Magic forest

In the first half of the book there are two thrilling anecdotes that I would like to tell you about:

The first anecdote is from McCourt’s class and is about two lovers: Sal Battaglia and his girlfriend Louise. He is Italian and she is Irish. Though they are both Catholic, their parents disapproved of their relationship. As soon as they finished high school, they planned to marry and start a life together. One night in the park, Sal is attacked by members of an Irish gang who disagree to his dating an Irish girl. They beat him and even hurt him with a knife. After he returns to school, he won’t even look at Louise. He wants to distance himself from all things Irish, even if that means the love of his life or his English teacher.

In another anecdote there is this rambunctious Kevin Dunne, an unfocused kid who no one at McKee wants in their class. They give him to McCourt since he is the new teacher. McCourt somehow inspires the boy to express himself through art; however he soon drops out of school. When Kevin enters the army and is lost in combat, his mother gives McCourt a piece of his art -a large jar filled with his paints mixed in with some of his own hair. McCourt feels very sorry for the boy and keeps the jar on his desk. He also feels guilty as he had let him drift out of school so easily.

I must admit that I purchased this book only because all the other books from the list were already sold. The author’s name rung a bell as I have already read his bestseller Angela’s Ashes in which he wrote about his wretched childhood in Ireland. After taking a glace at the synopsis I thought that I should give it a try and, lo and behold, it turned out to be one of the most gripping books that I have read for a long time.

Teacher Man is a bittersweet look back at McCourt’s not entirely successful career of teaching at the New York City Public High Schools.  The book is full of hilarious anecdotes about the goings-on in his classrooms and about his life out of class.
Frank McCourt is honest and admits at the beginning that he lacked self-discipline. But what should one expect from a young fella with such horrible memories from childhood and low self-esteem. His alcoholic father walked out when Frank was ten. Three of his siblings died. In school he was beaten and he had hardly any food to eat, let alone his worn-out clothes, lousiness and bare feet. Finally, he left school at fourteen and fled to America, where he worked as a manual labourer.

After he served a stint in the U. S. army, McCourt scraped his way to a college degree from the New York University on the GI Bill. For quite a long time he couldn’t impress any schools enough to get a job. Next, he worked on the New York docks, where he didn’t really fit in because he was educated.  At the age of twenty-seven, he became a teacher after barely passing his licensing examination. (He told the professors that he would ask children to write a suicide note).

On his first week in front of his own class, a fight breaks out; he eats a student’s sandwich, and makes a joke about the Irish going out with sheep. This almost causes him to be fired but the principal has a heard and turns a blind eye to it. 
Principals and other lecturers told him to never share anything personal and to try to arouse fear and awe but he isn’t that kind of a person. Actually, just the opposite happens. He tells stories of his miserable years in Ireland instead of focusing on grammar and discussing great works of literature. His disinterested pupils easily steer him away from the curriculum by asking him personal questions and he answers them with pleasure.

His teaching methods are quite controversial yet effective as he manages to motivate his students to think creatively. He, for example, instructs one class to write “An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God (as the students tend to be very creative while writing them for themselves) or he uses parts of a pen to define parts of a sentence.

If you enjoyed reading Angela’s Ashes, you should definitely read Teacher Man as well. It is completely captivating and full of humour and wit. McCourt has a very fluent and revealing writing style which is easy to follow.  The language is not too demanding, yet you might pick up some new witty informal words and phrases as he uses them a lot.  I would definitely recommend it. You’ll have a teriffic time reading Teacher Man. Trust me!