ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN'

New York Times journalist Rick Bragg has written about Haiti, Susan Smith's murder of her children and the Oklahoma City bombing, but perhaps his most riveting story is told in this memoir of his family. Raised dirt-poor in the Alabama hills, Bragg pays tribute to the immense sacrifices his mother made for him and his brothers. Bragg's voice allows little emotion as he recounts the devastating circumstances of his drunkard father's abandonment or the poverty to which most of his family has stayed confined. His language is brutal and clear, richly describing the stark poverty, yet, passing almost too unemotionally over his evocative phrases. He writes with immense power and beautifully conveys the strength of his personal vision. R.F.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: NOV/DEC 97]