption, especially Nixon's. Government investigators assumed he was an illegal immigrant (he was born in Brooklyn). Often unemployed, the author deplores this hazard most actors suffer. Warmly recommended for open-minded adults. Gordon Blackwell, Eastchester, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Singing My Him Song makes it clear that no one understands the value of laughter better than Malachy McCourt." -- -- Irish American Magazine

"Singing My Him Song makes it clear that no one understands the value of laughter better than Malachy McCourt." -- -- Irish American Magazine

"A natural-born storyteller...There's much pleasure to be had in accompanying McCourt on his twisting journey to sobriety and peace." -- -- Washington Post

"A natural-born storyteller...There's much pleasure to be had in accompanying McCourt on his twisting journey to sobriety and peace." -- -- Washington Post

"It's all told with the frankness and honesty for which McCourt has been renowned." -- -- New York Daily News

"It's all told with the frankness and honesty for which McCourt has been renowned." -- -- New York Daily News

"McCourt has a wonderful sense of humor and peppers his work with comic, self-effacing moments." -- --Denver Rocky Mountain News

"McCourt has a wonderful sense of humor and peppers his work with comic, self-effacing moments." -- --Denver Rocky Mountain News

"McCourt is more thoughtful...and writes movingly about his family, and is open about how his alcoholism devastated them." -- -- The New York Times

"McCourt is more thoughtful...and writes movingly about his family, and is open about how his alcoholism devastated them." -- -- The New York Times

Customer Reviews

You won't be disappointed
I had the pleasure of attending a book signing by Malachy McCourt recently. He is a true storyteller, and the only thing better than reading his new book Singing My Him Song, was listening to him read it.

For those who enjoyed A Monk Swimming, you will love this latest account of his life. A more reflective and introspective Malachy is revealed, without losing any of the humor or cheekiness of his first book. The best book I've read in a long time.

Totally Unexpected�
Not only was I prepared not to like this book, I knew with certainty it would dwell near the bottom of the books I had read this year. The Brothers McCourt had produced a quartet of books, and I was sure this was just a volume to ride the Frank McCourt wave for all it was worth. I was wrong, I was wrong huge, Orca huge! (A nod to Kevin Spacey). Of the 4 books offered thus far, this is easily the better of the 2 from Mr. Malachy McCourt, and second only to, "Angela's Ashes". Judging by the ranking of the book, and the comparatively few reviews, perhaps I was not alone in my error.

This second work from this Author starts and is unremarkable. His life at the beginning of the narration is afflicted with every complaint a reader would expect. When the end of the book arrives you have shared a long, painful, and brutally honest assessment of a life by the man who lived it. I don't know that I have read an autobiographical work that is more personal, pointed, and candid. This man transforms himself from bitter, angry, and sick, whose solace is found in a variety of chemicals, to a man who comes to terms with his life, and changes its course. The book is not a fairy tale. The man at the end is one you would likely be as fond of, as the younger version would have repelled you.

There are some remarkable stories within this man's life. A Daughter who is handicapped, the system that she enters that would be the delight of The Marquis De Sade, and a then young reporter, who helped change the system, and is a household name today. Mr. McCourt takes a trip cross country, and tends to a mouse that has found a spot to hitchhike its way to The West Coast in a small hole in the auto. There is the encounter that he and his wife have with one of the more notorious murderers of the 20th Century prior to his crimes. And there are dozens more.

This book has a great deal of the wit this man is known for, however to describe this work as humorous or funny would be way off the mark. This was a man who was angry, who marched when it was unpopular to do so, he even had the tapes of one of his radio programs confiscated by The Secret Service, after The Saturday Night Massacre of Nixon fame.

To say Mr. McCourt has lived a full life would illicit from him a quip about the wildest form of understatement. He is unique, a one time original. How else do you describe a man who tried to divert the minds of passengers in the midst of skimming the Atlantic Ocean because a door was insecure, by asking if the other passengers would like to meet his Mother? The most normal of questions except when uttered by Mr. McCourt, who when the passengers agreed, produced the ashes of his deceased Mother, whose remains he was bringing back to Ireland to bury. Bad taste...if you find yourself on a plane that may or may not make its destination, hope there is a man or woman aboard who has a sense of humor, who thinks of his fellow passengers.

A wonderful book that deserves much more attention.

A sequel that's better than the original
Malachy McCourt has written an occasionally captivating look at the last forty years of his life that is replete with self reflection, without wallowing in self pity. Furthermore he shows that he can convey his tale in a terse, lyrical prose that shines more brightly than virtually anything he wrote in "A Monk Swimming". The passages that describe his careers as actor and radio talk show host and his involvement in the successful effort to close Staten Island's Willowbrook mental institution are among this tome's finest moments. Although "Singing My Him Song" is not the literary classic that "Angela's Ashes" is deservedly so, it should be read by McCourties - diehard fans of the McCourts - and by others who enjoy reading tales well told.

(EDITORIAL NOTE 8/20/99 - Now that his brother Frank is gone, Malachy is now the McCourt family's resident expert of comic storytelling. If I had any doubts about that - and I can assure that I never have - they were dispelled during an emotional, funny, and yes, even, irreverent, eulogy which Malachy delivered during a memorial mass held for Frank early last evening - exactly one month after Frank passed away (on the occasion of what would have been Frank's 79th birthday) - at a Franciscan-run Roman Catholic Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was indeed a most moving remembrance of my Irish-American "Dad", delivered by his oldest brother, who will remain forever in my heart, my favorite Irish-American "Uncle".).