Prince of Frogtown Review

I have been reading Rick Bragg's book since he came out with All Over But the Shouting; and how his mother lived in abject poverty with three boys instead of dealing with the father's chronic alcoholism; In this book, Bragg alternates between telling stories of his father mostly from the recollection of those who knew him while he was alive; and the other chapters dealing with his own burgeoning relationship with his young stepson that he doesnt name. I pray he doesn't name  him because of privacy sake. But it does seem a bit impersonal. To be honest, I wanted to read more on his father because previous books don't put him in a positive light.  In this offering, he writes about a young man born in the midst of the Great Depression at the end of a family of six where the men worked hard throughout the week, but drunk hard when the weekend came sometimes to the detriment of the mother, Velma. In spite of it, Charles was considered gentle, loyal, self confident, spoke out for the underdog when necessary and quite enterprising(he and a buddy made some moonshine while in their teens); His mother feeling the need to send him somewhere to straighten himself out, signed for him to go into the Marines during the height of the Korean War; While there, he ended up having to kill the enemy by dunking him underwater and keeping him there; Barely out of his teens, that would haunt him for the rest of his life causing him to drink into oblivion .He came home, got married, tried to work but the liqour held sway. In the end it won out. He ended up dying at barely 40 in 1975; 

I like Bragg's style of writing; It's honest, down home, and I respect that. Perhaps some are disappointed in his latest offering; I will admit it took me a bit to get into it, but once in, I was ready for more. I really loved Avas Man the most out of this series. But if he wrote another, I'd get it. Something about his hometown and family and it strikes a chord within. perhaps it's our shared history of Alabama, or the fact that I can emphasize with human suffering to some degree. even though hes Caucasian and I'm African American; nevertheless, reading about his family history as well as the town interests me. Do come back with another and stay awhile.