The Prince of Frogtown

By Rick Bragg

In “The Prince of Frogtown,” Puliziter Prize winning author Rick Bragg finally has the chance to get to know his father.

Bragg has written 2 other books exploring his family roots in rural Alabama where poverty is the norm and the only business is town is the cotton mill where folks breath in so much so much of the fine cotton dust you could knit a sweater with the residue in their lungs.

“All Over but the Shoutin’” is Bragg’s book about his mother and how she endured her alcoholic husband, Charles, and protected and raised her sons (Including Rick), after he deserted them. “Ava’s Man” is about his grandfather – his mother’s father Charlie Bundrum. Bundrum and his wife raised 7 children in poverty and he was always there for the family, working unbelievably hard to provide for them.

Bragg’s father Charles was the polar opposite of his grandfather. Though Charles Bragg didn’t start out as a lazy alcoholic, he soon became one. His main problem was that he was more of an external type of man. In his youth he only wanted to look sharp, and never cared for internal things like honesty and character. He drove a beautiful car but it burned so much oil it had to be poured in each day. Beautiful on the outside and rotten on the inside, much like Charles himself. Later, his mother, Margaret would say that she “married a stranger” swept away by his charm and perfect teeth. (He would later have 2 of his perfectly good front teeth pulled just to spite her. So you get the relationship.)

In “The Prince of Frogtown” Bragg decides to go back to Alabama and speak with the people who knew his father in his youth. These were Charles Bragg’s loyal friends who knew him in childhood before the Korean War and alcohol caused his rapid downward spiral.

The main catalyst for Bragg’s journey back to see his father, as a 3-dimensionl human being was his own late in life marriage to a woman with a 10-year-old son. Bragg had never thought of marriage, let alone children, so this was a real awakening for him. The book transitions between stories of Bragg and his new stepson, (called simply “The Boy” in the book) and his father’s life. “The Boy’s” pages have a gray shadow in the background and are every other chapter. Bragg’s main fear, when he looked at his new stepson came about because they were opposites. “The Boy” did not seem to be tough enough and, at 10 still wanted his “blankey.” Bragg worried that he would look down on his family and the place where he was raised. That was not to be the case, as Bragg got to know “The Boy” over the years.

Reading one of Rick Bragg’s books is always a fastanating journey into the past and the good and bad people and circumstances that made things happen the way they did. But “The Prince of Frogtown” is a real look at relationships. Relationships between boyhood friends, parents, other relatives, neighbors, big companies in small towns and stepfamilies.

I would recommend reading Bragg’s first two books before moving on to “The Prince of Frogtown” but it is not 100% necessary. However if you want to appreciate the depth of where Bragg came from, it’s best to read the books in order.

Bragg’s mother Margaret is still alive. Bragg bought her the small cabin she had dreamed of, on 40 acres of land with a pond full of fish. When Rick’s youngest brother got out of prison he and his mother designed and planted a big garden, which was sort of a healing process for the youngest Bragg son. Margaret and her youngest son live together in the cabin to this day. Rick’s stepson loves his stepgrandmother and would never think of looking down on her.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed