An enjoyable book.

Certainly not a book that falls close to what I prefer reading, but what can I say, I was desperately bored one weekend and HAD to read. I'm glad that I did. Rick's tale was interesting and powerful in its own right. I think that I can say that I learned a lot about the South by being invited to join this talented man's childhood (if you can call it that). ( )

A view of growing up poor, white, and Southern. Even though Bragg grew up in Alabama just an hour or two drive south of Appalachia, this is a much better account then Vance's Hillbilly elegy. There is very little in the way of a political agenda in this book. ( )

Rick Bragg needs you to understand three things about his life: One, he grew up with a strong mother. Two, his family was poorer than dirt. I don't know what's more poor than dirt, but Bragg will never let you forget he grew up less than dirt with words like white trash, ragged, welfare, slums, poverty, raggedy, and did I mention poor? Three, he's southern to the core, despite moving to New York City. Maybe it's this last point that makes it okay for him to use words like Eskimo. To be fair, we are a society becoming more and more sensitive to slights, real and perceived. But, I digress.
Bragg travels the world seeing atrocities far worse than growing up in poverty or having a delinquent dad or a drug-addled brother. His ability to tell stories from a compassionate point of view draws a great deal of attention and eventually, fame.
It is funny how when we are on the cusp of carrying on traditions from childhood we say we will do things differently than our parents. "I will not be my father. I will not be my mother." Yet, at the same time we are just like them without trying. Bragg spent a lifetime trying not to be his father, but at the end of All Over But the Shoutin' he is compelled to write his long-gone father a few words. ( )

I bought this book accidentally, but glad I did. Rick Bragg is a born storyteller. In this book he shares memories of his mother's hard life in rural Alabama and how much he and his brothers appreciated her years of sacrifice. It is told in a descriptive "down-home" manner. He also describes the several stories he covered as a journalist, and the difficulties in separating human feelings from relaying the facts. I found it both interesting and enjoyable. ( )