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The Prince of Frogtown | 
 enlarge | Creator: Rick Bragg
Publisher: Random House Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $16.00
You Save: $18.95 (54%)
New (27) Used (9) from $16.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 169572
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unbridged
Number Of Items: 7
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0739368397
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.1063092
EAN: 9780739368398
ASIN: 0739368397
Publication Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Kudos for Rick Bragg August 29, 2008
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.
The Prince of Frogtown August 18, 2008
Absolutely Rick Bragg's best! I hated for the book to end. Holds attention throughout and very well put together. Could relate to several things in story. Must read!!
Like listenin' to a neighbor August 15, 2008
I read All Over But the Shoutin' years ago and recommended it to many people, including my students. I thought it was a great book, and for me, living in northwest Georgia, it was kind of like reading about things that happened in your back yard. I'm just a little older than Bragg, and I grew up in the country,too, but I felt naive and sheltered reading about how Bragg grew up less than a 100 miles from me. Like "Shoutin," The Prince of Frogtown is a "must read" for a Southerner. When I stumbled across it, I first saw the Audio book and bought it without even looking for a print copy. It is read by Bragg himself, and I loved that. It was like listening to one of my neighbors.
 Another fine view into fathers and sons August 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am a huge fan of Rick Bragg's previous autobiographical books, It's All Over But the Shoutin' and Ava's Man. He writes was an amazing voice that puts the reader right there in the middle of the story and manages to convey respect for his hardscrabble ancestors. In The Prince of Frogtown, Bragg revisits the story of his father who he dismissed in Shoutin' as an abusive alcoholic who abandoned his family. Bragg was forced to take another look at his father after marrying a woman with a 10-year-old son. The son is protected and soft compared to Bragg's rough upbringing, and at first Bragg has a hard time relating to this child and then wants to toughen him up. Chapters alternate between a biography of Bragg's father and Bragg's growing relationship with "the boy". He never excuses his father's bad behavior, but he comes to understand him and himself better. The chapters about "the boy" are sharp insights into Bragg as a man, and as they grow closer, both are changed by the relationship. It's a terrific book about fathers and sons.
Who wrote this book? August 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love Ricky Bragg. While technically quintessential Bragg, The Prince of Frogtown did not tiptoe intimately through my soul as did the previous two books. Great artists' talent often pours forth from personal agony. Who wrote this book? Perhaps it was a happier Ricky Bragg. I sure hope so!
Selfishly awaiting the novel.
Sue in Alabama.
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