All Over but the Shoutin'

When Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, thought about writing an appreciation of his mother and a memoir of his life, he hesitated. How would mama feel about seeing her life in print? When he asked her, she told him, “Write it,” especially since she had remained quiet about her life for 50 years. All Over but the Shoutin’ tells the story of a woman who endures years of hardship and deprivation to raise her three sons. It is not a simple tale. She is fueled by a complex mixture of pride, resignation, and determination which are also passed on to her children. As an adult, Rick Bragg tries to pay her back for all she has done, but it isn’t easy. She is too used to denying her own desires. Against the backdrop of a dirt-poor South, Rick Bragg’s story becomes more than just a son’s words of praise for his mother. Its examination of the bonds that hold a family together is perceptive and heartbreaking. Narrator Frank Muller’s superb voice evokes the soft twangs and musical lilts of Rick Bragg’s homeland.