
Death Need Not Be Fatal
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Malachy McCourt
About this listen
Before he runs out of time, Irish bon vivant Malachy McCourt shares his views on death - sometimes hilarious and often poignant - and on what will or won't happen after his last breath is drawn.
During the course of his life, Malachy McCourt practically invented the singles bar and was a pioneer in talk radio, a soap opera star, a best-selling author, a gold smuggler, a political activist, and a candidate for governor of the state of New York.
It seems that the only two things he hasn't done are stick his head into a lion's mouth and die. Since he is allergic to cats, he decided to write about the great hereafter and answer the question on most minds: What's so great about it anyhow?
In Death Need Not Be Fatal, McCourt also trains a sober eye on the tragedies that have shaped his life: the deaths of his sister and twin brothers; the real story behind Angela's famous ashes; and a poignant account of the death of the man who left his mother, brothers, and him to nearly die in squalor. McCourt writes with deep emotion of the staggering losses of all three of his brothers, Frank, Mike, and Alphie. In his inimitable way, McCourt takes the grim reaper by the lapels and shakes the truth out of him.
As he rides the final blocks on his Rascal scooter, he looks, too, at the prospect of his own demise with emotional clarity and insight. In this beautifully rendered memoir, McCourt shows us how to live life to its fullest, how to grow old without acting old, and how to die without regret.
©2017 Malachy McCourt (P)2017 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
'Tis
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen as Frank tells in his own inimitable voice his story of how at the age of 19 he traveled from Limerick to New York in pursuit of the American dream. Despite the abundance of unsolicited advice he gets to "join the cops" and "stick to his own kind", Frank knows that he should educate himself and somehow rise above his circumstances.
-
-
Marvelous
- By Tony on 02-05-06
By: Frank McCourt
-
Teacher Man
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited audiobook about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs, and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City.
-
-
Frank McCourt is an entertaining writer and reader
- By Susan B. on 12-08-08
By: Frank McCourt
-
Angela's Ashes
- By: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: There’s no gentle way to put this – Frank McCourt’s performance of Angela’s Ashes is just better than the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Frank McCourt shares his sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story of growing up poor, Irish, and Catholic in the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes.
-
-
A classic book *and* a classic audiobook
- By Karen on 01-30-03
By: Frank McCourt, and others
-
Frank McCourt at the 92nd Street Y
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Alphie McCourt, Malachy McCourt
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The recently passed award-winning author of the memoirs Angela'a Ashes and 'Tis discusses his writing, his life, and teaching as a profession. He reads from Teacher Man: A Memoir.
-
-
God Bless Frank McCourt!
- By Amy Franklin on 05-07-15
By: Frank McCourt
-
Silent Night and Frank Won't Be Calling This Year
- By: Alphie McCourt
- Narrated by: Alphie McCourt
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alphie McCourt, the youngest of the McCourt brothers, reminisces on Christmas past—from his childhood in Limerick to the celebrations of family and friends in New York as an adult with Frank and Malachy.
By: Alphie McCourt
-
The Boys
- A Memoir of Hollywood and Family
- By: Ron Howard, Clint Howard
- Narrated by: Ron Howard, Clint Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben - these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the ’60s and ’70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors.
-
-
The recording is awful, loud and then quiet
- By Sandy Williams on 10-16-21
By: Ron Howard, and others
-
'Tis
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen as Frank tells in his own inimitable voice his story of how at the age of 19 he traveled from Limerick to New York in pursuit of the American dream. Despite the abundance of unsolicited advice he gets to "join the cops" and "stick to his own kind", Frank knows that he should educate himself and somehow rise above his circumstances.
-
-
Marvelous
- By Tony on 02-05-06
By: Frank McCourt
-
Teacher Man
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited audiobook about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs, and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City.
-
-
Frank McCourt is an entertaining writer and reader
- By Susan B. on 12-08-08
By: Frank McCourt
-
Angela's Ashes
- By: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: There’s no gentle way to put this – Frank McCourt’s performance of Angela’s Ashes is just better than the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Frank McCourt shares his sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story of growing up poor, Irish, and Catholic in the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes.
-
-
A classic book *and* a classic audiobook
- By Karen on 01-30-03
By: Frank McCourt, and others
-
Frank McCourt at the 92nd Street Y
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Alphie McCourt, Malachy McCourt
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The recently passed award-winning author of the memoirs Angela'a Ashes and 'Tis discusses his writing, his life, and teaching as a profession. He reads from Teacher Man: A Memoir.
-
-
God Bless Frank McCourt!
- By Amy Franklin on 05-07-15
By: Frank McCourt
-
Silent Night and Frank Won't Be Calling This Year
- By: Alphie McCourt
- Narrated by: Alphie McCourt
- Length: 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alphie McCourt, the youngest of the McCourt brothers, reminisces on Christmas past—from his childhood in Limerick to the celebrations of family and friends in New York as an adult with Frank and Malachy.
By: Alphie McCourt
-
The Boys
- A Memoir of Hollywood and Family
- By: Ron Howard, Clint Howard
- Narrated by: Ron Howard, Clint Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben - these shows captivated millions of TV viewers in the ’60s and ’70s. Join award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard and audience-favorite actor Clint Howard as they frankly and fondly share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors.
-
-
The recording is awful, loud and then quiet
- By Sandy Williams on 10-16-21
By: Ron Howard, and others
-
Love Poems: Are You the One?
- By: Steve Ryan
- Narrated by: Dave Wright
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love Poems: Are You the One? digs deep into the heart of love. These poems and insights are written in a way that most people will relate to. There are many questions that people ask about love. Here are some of those questions. When am I going to find "The One'"? Is the person that I'm with "The One''? Are we going to work out? How does this person feel about me? What does this person think about me?
-
-
Love is all we need!
- By Monique on 07-17-15
By: Steve Ryan
-
The Girls Who Went Away
- The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade
- By: Ann Fessler
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade.
-
-
Sad but True ... and Helpful
- By Kim Kavanagh on 01-05-17
By: Ann Fessler
-
The Five Invitations
- Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
- By: Frank Ostaseski
- Narrated by: Frank Ostaseski
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most. Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart, and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves.
-
-
A wonderful resource for caregivers, patients
- By Elizabeth Kerin on 02-05-18
By: Frank Ostaseski
-
We Don't Know Ourselves
- A Personal History of Modern Ireland
- By: Fintan O'Toole
- Narrated by: Aidan Kelly
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In We Don't Know Ourselves, Fintan O'Toole weaves his own experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change, showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a reactionary "backwater" to an almost totally open society - perhaps the most astonishing national transformation in modern history. O'Toole narrates the once unthinkable collapse of the all-powerful Catholic Church, brought down by scandal and by the activism of ordinary Irish. He relates the horrific violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which led most Irish to reject violent nationalism.
-
-
Relentlessly Negative
- By John on 06-02-22
By: Fintan O'Toole
-
Beach Music
- A Novel
- By: Pat Conroy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.
-
-
Memorable
- By Ella on 03-14-10
By: Pat Conroy
-
Angela and the Baby Jesus
- By: Frank McCourt
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt
- Length: 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six-year-old Angela looks at the naked baby Jesus in her local church in Limerick, Ireland, circa 1912, and thinks he looks cold. She wonders why his mother, or one of the shepherds, doesn't put a blanket over him. She decides to take him to her bedroom and wrap him in her own blanket. The journey home is a bit difficult and when the disappearance is discovered, the whole parish is very, very upset. But Angela does carry the baby back to church, and all turns out well.
-
-
LOVE!
- By Kathy on 05-07-08
By: Frank McCourt
-
Walking with Ghosts
- A Memoir
- By: Gabriel Byrne
- Narrated by: Gabriel Byrne
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When award-winning actor, producer, and international icon Gabriel Byrne was a young boy, his grandmother brought him to the cinema for the first time. There, Byrne fell in love with the transporting power of the big screen. Growing up in 1950s and 60s Dublin within a family of eight, Byrne's formative childhood years were both carefree and challenging, spent between home, the church, school, and the streets of his ever-changing city.
-
-
Very good
- By Judy McDermott on 02-14-21
By: Gabriel Byrne
-
This Boy's Life
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book essentially launched the memoir craze that has been going strong ever since. The story is pretty grim: teen-aged Wolff moves with his divorced mother from Florida to Utah to Washington State to escape her violent boyfriend. When she remarries, Wolff finds himself in a bitter battle of wills with his abusive stepfather, a contest in which the two prove to be more evenly matched than might have been supposed.
-
-
Beautiful, unsentimental memoir of youth
- By Darwin8u on 04-27-13
By: Tobias Wolff
-
Did I Ever Tell You This?
- By: Sam Neill
- Narrated by: Sam Neill
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion.
-
-
A Kiwi Knight who kept me up for many nights
- By C. A. Cameron on 04-13-23
By: Sam Neill
-
My Cross to Bear
- By: Gregg Allman, Alan Light
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the greatest rock icons of all time, Gregg Allman has lived it all and then some. For almost 50 years, he's been creating some of the most recognizable songs in American rock, but never before has he paused to reflect on the long road he's traveled. Now, he tells the unflinching story of his life, laying bare the unvarnished truth about his wild ride that has spanned across the years.
-
-
my cross to bear was awesome
- By the dude on 05-02-12
By: Gregg Allman, and others
-
Sunny's Nights
- Lost and Found at the Bar at the End of the World
- By: Tim Sultan
- Narrated by: Robert Malloch
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine that Alice had walked into a bar instead of falling down the rabbit hole. In the tradition of J. R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar and the classic reportage of Joseph Mitchell, here is an indelible portrait of what is quite possibly the greatest bar in the world—and the mercurial, magnificent man behind it. The first time he saw Sunny’s Bar, in 1995, Tim Sultan was lost, thirsty for a drink, and intrigued by the single bar sign among the forlorn warehouses lining the Brooklyn waterfront.
-
-
Visiting an Era
- By Carolyn on 03-01-16
By: Tim Sultan
-
Making Poldark
- By: Robin Ellis
- Narrated by: Robin Ellis
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the 2015 edition of the memoir of BBC/ Masterpiece Theatre actor Robin Ellis, the original Captain Ross Poldark in the BBC classic television series. This expanded edition includes an all new chapter documenting Robin's return to television as part of the new series produced by Mammoth Screen, on behalf of the BBC and Masterpiece/PBS, with Aidan Turner as the new Poldark.
-
-
Updating a classic
- By ElaineSL on 07-24-15
By: Robin Ellis
Critic reviews
"The audiobook is like sitting at the dinner table listening to a beloved uncle talk about his life." (AudioFile)
What listeners say about Death Need Not Be Fatal
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 02-08-24
Brilliant
Malachy, much like brother Frank, has a gift with the English language. He is able to cover grim topics with levity and wisdom. I can say, without hesitation, that it is possible to laugh at death. The brothers McCourt are, by far, some of my favorite humans to ever put pen to paper. Thank you for your story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Toots
- 05-28-17
Wonderful listen!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, Malachy is funny and his brogue is just like my grandmothers!
What other book might you compare Death Need Not Be Fatal to and why?
it's not anything like Angela's Ashes, but he compliments Frank's story well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Georgia White
- 03-09-23
Very enjoyable story
Malachy is hilarious and is amazing at describing events, makes you feel like your part of the story!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lili
- 06-19-17
What a life lived and shared!
Any additional comments?
This perhaps is not my favorite memoir. There is a great deal of sadness, loss, brutal poverty, and generally the harm humans do to each other and themselves. But, the perspective on life this man has, the obstacles he has overcome, the success he has achieved and the celebrity he has endured; all make for a most memorable read. He narrates the book himself, with a sly Irish accent, and an abundance of wit and humor. Sometimes he even breaks into song!
He is the brother of the famous Frank McCourt whose book I have not read, perhaps being writers is built into their DNA, I don't know. But I do know I will remember this book, and this man, for years to come.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah B. Readin
- 11-24-18
Malachy McCourt is a national treasure.
If I could rate the book a bajillion stars, I would. I recommend this book to anyone planning on eventually dying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anne F. Oneill
- 07-09-23
Lots of fun
Great attitude, diverse topics on the ending of us all. His perspectives on catholicism reflect a time and place, and perhaps an ethnic enclave.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- HDTwoodsman
- 12-01-20
Malachy Never Disappoints
This is the third MM book I've read. He represents all that is great about Ireland and America. He's always funny and much is learned.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Susan R.
- 02-01-23
enjoyed his humor
Really enjoyed his humor, and really, just the way he views things and communicates it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Therese Y.
- 07-05-23
Great read aloud
Loved his humor knowledge and freedom to speak his mind . Great advice about dying and living. Malachi McCourt is funny entertaining and brilliant . God Bless the man.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Contreras
- 06-29-20
LOVED!
Excellent content on a man with a colorful life, as he reflects on his getting old and facing the next stage of his life: death. Some great stories, from a fantastic storyteller. If you’re a Frank McCourt fan, you’ll love this book by his brother, which includes stories about Frank, including his end of life experience. Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful