Ava's Man by Rick Bragg Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ava's Man
Book Review: Moonshine for the spirit!
Summary: 5 Stars
How can I add to what others have said? This is life distilled, 100-proof stuff that will make your head spin. This is life reduced to its rawboned, hard-scrabble, drinking and loving and dancing wonderfulness. This is a classic memoir that ranks with Crew's A CHILDHOOD: THE BIOGRAPHY OF A PLACE.
Destitute, disappointed, depressed, disillusioned, disenfanchised -- so what? Read this book and you'll soar on the possibilities of the human spirit. You'll witness lives that rise above discouragement by sheer will. They just do it.
Charlie Bundrum is a man for the ages. He was rough, tough, and difficult. But he loved and protected and made life possible for his family. These vignettes, chapter after chapter, are offered in the tradition of oral folklore, a history of the Deep South, a time when men fished and brawled, drank moonshine and held babies, stood firm with children and neighbors, by fist or gunshot -- all in the same day -- and that was life.
What a life! What a book! What a writer!
Book Review: Not a tacked-on yarn
Summary: 5 Stars
One's first impulse in seeing a follow up book by an autobiographer is to figure he wrote it to drag some more money out of his sudden massive readership. But, in this case, one would be wrong. Bragg writes this book about his mother's dad, a grandfather Bragg never knew personally. However, Bragg does his homework painstakingly enough to convince the reader that he was presenting the fully real and authentic "Ava's Man." Again, I could barely put the book down. An old alcoholic "failure" from the South was captivating me. Of course, part of the attraction was learning more about the mother that draws so much respect in Bragg's first book. If you liked All Over But the Shoutin' I encourage you to read this follow up. You won't regret it.Book Review: Ordinary, flawed humans can be heroes too.
Summary: 5 Stars
It misses the point to argue that Charlie was too flawed to be a hero. Of course he was flawed. He was dirt poor, uneducated, drank too much, fought too much, and had too little respect for the law. Yet despite all of these flaws, he lived a moral life--hewing to his own personal code of conduct with strength that we should all envy and emulate.
Charlie raised a large family, in the rural south, in the depths of the depression. He was a roofer. He ran a still. His family moved every year or so--sometimes chasing after work, sometimes running from landlords.
Yet through it all, he defended his family; refused to tolerate bullies who used violence on those less fortunate; and most importantly, treated his wife and the mother of his many children like another human being. As Ava says throughout--Charlie had many shortcomings, but he always talked to her. He never shut her out; he never left her to wither on the sidelines, relegated to raising children alone.
The whole point of Bragg's brilliantly written book is that a man who adopts a moral code requiring protection of family, and kindness to strangers--and lives by that code to the best of his ability--can be a hero. It is not riches, land, or political power which makes heroes. it is the strength of commitment to a moral life.
Charlie was a bone fide hero. As the book notes in its closing section, we need many more heroes like Charlie today.
Book Review: Read this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was recommended to me by a writer friend as his favorite book ever, and I can see why. Excellent, fast reading portrayal of the author's relatives growing up in the depression-era south. Highly entertaining, easy read, never dull.Book Review: Rick Bragg just gets better and better
Summary: 5 Stars
I love the way this man writes. It is so gentle, soothing and beautiful. He writes with love about his family, and pride and that just glows in the pages. When he could use a dry phrase to relate something to the reader he chooses something bordering on romance and wonder. He leaves the reader with that warm fuzzy feeling that makes you want to get on a plane and go and meet these people so you can share their joy and their pain too.I came across "Shoutin' " by accident but fell in love with it. I have recommended it to friends and book clubs and now everyone is clammering for my copy of this book. When you are so far away from a good english bookstore - then something this special becomes a treasure.