Brushed Words

Other reviews talk about how this book relates to the south, the sense of place/belonging, the southern culture and Mr. Bragg's life. It is all those things- and more.
I have written reviews for only 2 of the 300+ books in my audible library. One for the creative genius of Heller's Catch 22 and one for a book on the other end of the spectrum. I use books to help me go to sleep but it is now 2:30 AM and I have excitedly gotten up to write a review about this book.

It is about the south. But the layering of the words, the word combinations, the phrases the imaginary are genius. I want to collect each phrase, throw them in a sack, save them, and yet run forward to the next one to collect it as well- all like the cotton pickers who drug their sacks down the long rows collecting cotton boles.

Mr. Bragg- if you read these reviews- 'Saludo'! Your writing is the difference between spraying paint and brushing it on. Spraying delivers particles of spray that when thick enough form a covering on a surface like a film. Brushing blends, contours to form and layers all the particles together in a deep cohesiveness. Sprayed words can be pretty. But brushed words - well-- they leave you gathering.

37 people found this helpful

I need to re-evaluate

I've given 5 stars to many books but have never written a review. I now feel obligated to return to my previous "5 star" rated books and drop them down a notch. THIS is a 5 star book! I'm a 50 year old Southerner born and raised. I still live 20 minutes from where I was born. This book IS the South. I laughed, I cried, I reminisced. I miss my grandmother just a little bit more today than I did yesterday. So many stories reminded me of her. Get this book if you want to know the real South. And get this book if you're a Southerner already, I can't put into words how much this book spoke to me.

12 people found this helpful

The Incomparable Rick Bragg

What did you love best about My Southern Journey?

That he read it...his own voice and Southern cadence

What did you like best about this story?

The stories about food.

What does Rick Bragg bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings a stinging realism to being Southern that is hard to beat. And he is uncompromisingly honest.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Rick Bragg IS the voice of the south I think. I have read all his books and he is in a class all his own. His love of his sweet mother is just put out there with no self-consciousness or unmanly shame! He knows where he came from and celebrates it with every story and word. The South IS unique and he shows us why and makes us chuckle at it. He takes you back to your grandma's front porch with an ice cold sweating glass of sweet tea in your hand. His sense of place is incomparable...you feel, smell, and taste the south ....and find it good.Thank you Rick.

17 people found this helpful

A Superb Storyteller Shines

I was captivated by both Bragg's wonderful writing and his narration--no one other than Bragg could have done this reading. The delivery was perfect. The stories are funny, insightful, sad, heartfelt and loving.

As a northerner who loves the south I'd like to think that some of the differences between the North and the South in America really partly rest in the difference between country living and city living. Bragg writes in a way that anyone who grew up in or lives in the country (north or south) can relate to and feel a kinship with.

I have listened to this collection of essays/short stories several times and plan on enjoying them again soon. To me, that really says something. Be careful though, Bragg can become addictive. I confess that I have started reading his current monthly column titled Southern Journal in Southern Living Magazine.

Highly recommended listening. A complete treat. I loved it.

37 people found this helpful

A prayer answered.

I needed some type of mental relief from the Covid Pandimic and the turbulant Presidential Campaigns. Rick Bragg's southern wit and wisdom allows me to escape from our torrid world with peace and comfort. A joy to read and listen on Audible. His southern voice is like soft music reminding me of my youth in the South. I will buy each of his books to help survive through November 2020. Just what I was needing. Thank you John Blakley

5 people found this helpful

Real Life Well Told

Rick Bragg reading Rick Bragg is about as good as it gets, folks. Don't miss this.

5 people found this helpful

Love it!

I'm from the way upper South ( northern WV) but it is so easy to relate to what Rick writes. We're still Appalachia without the heat and accent. Been following Rick for years.

5 people found this helpful

Bragg is a masterful storyteller

if this is your first Rick Bragg book, you are in for a treat when you go back and read everything he's written - like I have. the first time I heard of this author, I was in an airport waiting for a flight so I dropped into a bookstore. prominently displayed by the door was the Prince of Frogtown. I read the third book in the trilogy first - loved it. so I went back in red the Pulitzer prize-winning all over but the shouting, moved on to Ava's man, and then reread the Prince of Frogtown. I've read these books numerous times since then.
based on this book, I will now subscribe to Southern Living so that I can read Rick Bragg however often that magazine comes out.

5 people found this helpful

Just exactly the way is was and is

We are blessed to be born and raised in the South. I was raised on the Georgia side just minutes away. The story is exactly the way Rick says, with all the Magical days of summer and family..Parts of this story brought tears to my eyes remembering the days gone by. I truly enjoyed this book and his storytelling. Thank you Rick, for the trail down memory lane.

4 people found this helpful

A Song to the South

I loved this book. Having been raised in The South during the 50s and 60s, Rick Bragg took me back to days of shelling peas on the screened porch with my grandmother and great aunts, summer days laying on a blanket with my sister under the shade of a pin oak tree-the air too heavy to breathe and my mother frying up corn cakes in a cast iron skillet. I needed a break from the weight of the pandemic, social unrest and political vitriol. Thank you Rick Bragg for providing it.

4 people found this helpful