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1-Page Summary of Shout

Overall Summary

This book is a memoir written by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rick Bragg. He was raised in rural Alabama, the middle child of three brothers and an absent father. His mother had to raise her children alone because his father was an alcoholic who left for long periods of time.

The author dedicates the book to his mother and brothers. He grew up in a poor family but managed to escape that poverty by becoming a reporter.

Rick leaves home to pursue his career, but he is always connected to the place where he grew up. He becomes a successful journalist and eventually buys his mother a house that she could never afford before. This fulfills one of Rick’s greatest life goals.

The first part of the book is about Bragg’s childhood and adolescence. He grew up in a violent, alcoholic household with his brothers and mother. His father was mostly absent from their lives, so they had to make do on welfare payments and support from family members who were also struggling financially. Bragg’s family lived with his grandmother Abigail in a house owned by an uncle most of the time.

Bragg and his brothers drove their mother crazy, as they fought a lot, played sports, hunted animals and raced cars.

Part 2 of the book, “Lies to My Mother”, chronicles Bragg’s career as a journalist. He starts out covering local sports and then moves on to bigger news stories in Alabama. Next he goes to Florida where his reputation grows even more, which leads him to a dream job at the New York Times. Throughout his career, Bragg became known for writing about tragedies such as murders and riots, but also some amazing stories like when he was sent overseas by the Times and covered Haiti’s civil war.

In Part 3, “Getting Even with Life”, Bragg travels to Haiti as a national correspondent for the New York Times and witnesses more horrors. He wins the Pulitzer Prize and buys his mother that house.

Prologue

The author explains why he wrote his story. He says that the book is not important because it’s only about a woman, her husband and three sons who lived in poverty near Alabama. The mother made sacrifices for him and his brothers, so he was able to escape from the poverty they were surrounded by.

He also introduces the reader to his father and childhood, which was very dramatic. His father would get into drunken rages and he describes how his mother just absorbed it all. She acted as a wall between her husband and her sons.

Chapter 1: A man who buys books because they are pretty

Bragg provides background information on his family. His parents were born in “the most beautiful place on earth,” the foothills of Appalachia along the Alabama-Georgia line, close to nothing but red dirt and blacktop roads. Life was hard for them because it was full, rich, original and real but harsh, hard and mean as a snake.

The author then describes a visit with his father, who was dying from alcoholism. He gives him the inheritance: a library of beautifully bound books and a.22 rifle. Then he says “He said he bought it sometime back, just kept forgetting to give it to me.” This is an example of how fathers pass down their legacy in the South. The author also mentions that this gift was very special because they were so poor growing up, so having something like this would be such an amazing gift for them.

Chapter 2: A killing, and a man who tried to walk on water

This chapter relates the story of Bragg’s father, who fought in Korea. The soldiers suffered a lot and were subjected to extreme conditions. Many men lost their lives or body parts because of mines or bullets, but more often they got sick from the cold weather.