A Long Stone's Throw

by Alphie McCourt Narrated by Alphie McCourt

Overview

This memoir of the youngest McCourt begins between the borders of Canada and the United States. Because of a technical hitch in immigration law, Alphie, in town to play a rugby match with his mates, finds himself shanghaied in no man's land. This was not the first, or the last, time Alphie will be on unsteady ground.

Alphie McCourt was born in Limerick, Ireland, where his father's departure left misery behind for the family. His loneliness only grew deeper and wider as each of his older brothers (Frank, Malachy and Michael) left for America; so in the year 1959, Alphie followed them.

Alphie's adolescence in New York was marked by aimlessness, and too much drink. Briefly returning to Ireland and study law, he returned to America only three years later, where this time he settled in California, discovering marijuana and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Returning to his immigrant roots in New York City, Alphie reencounters the beautiful Upper East Side Lynn,and marries her in 1975, in a raucous ceremony attended by both priest and rabbi. Success followed by hardship in business ventures color several of the following years. Then, one night, on Route 80 in New Jersey, drunk, full of despair and driving through the snow, Alphie has an epiphany.

Today Alphie rises in the morning, at time when he used to go to bed. With a New York City dawn still lingering, he monitors the Empire State Building, in all its moods and colors, and knows he has finally landed on firm ground. He is home.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Stepping out from the shadows of his talented elder brothers, Frank and Malachy, the youngest of the McCourt clan offers his version of his family's famously miserable childhood in Limerick and subsequent journey to America. McCourt narrates his memoir with a slow, contemplative tone that transcends the limitations of recorded audio as he connects on a deeply personal level with his audience. Though his delivery is slow and straightforward, the melancholy lilt in his voice is Irish throughout, and listeners will appreciate and understand the story all the better because of his reading. A Sterling and Ross hardcover (Review Annex). (Jan.)

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Library Journal

This first book from McCourt is the work of the youngest of four brothers. His brothers Michael, Frank (Angela's Ashes), and Malachy (A Monk Swimming)-the subjects of two documentaries-are a big part of Alphie's own story, an extraordinary tale of an ordinary man. The book begins with Alphie's immigration to America in the 1960s, his frustrating travels between Canada and the United States, and his draft into the army. We are then taken back to the 1940s and 1950s, when Alphie was growing up in Limerick, Ireland. A hard-working Irish Catholic, the author writes of his formative years, his struggles with guilt, and life in a broken home. We come full circle to 1959, the year Alphie and his family took a Christmas trip to New York City, at which time he determined that he would not be returning home. Yet we follow Alphie as he does go back to Ireland, only to return to America again, his life reading like a fascinating roller coaster. Recommended for all public libraries.
—David L. Reynolds

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173809070
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	12/01/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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