All over but the Shoutin'

Although this is the life story of the author, Rick Bragg, the book really centers on his mother. Rick has an older brother Sam and a younger brother Mark. They are the product of a broken home and were raised in an atmosphere of poverty. Their father was a victim of alcohol and eventually deserted the family. The mother is credited by the author for working hard at menial tasks and sacrificing in order to provide for her family. Rick becomes a successful reporter moving up the chain from smaller to larger more prestigious newspapers over a few years time. He finally feels he has arrived at the top when he moves to the New York Times. His goal now is to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Rick wants to feel that no one has any right to look down on he or his family. Among his reporting assignments were trips to Miami and to Haiti. In both places he found poverty, which would no doubt dwarf, the conditions in which he grew up. He expresses his disappointment in our government's policy toward Haiti in failing to help the people in need.

When a tornado strikes a church in his hometown of Piedmont, Alabama on a Sunday morning, Rick is sent to report the tragedy for the New York Times.

He is appreciative of Sam's help and influence on him while growing up and is disappointed that he had no such influence on Mark. Mark grew up to become much like his father.

In the end the author is able to do some things for his mother to make her life easier and more joyful.

The author's previous book "Ava's Man" describes a grandfather much different from his own father.

Braggs book was both very moving and an eye opener for me. I never actually looked back at the sacrifices my mother gave for her children. This book has made me open my eyes and appreciate her more. I look at her in a different light because of this book. I am not an avid reader but am now open to more of braggs work. I and my mother thank you.

I found the book both disturbing and moving. The author uses skillful language to invoke powerful images yet is mellow and matter of fact enough to reduce the tragic and dramatic to very real and very believable.

There is a picture of the three Bragg brothers with their horse and it could be a picture of my three brothers who also looked more indestructable than they were. They too, had fistfights as adults, and did their battles with John Barleycorn. They learned well from our father. There is a loneliness that comes from such a background that serves to keep the painfull memories at bay by avoiding the loved ones that remind us of that past. After years of therapy myself, it is plain to see that all of the immediate Bragg family members are desfuntional in their relationships. But that is exactly what makes them so lovable, and so much like us.
A wonderful book. If you've ever loved an alcoholic, or lived with one, you will love this book. Thank you Rick. You are one GREAT writer.

After reading All Over But the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg, it'll all be over but the crying. Bragg tells the story of growing up in northeastern Alabama and his rise to fame as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the New York Times. Other reviewers say that Bragg writes like a "man on fire," but don't extinguish this flame just yet. Depicting the South with honesty, he blends his words together so smoothly that it will make you both laugh and cry. Bragg does an exceptional job at portraying himself as a child, and an even btter job of recalling the trials and tribulations of being a poor teenager. Touching on themes like "a mother's love" and "the harmful effects of alcoholism on family life," Bragg will tug on your heart strings. Two thumbs up for Bragg and this "helluva" memoir!