All Over but the Shoutin'

Rating:
Summary: A Book for All People
Review:

I was born and raised in California. I feel no affinity for the South. In fact, I find it culturally foreign. This book is rooted in the South, a memoir written by an Alabama native about growing up dirt poor, and the road to becoming an accomplished reporter, finally attending Harvard and later winning the Pulitzer Prize while working for the New York Times. But in his heart, he never left the South, nor did he ever disown his devoted, toothless "mama". A man exposed to religion and respecting it, he never appropriated it for himself. Yet he exemplified the commandment to honor his mother. (His father is another matter!)

From the very first page this book drew me in. Rick Bragg writes in simple, direct sentences, the unobtrusive words revealing, rather than competing with, the impact of the scene. Instead of writing a mere regional book, he writes a universal book, tying us together by our shared emotions and experiences. He sensitively portrays not northern experiences or southern experiences, but human experiences.


Rating:
Summary: just another good read
Review: All Over but the Shoutin' is a memoir written by Rick Bragg. He wrote it in honor of his mother who had a great presence in his life. The book starts early in his life, when he was still just a toe-headed little boy. He grew up in poverty with his mom and two other bothers in a box house just barely big enough to live decently in. He didn't remember much of his father except for how every now and then he'd get drunk and beat his mother. Rick had a blessed life in a sense. He survived a car crash that should have killed him, he came close to death in riots, became a famous journalist for the New York Times and he even won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
I'll admit, I first choose this book by its cover. The pictures on the front for some reason told me it was going to be a good book. Little did I know the author had won the Pulitzer Prize and was a writer for the New York Times. I thought the book was great. The author did a good job of honoring his mother for all that she had helped him achieved, even if it was in small ways. I also liked the fact that the author had a lot of respect for the way he grew up. He didn't think his childhood was horrible because he grew up poor.
There was nothing I really didn't like about the book. I think Rick has had quite an extraordinary life, better then most people. The book was good and I would recommend it if you want a great read.

Rating:
Summary: just another good read
Review: I checked this book out of my local library, and was gald I did.

Rick Bragg's mother reminded me of my own. Another rviewer said Mrs. Bragg should have gotten a job. The lady already picked cotton from daylight til dark, then took in ironing which she worked at half the night. Rick Bragg's family lived in a different time, when southern poverty was far worse than it is today. Picking cotton and ironing are not jobs for the faint of heart. Bragg made it quite clear in his book how hard his mother worked at horrible jobs to make a life for her children. She was the glue that held this book together and gave it a shine. If you love your mother, love or have a certain curiosity about the south, you need to read this one.

Rating:
Summary: Touches the heart and the funnybone!
Review: In this memoir Bragg seeks to honor his mother who made tremendous sacrifices to see to it that he and his two brothers got a "leg up" out of the cesspool of poverty where their troubled father left them. He also struggles to understand his hard-drinking father who grappled with his own personal demons after returning from the Korean War. The book contains many humorous and often touching scenes from his childhood and subsequent career as a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the "New York Times."

Rick weaves an artistic tapestry with words. He employs humor, sarcasm, alliteration, cleverly worded chapters and paragraphs, among many other linguistic devices. The stories are poignant, illuminating and thoughtful. Chapter 9, "On the Wings of a Great-Speckled Bird" offers an interesting insight into southern religious culture without embracing or excoriating it.

This is such a well written and evocative book. Bragg entertains, informs, and amuses while at the same time drawing the reader into understanding a unique aspect of life in the south. He makes the reader admire those dear to him and feel his emotions.

In conclusion, this is a most compelling memoir. It is a reading experience that you'll want to re-sample from time to time with growing appreciation. Anyone from the south should enjoy his down home language, while those not so fortunate will enjoy his southern-fried perspective. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Grossly overrated
Review: Rick Bragg understands poverty. He knows intimately the taste and smell of being dirt poor, has experienced the chill that settles deep into a person's marrow. When it comes to the haves and have nots of life, he's walked both sides of that line and knows first hand the strengths and weaknesses of both. He witnessed from an early age the deprivation that can drive both the strong and weak to violence and desperation. And he by God knows determined courage when he see's it because he grew to manhood watching true fortitude in action. In this book, courage and cowardice, violence and devotion, poverty and triumph are found in equal measure.

Bragg's mother was a pretty southern girl who married young. When her husband went away to war in Korea, she waited loyally for his return. The young man who loved music and laughter did not return to her from Korea. In his place, she got an irresponsible alcoholic given to drunken rages and abuse who abandoned his growing family with regularity, leaving them to scrounge their way without him. To feed her three sons, the author's mother worked long hours picking cotton and ironing the clothes of those who could afford such luxury. Much of this memoir is a testament to his mother's strength, as well it should be. The people and places he decribes are also memorable, whether Bragg speaks of them with bitterness or pride. And he cuts himself very little slack in the telling.

Whether sharing memories of Alabama, Africa, or Afghanistan, Rick Bragg sees life with his heart's eye, and documents prosaically his visions. He writes of times and places few of us have seen, and does it with compassion. All Over But the Shoutin' is a gift to those of us who love to read.

Rating:
Summary: Touching, emotional story
Review: Rick Bragg's All Over but the Shoutin' is a memoir of his life in the South. He writes to recall the struggles of his family while growing up, especially that of his mother. He wrote for himself, to finally approach many of the unanswered questions that plagued him. He also wrote for a larger audience, one that has suffered similar trials to his, to let them know that they are not alone.
Bragg's use of imagery in this book is amazing. He paints a vivid picture of the low class South through the use of colorful and very descriptive language. From the very beginning, he gives the reader a personal view into his life as he was growing up. In describing his mother's birthplace, he says it is "a place where gray mists hid the tops of low, deep green mountains..." (3), and before the reader appears majestic landforms full of nature's beauty. Also, as he is speaking of the poor white culture at that time, he describes how people sought relief from their hard times. He writes, "Yet the grimness of it faded for a while, at dinner on the ground at the Protestant churches, where people sat on the springtime grass and ate potato salad and sipped sweet tea from an aluminum tub with a huge block of ice floating in it" (5). Through these words, Bragg draws the reader deeper into the story, until they can almost taste that potato salad and sweet tea.
The weakness in Bragg's story falls in the first few chapters. While he is busy painting beautiful landscapes with his words, the reader is left wondering exactly when the actual story is going to begin. This problem mainly occurs early on in the book. The language he uses is so fluffy that it is almost hard to follow.
This book is a strongly recommended read, especially to those who are familiar with that raw, Southern culture. It is an incredibly touching story of a young boy's life growing up in the poor South.

Rating:
Summary: Bragg conveys the southern experience excellently
Review: The initial chord Rick Bragg's memoirs "All Over but the Shoutin'" struck with me was a personal, emotional one.
As I found, I have more in common with the former New York Times national reporter than being a journalist from rural Alabama and predilection for trying to paint pretty pictures with words.
We come from the same "white trash" background and our fathers were both military men turned laborers who married laborer women.
Though luckily, if it can be called lucky, I lost my father suddenly at age 8. Bragg lost his father in his mid-teens when he finally wasted away from alcohol and tuberculosis.
The early chapters of Bragg's memoir that describe his occasionally tumultous childhood are probably the book's best if only because they convey so well what it feels like to grow up poor in rural Alabama. The feelings of hopelessness, anger and fear that you will never amount to anything.
The torture of being ostracized because you "ain't got a daddy."
He drops details that foreshadow his version of the never-ending southern tragedy extremely well, letting the reader know early on what will become of him and his brothers.
The timing and structure of Bragg's chapters is almost up to par with his best feature stories, which he gives a behind the keyboard look at here. Unfortunately, this book was written well before the post-Jayson Blair stringer scandal that led to his resignation from the Times, so there are no answers about that situation here.
But the downside of the book, however, is Bragg's regular reflection and defense of southern life. He is oftentimes antagonistic toward those from northern states for no other reason than they are from northern states or common misperceptions of the South.
Admittedly, I'm not as enthralled with the South as Bragg seems to be.
In fact, I'm usually on the side of those criticizing the backwards nature of the region - especially Alabama. While I respect Bragg's loyalty, it does get tiring when he seems to make out every other thing to be a southern issue.
What I can relate to though is his heartwarming devotion to his mother and, as a young journalist, his recollections of covering some of the bigger stories of the 1990s were fascinating to me.
And as a former Birmingham Post-Herald intern, I still chuckle when I think about some of the dirty laundry Bragg offers up about the guys across the hall at The News.
While it has its rough edges, Bragg's story about how he went from a poor rural Alabama boy to a Pultizer Prize winner invokes a carousel of emotions and is definitely a good read.
(And that strip club story ain't bad either.)


Rating:
Summary: Mom is the star
Review: The most notable aspect of this memoir is the tenderness with which the author discusses his mother and her tremendous sacrifices to give her children all that she could. For this part, I give the book 5 stars. I otherwise had difficulty obtaining a sense of the author's emotions in other (what would seem to be) highly-charged emotional situations.

For additional reading about amazing moms, I highly recommend The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan.

Rating:
Summary: A Writer's Writer
Review: This book stands as a testament to the power of the word and the power of mothers: both can transform us, saint and sinner alike. While Bragg writes like a demon, his momma loved liked an angel, and this book is his tribute to her. That Bragg can bring us to tears and laughter, sometimes on the same page, is a reading experience no one should miss. This man can write!

I was equally moved by his other memoir, AVA'S MAN. They will be read as long as we care to know the past in poor rural communities, in the South and elsewhere, and as long as we care to witness the emergence of a passion, whether it's writing or painting, practicing dentistry or carpentry.

I have often used sections from Bragg's books to illustrate writing at its finest and most human. Students always get it, and many go on to read Bragg's books. Invariably, they express their admiration. Bragg's appeal is universal because his struggles are universal.