What readers think of All Over But The Shoutin', plus links to write your own review.

i think that this book was really bad because he whined throughout the whole book about how bad his life was when he could of done something about it. he made the situation worse than it actually was. i mean he had a car unlike most teenagers he was good at sports he just didnt take advantage of his opportunities

This is truly a great book. Bragg captured perfectly the white South of the 1960s, 70s and 80s (I know because I was there). I have two criticisms of the book: (1) it would have been better had it been more chronological, and (2) it was the Haitian military and its puppetmasters in Washington who brought back misery to the Haitian people in the 1990s, not Jean-Bertrand Arisitide or his party. Unknown's criticism that Bragg ignored people of color is way off the mark. Southern racism is condemned throughout the book. But Bragg goes further and makes us confront class, which Americans are notoriously uncomfortable with discussing. Bragg can rightfully claim a place with Faulkner, Welty and Williams.

didn't like the book at first...but it go interesting...i love the ending of the book though!!!!

First of all, it's unfortunate that the reader that left the "Unknown" message obviously did not read the book very well because he wrote plenty about the suffering of the colored, not that the book is even about that, but if that is all you can think about, RACE, then that's your opinion.

RIck Bragg did a terrific job on this book

We are reading this book in my college English class, and the class is thoroughly enjoying this book. We've come to understand how his mother has struggled for her kids; she’d sacrificed so much for her 4 boys. Before anyone objects she did have 4. This was not the story of the South in that particular time frame; it was the story of his family and of his life. I appreciate Rick Bragg telling his story the way he did. It took a lot of guts to let out that much family pain and struggle. It was a great book. Mrs. Garcia's Eng 095 class is highly appreciative of this book because a lot of the older people in my class really lived like that and can share their experiences with us first hand. So I give this book a 4 for its harsh reality check.

It wasn't that good of a book to me. I'm pretty sure that there were a lot of people in the South that had it much worse than he did. He didn't say nothing about the people of color that were beaten, killed, hanged, raped. I guess those people didn't have it hard.

I think Rick Bragg gives his spineless mother far too much credit for where life has taken him. In my eyes, she did not deserve to be revered, but to be resented for allowing so much suffering and instability in her children's lives. I had a difficult time reading this book because I continued to wonder what points I was missing or what I was not understanding about why this woman should be so honored. Overall, though, it was an interesting book to read, and well-written.

This book is beautiful and wise and angry and true. One of my favorite professors tells us that reading is about lifting the words off the page. Bragg allows that to happen with his smooth, colloquial style and rich characterization. I dont know what book this other people read, but I loved this.