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Title: The Prince of Frogtown (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper))
ISBN: 0739327968
Author:
Rick Bragg
Publicate Date: 2008-05-06
Publish: 2008-05-06
List Price: $25.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $14.68
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $15.21
Amazon Merchant Price: $19.00
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Blue collar broken dreams
If you have any "blue collar blood" in you, Rick Bragg's writing should appeal to you. In The Prince of Frogtown, he peers into the past of blue collar Americans, specifically mill workers and mountain people of the Appalachians. These are his relatives. Fighting, drinking and cussing are a way of life for them.
This is a story of Rick's father, Charles, and the search for the reasons behind his father's alcoholism. It is a sad story of broken dreams. The author tries to find out what happened to the man his mother once loved.
Charles Bragg was a man, who "it took patience to like even in the best of times." Typically irresponsible, Charles made a new start in Dallas, moving his reluctant family there. He was sober and employed for two months, keeping his promise that he would change. It was, however, the uncertainty of a future with Charles and the certainty of a $54 welfare check Rick's mother could receive if she returned to Alabama, that caused her to leave Charles and take her sons back to Alabama.
Afterwards, Charles' life spiraled to nothing. Before he died, he said he was sorry for what he had done, and that he loved his family. But I don't think they ever felt it. Parts of the book will bring a tear to your eye.
In between chapters, Bragg tells the story about "the boy," the son of a woman he's dating. Typically, techniques like this don't work, but it does in this case. Bragg sees much of himself in "the boy" and it's a touching sidebar.
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2: Rick Bragg Has Another Hit
Rick Bragg knows the South and writes with his heart. Excellent book, especially for those of us who remember what it was like to be a child in the old South -- before air conditioning.
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3: Kudos for Rick Bragg
Here master storyteller, Rick Bragg, tells his story about trying to come to terms with a father he barely knew and for most of his (Rick's) life, didn't want to know. It's also his story about getting to know a 10 year old boy who had just become his son, a boy who was vastly different from the child Rick had been.
This is a wonderful ending to his trilogy that began with [All Over but the Shouting], the story of his mother and contnued with [Ava'a Man], the story of his maternal grandmother.
All three tell of how hard a life it was for these people back in the mid 20th century. The Braggs weren't rich and influential, in fact many saw the wrong side of a jail. But many worked hard at a hard job, some in the mills of Jacksonville, Alabama, where maiming and death were a common occurance.
In [Prince...], Rick finds a different side of a man that he always saw as a drunk and a no-good who was frequently being bailed out of jail with money that should have fed Rick and his two brothers.
He finds a man who wanted to be what he should have been but ended up losing the battle to do so. And in himself, Rick finds that he can be that good man to a boy he just became a parent to and being a parent was not something Rick ever aspired to.
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4: The Prince of Frogtown
Absolutely Rick Bragg's best! I hated for the book to end. Holds attention throughout and very well put together. Could relate to several things in story. Must read!!
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5: Like listenin' to a neighbor
I read All Over But the Shoutin' years ago and recommended it to many people, including my students. I thought it was a great book, and for me, living in northwest Georgia, it was kind of like reading about things that happened in your back yard. I'm just a little older than Bragg, and I grew up in the country,too, but I felt naive and sheltered reading about how Bragg grew up less than a 100 miles from me. Like "Shoutin," The Prince of Frogtown is a "must read" for a Southerner. When I stumbled across it, I first saw the Audio book and bought it without even looking for a print copy. It is read by Bragg himself, and I loved that. It was like listening to one of my neighbors.
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