In this final volume of the beloved American saga that began with All Over but the Shoutin' and continued with Ava's Man, Rick Bragg closes his circle of family stories with an unforgettable tale about fathers and sons inspired by his own relationship with his ten-year-old stepson. He learns, right from the start, that a man who chases a woman with a child is like a dog who chases a car and wins. He discovers that he is unsuited to fatherhood, unsuited to fathering this boy in particular, a boy who does not know how to throw a punch and doesn't need to; a boy accustomed to love and affection rather than violence and neglect; in short, a boy wholly unlike the child Rick once was, and who longs for a relationship with Rick that Rick hasn't the first inkling of how to embark on. With the weight of this new boy tugging at his clothes, Rick sets out to understand his father, his son, and himself. The Prince of Frogtown documents a mesmerizing journey back in time to the lush Alabama landscape of Rick's youth, to Jacksonville's one-hundred-year-old mill, the town's blight and salvation; and to a troubled, charismatic hustler coming of age in its shadow, Rick's father, a man bound to bring harm even to those he truly loves. And the book documents the unexpected corollary to it, the marvelous journey of Rick's later life: a journey into fatherhood, and toward a child for whom he comes to feel a devotion that staggers him. With candor, insight, tremendous humor, and the remarkable gift for descriptive storytelling on which he made his name, Rick Bragg delivers a brilliant and moving rumination on the lives of boys and men, a poignant reflection on what it means to be a father and a son.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Prince of Frogtown:
This is another fantastic book! I love Bragg's work. It makes you cry, smile and laugh. The audio version, read by the author, adds to the value of his story. Beautifully written, beautifully read. Fine work!
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... more info
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.
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... more info
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
