Ava's Man

By: Rick Bragg

Narrated by: Rick Bragg

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • With the same emotional generosity and effortlessly compelling storytelling that made All Over But the Shoutin’ a beloved bestseller, Rick Bragg continues his personal history of the Deep South.

This time he’s writing about his grandfather Charlie Bundrum, a man who died before Bragg was born but left an indelible imprint on the people who loved him. Drawing on their memories, Bragg reconstructs the life of an unlettered roofer who kept food on his family’s table through the worst of the Great Depression; a moonshiner who drank exactly one pint for every gallon he sold; an unregenerate brawler, who could sit for hours with a baby in the crook of his arm.

In telling Charlie’s story, Bragg conjures up the backwoods hamlets of Georgia and Alabama in the years when the roads were still dirt and real men never cussed in front of ladies. A masterly family chronicle and a human portrait so vivid you can smell the cornbread and whiskey, Ava’s Man is unforgettable.

©2001 by Rick Bragg (P)2001 Random House Inc., Random House AudioBooks, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Best Narration by Author or Authors

"Grab[s] you from the first sentence....[and] stays with you long after you put it down....It is hard to think of a writer who reminds us more forcefully and wonderfully of what people and families are all about.” —The New York Times Book Review 

“Earthy, mischievous, yet gorgeous. . . . [Bragg’s] tales . . . would not be out of place if they were told around a campfire.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“As toothsome as a catfish supper. [Bragg] is every bit the equal of . . . Harper Lee and Truman Capote.” —People

Deeply moving

I saw Rick Bragg on a Sunday morning interview show and immediately downloaded his book. This book is simultaneously amusing, humbling, deeply moving, and inspiring. Mr. Bragg's engaging narration contributes significantly to the overall experience. I am eagerly awaiting access to his other novels.

Powerful Story of Family

I found the beginning of the book a bit disjointed and hard to follow, but once it settled in, I found myself enthralled in the story. Its the story of a simple man who did the best he could, and the people who loved him. Rick Bragg has a wonderful gift of telling a story.

Bragg reading his own work = great big treat

Rick Bragg delves into his family history, mostly to find out about his maternal grandfather, Charlie Bundrum, who he never met and no one in the family would talk much about. Bragg interviewed family members and then interlaced their memories to make Ava's Man. You actually learn much more about the Bundrum side of Bragg's family than you did in All Over But the Shoutin', which is about the author's mother (although it is substantially about the author's career in journalism). Great familial and regional lore. Sentence-to-sentence, Bragg just gets better with each book. And it is so marvelous to have Bragg read. When books have a Southern setting, the readers are generally not Southerners and feel they must try on a "Southern accent," which always ends up sounding like Foghorn Leghorn. Very distasteful. Great writing and fantastic reading.

Love the author and his grandfather too!

If you have ever loved a rascal, particularly a Southern rascal, then you will love this book. If you are a Daddy's girl, then you will love this book. It is a biography of Rick Bragg's grandfather, a most extraordinary man, and it is written by an extraordinary author whose bloodline runs true. Thank you, Mr. Bragg, for sharing Charlie with us... I loved him too.

i liked it

a historical look at one families history - along with the way the economics and history of the era and area affected them - It was also interesting to hear the musings of the author relating his relatives experiences in the past to his own current activities.

Great Writer

If you appreciate the southern voice, Rick Bragg is the guy for you. He has the knack of writing in a voice that many can speak but few can capture on paper. Great book. His previous book "All Over But The Shouting" is exceptional

More , and less, than expected

I would listen to Rick Bragg read anything! Being from the Deep South, and lately hearing all the northern transplants that have moved down here, I’d begun to wonder. I feel better now!
His story is not unlike lots of my kin, and in that I reveled, but the moonshine taking him away from his family at a young-ish age was sort of expected. I’ve seen it in my family, too.
But, as he says, family is family, and we are all we have. And we always stick together. This reminds me somewhat of the “Hillbilly Elegy,” book, that I enjoyed immensely.
For anyone that’s not heard/read that particular story, you might like it, too.
Now- I’m going to go make myself some biscuits, in Rick Bragg’s name!

Another beautiful southern memoir

I am 45 years old and come from Northeast Louisiana. I grew up listening to the cicadas and surrounded by cotton fields. As a boy I loved my home. Loved craw fishing, hunting with my daddy and uncle’s, wandering in the deep thick woods, wood that were loud because they are full of life. But as a teenager I felt like the whole world was passing me by and that I was always going to be stuck in this world that lived by a clock slower than that of the “real world” I was not proud of where I come from like Rick is
After all my grandparents and great uncles and aunts died off, I’ve really got no reason to go back there now.
Ricks books bring me back to the South though and shines it in a light that is very honest but charming and special. Every time I read one of his books it makes me a little homesick. Thanks Rick. I am so glad that I’ve discovered your books. I absolutely love that you narrate your own books. It just lends an extra layer of charm to the dories that your telling. I’m a huge fan of your way of doin
what yer doin. Thanks Rick

So Enjoyable!

As with all of Rick Braggs books that I have listened to, this one is just as wonderful! Words alone can't describe the pure joy I get from listening to his books.
Rick Bragg has a clear and pleasant voice with a southern drawl.
I highly recommend this book.

My favorite auditable book.

To have one of the best story tellers read one of his best books....doesn't get any better than this. Thank you, Rick.