What do You think about Ava's Man (2002)?
This is a personal history of Rick Bragg's family set in the deep south (Appalachian foothills) dring the depression years. He is a Pulitzer prize winning author and has written other books but this particular one revolves around his grandfather, Charlie Bundrum, who was a carpenter, roofer, moonshiner, fisherman, and loving father and grandfather. He was a hero to his family and although he had many faults, he was a hard worker, who seemed to not be afraid of anything and who gathered friends and admirerers wherever he went.... and he moved often. He was a banjo player and buck dancer and when he drank, instead of being abusive and mean, he was talkative and sweet and would sing. They say he had a talent for living but in the end, his likkor, as he called it, got to him and his liver just couldn't take that kind of living any longer. He was always one step ahead of povery and starvation and would do any jobs to feed his family. He was a roofer, worked for the steel mill, or sold his moonshine to keep his kids from starving. Even his moonshine was of the highest quality and was made so as not to make those who drank it sick like many of the stills did at the time. When he died, cars were lined up for a mile to honor him. He had 8 children that he dearly loved and who could hardly talk about him when he died because their sadness was so great. Ava was his wife (hence the title) and was outshone by her husband in the relationship category. He was probably a better father, grandfather and friend than he was a husband at times. She was a good woman, a little sassy and stubborn in her ways, but she probably had to be, living the life that she did. I had a lot of respect for her.Rick Bragg is a very good writer in every sense of the word, although at times I thought this book was a little scattered in it's story line.It was a good read and a fun tribute to a flawed but loveable figure.
—Joan
Author Rick Bragg tells the story of his grandfather, Charlie Bundrum, using the stories told by Charlie's children and grandchildren during a family reunion in 1999. Charlie is a larger-than-life character; a tall, strong man who fiercely loved and protected his family all his life. His story is set in the time of the Great Depression, in rural Alabama. My favorite quote:"He ought to have a monument," Travis says, "because there ain't no more like him. All his kind are gone.In a time when a nation drowning in its poor never so resented them, in the lingering pain of Reconstruction, in the great Depression and the recovery that never quite reached all the way to my people, Charlie Bundrum took giant steps in rundown boots. He grew up in a hateful poverty, fought it all his life and died with nothing except a family that worshipped him and a name that gleams like new money. When he died, mourners packed Tredegar Congregational Holiness Church. Men in overalls and oil-stained jumpers and women with hands stung red from picking okra sat by men in dry-cleaned suits and women in dresses bought on Peachtree Street, and even the preacher cried.
—Deb
This book is definitely on my top ten favorites shelf, and will remain there no matter how many more books I may read and love. The language conveys a heavy, burdened, hot rural Depression-era south, and with so much love and respect. Rick Bragg never got to meet his grandfather and has pieced together this tale from stories gathered from aunts, his mother, grandmother and friends. Charlie Bundrum is an everyday hero, working hard and trying to feed a family on a meager existence in a time when no one had much of anything except their family to lean on. One part that stays with me always is this: For years after her husband's death, people would ask Ava Bundrum why she didn't go get herself a man. She'd always reply, "I ain't goin' get me no man. I had me one." There are so many wonderfully sweet, heartbreaking, beautiful stories here- it's dense with adoration, and for good reason. Charlie Bundrum isn't typically the kind of person a book gets written about, but after reading, you'll know why Rick Bragg wrote it. I've read this book twice now, and I have listened to the audiobook read by the author more times than that. I can't get enough, nor can I say enough about how much this book affected me. I have given it as a gift to more than one person- if you have a heart and love to read a master-storyteller unfold his craft, you'll fall in love with this book, too.
—Kg
