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Book Review of Ava's Man

Ava's Man
Ava's Man
Author: Rick Bragg
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Book Type: Paperback
Bonnie avatar reviewed on + 419 more book reviews


Ava's Man by Rick Bragg

Just finished reading some reviews on amazon and am surprised by some of the reasons folks didn't like this book. I loved it. For me Rick Bragg is one of the best writers alive today, and better than a lot of dead ones, too. His words about people, place, time, sometimes make me catch my breath with their beauty, or their harshness. I find he pulls no punches in describing his peoples' foibles, yet others accuse him of just that.

This book is a tribute to the grandfather he never knew, Ava's Man, Charlie Bundrum. A man who loved his "likker" and his family, worked hard as a carptenter to keep his family fed. But it was the depression, and while they could eat (mostly), they lacked almost everything but love. They moved back and forth across the Georgia/Alabama line, sometimes for work, others to dodge the revenuers. Charlie's family loved him desperately, and Bragg shows us why.