The Prince of Frogtown

The Prince of Frogtown

By: Rick Bragg  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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.

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: 2008-05-06

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
He knows from whence he writes - I knew Rick a long time ago (26 years to be exact), when he was beginning his odyssey as a writer and clearly had greater ambitions than the small newspaper where we both worked. He was very good to me, took me into his home and fed me some of his tasty Southern cooking, and he treated me with class, respect and good humor. He also knew how to turn a phrase and could make a meaningless high school football game drip with flavor and portent. I admire his strong loyalty to his roots and sense of place -- he is someone who truly has created a lasting body of work from this identification, and created redemption from sometimes very brutal and unforgiving circumstances. Here's to him.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
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!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
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.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
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.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
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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