Ava's Man by Rick Bragg Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ava's Man
Book Review: "All his kind are gone."
Summary: 4 Stars
"A man like that," Pulitzer Prize-winner, Rick Bragg, writes about his maternal grandfather, "probably deserves a book" (p. 9). Charlie Bundrum, born at the turn of the century in either Alabama or Georgia, "depending on how lost you are," was a carpenter, moonshiner, poacher, and father of seven children (p. 8). He was a man who, forty-two years later, was so beloved and so missed that the mere mention of his 1958 death would make his daughters cry (p. 9). In a biography peppered with anecdotes, Bragg leads us down one dirt road after the next, into the backwoods of the Deep South during the Great Depression, to introduce us to a man he never actually met. Charlie was a backwoods legend, "a hero" who took giant steps in his run-down boots, who drank one pint of every gallon of the moonshine "likker" he sold, who beat another man nearly to death for throwing a live snake at his son, who shot a large woman with a shotgun when she came at him with a butcher knife, who threw two highway patrolmen out of a beer joint headfirst, and a father who poached wildlife just to feed his hungry babies. A coffeehouse acquaintance recommended this book to me as one of his favorite books. In AVA'S MAN, Rick Bragg has painted a portrait of a man I won't soon forget.G. Merritt
Book Review: A Book to Keep
Summary: 5 Stars
"Ava's Man" is a book that I will keep, and read again. Anyone with an affection for, or curiosity about life in the South will be rewarded with a story of spirit, and truth. The author shows great skill in his descriptions of time and place, and in the unique character whose story he tells. This book will make you laugh, cry, and think deeply, and wish that you could read more after the last page. Highly recommended.Book Review: A FINE STORY ABOUT GRANDPA
Summary: 5 Stars
Biographies don't get any finer and more accurate than this one. Firstly, I like Bragg's easy style of writing - fun and relaxing to read. His grand father, Charlie Bundrum, a roofer or any other work that came along, was quite the man in that he cared for his family and made sure there was food on the table for the large brood, even during the Great Depression. Of course, he loved his Ava. Reading Bragg, the reader learns a lot about the Old South in Georgia and Alabama, and what people had to do to survive. In Charlie's case, he made a little extra money by making moonshine, which he obviously enjoyed himself. I liked the story and the dialogue was excellent and very real. Good job Bragg - you're a real storyteller.Book Review: A Southern family's life in poverty.
Summary: 4 Stars
I have only read one other book from this author (about Jessica Lynch). This is a very personal story of the author's grandfather who died an early death before Bragg was born. It is heartfelt because the author describes both the qualities and faults of his granddad. His grandpa liked homemade corn mash moonshine and sometimes was dead drunk when he came home. However, he provided a loving family life for his wife, sons, daughters, and grandkids. This man set a certain morality to how he lived and died. His was a small tragedy that he never lived to see how famous one of his grandchildren became.
Along with his grandfather's life, one also discovers the hardships of life in the depression era South. People who lived in the country did not go hungry if they knew how to hunt and fish. However this family was frequently evicted or moved from their rented home. This is a nice little story about a true family.
Book Review: A great read--a better listen
Summary: 4 Stars
I fell in love with the audiobook, for which Bragg's thick Southern drawl is perfect. He brings characters to life with grace and poetry and doesn't shrink from showing the dark side. I treasured the way he brought a vanished way of life to three dimensionality with charm and understanding for human foibles. It's a brief book but a rich one. Enjoy!