Book of the Month

I just finished reading our book for this month, All Over but the Shoutin' by Rick Bragg. The book in my opinion is primarily a tribute to the writer's momma. It is all about growing up poor in small town Alabama with an alcoholic father, alcoholic grandfathers and a poor, long-suffering mother. The memoir covers a range of issues: race, religion, social class, self esteem, and family.

The family dynamics will remind you of other memoirs we have discussed in this book club. Sam, the writer's oldest sibling, was the solid one; more like their mother. Rick was the middle child like Nicolas Sparks, writer of Three Weeks with My Brother, and like Tamim Ansary, writer of West of Kabul, East of New York. Mark, the baby, turned out to be the alcoholic, full of rage like the father he barely knew. Remember Tamim Ansary's younger brother? He also grew up to be just like the father he hardly knew.