Rating: 
Summary: Important , well written book, but the chip on his shoulder-
Review: Bragg's writing is crisp and visual. I can see the Southern region he describes even though I haven't been there. And his "kinfolk", especially his father and younger brother, will trouble me for some time to come. The self-sacrifice of Southern women is heart breakingly told through his mother and grandmother. God bless both of them. And God have mercy on his father and brother.What stops this book from reaching greatness is Bragg's negativism about most any U.S. citizen that wasn't born dirt-poor and Southern. Yes, the rich white people that hired his mother to clean what they didn't want to are beyond reproach. And the Yankees that judged him by his accent and birthplace need a good lesson in tolerance and objectivity. But I think Mr. Bragg might benefit also from such lessons. At the end of the book, after he has realized his dream by winning the Pulitzer and buying his momma a home on 1.3 acres, his two brothers spoil it by getting into an ugly fight on the front lawn. For me, the fight was symbolic of the Bragg family experience. But why, Rick, did you have to add, "It was not two blowhards swinging at air and curses between the newsstands on Broadway."? Where did that come from? You took a very moving scene and ruined it with your adgenda to get even with the "haves" of the world. It was sophmoric and has no place in the writing of someone as gifted as you. So it's that damn chip- albiet a chip he refer to many times with a gradiose twinge of pride- is more like a monkey on his back that, for me, keeps this book from joining the ranks of great writers and story tellers, Southern-poor or otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Warm and enriching
Review: No doubt the man can write, Pulizer Prize winner and all. Tender story of growing up scuzzy poor and coming out, much to his surprise, on top. Perceptive, candid, and enriching.
Rating: 
Summary: Read Angela's Ashes instead
Review: This is one of the most self-appreciating books that I have read in a long time--a total waste of time. What begins in good faith as a tribute to his mother's sacrifices ends up being more a pat on the back of the author. This is not a book about Bragg's mother--it's a book about himself. I am not interested in how much trouble he got in to, or the fabulous stories that he has written. If he wanted to write about his life, then at least call a spade a spade. Read "Angela's Ashes" if you want a tribute to a mother.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read.
Review: I enjoyed every page and hated for the book to end. I'm wondering if the people who wrote the bad reviews read the same book. I laughed, cried and read out loud to anyone who would listen. All Over But The Shoutin is a masterpiece and I hope to read a lot more from Rick Bragg.
Rating:
Summary: Rick Bragg snares the life of poor southern whites.
Review: Finally someone has paid homage to the heroic tragedy of living poor in the south. It's a stiffening reminder of how determination, perhaps some luck, and a good Mom can bring someone to the point of greatness. Thanks to Rick Bragg for telling our story. Thanks for diving into the muck and mire of alcoholism, poverty, and violence that tortures the poor, the southern, and the white. Thanks also to Rick Bragg for liberating those of us who grew up likewise. We don't talk about our upbringings much because no one has given us permission. Through the heroics of Rick's devoted mother, the tragic example of his father, and the touching kindness of his aunt and uncle someone has finally given us permission to talk about our own struggles. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh
Review: This ain't about the South, it's about a New York Times reporter/Harvard guy/liberal/ who jes' happens to be from the southern part of the US. Embarassingly conceited and self-conscious, depressing that so many reviewers think this is good writing about the South. Pass it up.
Rating:
Summary: a thoroughly delightful book
Review: I consider 'All Over But The Shouting" to be the best book I have read in a long time .It held my interest from the first page to the very end of the book.Has Rick Bragg written any other book in such a compelling manner?
Rating: 
Summary: This is No Angela's Ashes
Review: I debated on whether to write a review or not but saw so many 5-star reviews that I felt compelled to offer an alternative viewpoint. While the backgrounds of Bragg and Frank McCourt are similar, I think it is a disgrace and an insult to McCourt to compare All Over but the Shoutin' to Angela's Ashes. McCourt's writing, with his ability to make you laugh and cry, sometimes in the same paragraph, as well as the sheer beauty of his writing put Bragg's to shame. Like a few others have mentioned, Bragg seems to focus an awful lot on his own accomplishments while pretending to be just a humble redneck made good. The sad part is, I think Bragg has a great story to tell and there were parts of it that I did enjoy; however, I was so turned off by the self-congratulation laced throughout that I couldn't really enjoy it. Sorry, I don't agree with the reviewer that implied that it was self-congratulatory BECAUSE it was a memoir. That's got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard, but then apparently I don't really understand what the purpose of a memoir is. I'd like to read some of Bragg's articles, but he's just a little too pleased with himself in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Rick Bragg seriously needs to get over his own self.
Review: Pat Conroy's effusive and, as always, self-serving blurb on the back of the book, describing this whiny self-absorbed mess as a "masterpiece," should have tipped me off. What we've got here is yet another memoir of dirt-poor Southern upbringing by someone who went on to make it big in Yankeeland. But instead of telling his tale with the insightful eloquence and genuine affection of, say, Dorothy Allison or Kaye Gibbons (Conroy even compares him to FAULKNER, for cryin' out loud), Bragg suffuses his story with a mixture of self-pity and chip-on-the-shoulder posturing so heady it would make a psychiatrist swoon. Bragg's book is ostensibly a peon to his long-suffering mother (or, to use Bragg's affectation, "momma" -- which makes one wonder, did he misplace his dictionary before or after winning the Pulitzer Prize, winner, a feat he feels compelled to constantly remind us of?). I'm not at all sure that a Southern boy who really respected his "momma" would be quite so eager to make her the humiliated star of some of his more self-aggrandizing scenes: See Rick take his momma to big ol' New Yawk City so she can gape at them skyscrapers. See Rick buy his momma a sure-nuf brick house with a doorbell. Et cetera. This book is basically a vehicle for Bragg to trot out the white-trashier-than-thou roots that he otherwise apparently hides well enough to write for the New York Times. He seriously needs to get over his own self.
Rating:
Summary: This book and it's author touched me heart and soul.
Review: I don't often recommend books to others. But when I read All Over But The Shoutin' in the summer of 98, I loaned it to my brother and recommended it to nearly everyone I know. I am buying another copy today because I have to indulge myself a second time. The author, Rick Bragg, tells his painful story of growing up dirt poor in the South. The book is a tribute to his mother, a proud and selfless woman, born to poverty and married to an abusive alcoholic husband. Bragg's poignant telling of his mother's selfless sacrifices on behalf of her boys brought me to tears. It is an unbelievable tale of sacrifice, determination, and finally, success. Bragg doesn't just narate a story, he opens his very self to the reader's scrutiny. His candid telling of the story of his life, of a man much less than perfect, made this reader want to know him better. I live in Florida and wish I'd had the fortune of meeting Rick Bragg when he reported for the St. Pete Times. It would be an honor.
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