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Teacher Man
A Memoir
by Frank McCourt


8.3

based on 17 reviews
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based on 32 votes
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Official Publisher Site

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Angela's Ashes" discusses his 30-year career as a high school English teacher.

Scribner, 272 pages
11/15/2005
$26.00

ISBN: 0743243773

Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Kirkus Reviews

The teaching profession's loss is the reading public's gain, entirely. [15 Sep 2005, p. 1014]

Los Angeles Times Phillip Lopate

An enthralling work of autobiographical storytelling. [11 Nov 2005]

Publishers Weekly

McCourt's many fans will of course love this book, but it also should be mandatory reading for every teacher in America. [12 Sep 2005, p. 60]

The New York Times Book Review Ben Yagoda

"Teacher Man" is an irresistible valedictory, about a man finding his voice in the classroom, on the page and in his soul.

USA Today Bob Minzesheimer

The last 50 pages of Frank McCourt's third memoir... is as good as writing gets about teaching and learning and finding yourself through writing.

Wall Street Journal Roger Kaplan

Readers of Mr. McCourt's best-selling pair of memoirs--"Angela's Ashes" (1996) and "'Tis" (1999)--will notice in "Teacher Man" the same wry wit that characterized those books, and the same melancholy recognition of his own foibles.

Washington Post Ron Charles

McCourt manages to celebrate high school English teaching without disturbing the most pernicious misconception about the profession: that unlike algebra, French, chemistry or history, English is essentially the study of a needy teacher's personality.

Booklist Brad Hooper

[McCourt's] trademark charm, wit, and unself-conscious self-effacement ensure that the flashbacks of his dreadful days growing up in extreme deprivation in Ireland don't sink the narrative in self-pity. [15 Sep 2005, p. 4]

Daily Telegraph Francis Gilbert

There is nothing hugely original about the stories that McCourt tells here. If you had not read Angela's Ashes and Tis then Teacher Man would be unexceptional. But if you have, then the book is transformed.

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] James Howden

[McCourt's] internal dialogues are biting, and his comments on education caustic and informed (if slightly repetitive). But his superb ear for the classroom experience is the centre of Teacher Man. [24 Dec 2005, p. D5]

The Guardian Rebecca Seal

This book is charming, and it relies heavily and successfully on the lilting style and phonetic writing that marked out his last two books. At times McCourt can be a deeply frustrating protagonist, but this is, none the less, a really good read.

The Onion A.V. Club Scott Tobias

McCourt's wise, measured, and blessedly unpretentious new book Teacher Man gives a brisk anecdotal history of his adventures in the teaching profession, from his naive beginnings at a vocational school to his inspired stint at New York's esteemed Stuyvesant High.

Houston Chronicle Barbara Liss

It is surprising that a book as grounded as this one is in a large city within a specific time frame has no discernible historical context... And though less important but truly annoying, why can't the man use quotation marks in his writing? For an English teacher--even an iconoclastic one--this is a strange decision

San Francisco Chronicle Floyd Skloot

"Teacher Man" seems listless, forced, as his previous two memoirs never did, its sporadic moments of passionate brilliance only reminding the reader of how disengaged the rest of the book seems.

Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese

The quiet desperation of a frustrated man doesn't pull at the heartstrings quite like a hardscrabble Irish childhood, but McCourt makes clear that it was, in its own way, every bit as miserable.

Christian Science Monitor Teresa Mendez

After so many pages of McCourt's sometimes inexplicable self-loathing, I found myself, begrudgingly, disliking him nearly as much as he seems to have disliked himself.

Boston Globe Brendan Halpin

After two wildly successful memoirs, many readers will buy ''Teacher Man" on the strength of McCourt's name. Those looking for an involving story will be disappointed, as will those hoping for a fresh look at teaching. Even those interested in McCourt as a person will find reading this odd, cranky book a frustrating experience.

The average user rating for this book is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lex H gave it an8:
The honour is given to the Teacher and not for the ones who make the most money in education. Inspiring for teacher trainees.

Reynaldo P gave it a10:
A classic! A hommage to teachers. From this moment all we will consider better the sacrified profession of teaching than the years before.

Elaine S gave it a10:
A humorous, realistic look at the real art of teaching--no Hollywood romanticism! Every novice teacher should read this book; it contains valuable advice from the actual experience of a dedicated not found in the education curriculum in universities. This book validates the emotional roller coaster of all who love teaching.

ann d gave it a9:
witty, true to the job, reflects true moments of the life of a teacher (teacher myself)

melitta k gave it a10:
the best of his books, and I agree a must read for all Teachers

Brynna R gave it a7:
This book is extremely enjoyable. It makes me want to read "'Tis" and "Angela's Ashes"!

John K gave it a10:
As astruggling English teacher, I have never read anything so amusing, poetic and down to earth about the school jungle and sometimes paradise. Just as interesting are the negative begrudging remarks of some unhappy readers. Basically McCourt tells us all: get a life even if you are self-depricating

Teacher Man A Memoir by Frank McCourt

Teacher Man
A Memoir
by Frank McCourt