Comp I (class notes)

I eagerly grabbed All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg for my class assignment. This book has always been at the bottom of my reading pile since its publication. I love Southern authors and non-fiction is my favorite genre, yet I never set aside time for this memoir. After reading the prologue tonight, I am sorry I did not start sooner.

From his first paragraph involving fighting redbirds, I see that most of humanity fights with its image. For every bird that strikes at a mirror, millions of human beings strike their imaginary mirrors, eventually destructing their image through self-loathing.

In my case, the mirror reflects my parents, and my struggle to be very different from the sameness I recognized in them. I am afraid, as in Bragg’s last sentence in the redbird paragraph, “it was just in their nature.” Think of all the wasted time resulting from this natural right-of-passage.

Comp I (class notes)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/09/comp-i-class-notes.html