Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Hillbilly Elegy
J.D. Vance
Review by Priscilla Comen
Hillbilly Elegy
J.D. Vance
Review by Priscilla Comen
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance is Vance’s memoir of his hillbilly family from Kentucky and Middletown, Ohio. He describes the family members in living scenes with humor and pathos. One time, a young uncle, Jimmy, picked up a toy in the local pharmacy. The clerk told the child to put it down. Mamaw and Papaw got angry and proceeded to smash every toy in the shop. They screamed at the clerk and created a terrible mess. Then Mamaw and Papaw calmly finished their Christmas shopping.
Poverty was, and still may be, the common denominator of that culture. He tells how few high schoolers go on to college, how few even graduate from high school, and how most kids never go to work as adults. Mamaw and Papaw did believe in education and that may be what saved Vance. After Vance’s family moved to Ohio, his mom and her third husband began to fight seriously. Lindsay is his favorite step-sister. Eventually he returned to his biological father who never physically abused him.
Although hillbillys think they go to church more than other people, it turns out that statistically, they don’t go any more often than San Franciscans.
Vance tells how his mom, married four times, was addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was moved around from one house to another. Finally he stayed at his Mamaw’s for three years. His grades improved at school and he made life-long friends. Mamaw turned his life around. The neighbors fought and screamed until the police were called, and spectators watched through their windows. Hillbillys ate fast food, mothers didn’t watch their kids, and few dads went to work. Life expectancy is lower among Appalachian residents.
When Vance joined the Marines (and stayed in for four years) he learned a lot about himself; that he could be and do anything he put his mind to, what he wanted out of life, and how to get there. After his stint in the Marines,, he enrolled at Ohio State University, and began the rest of his life. He went on to Yale Law school and is now a successful, happy human being. Why did no one else in his community go to Ivy League schools? Why did Harvard and Yale seem unattainable to them? Why do successful people seem so different? He asks us these questions.
“Elegy” in Webster’s Dictionary means a poem of sorrow, but his book is more a song of joy as author Vance becomes a fine adult. Find this on the new non-fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community library.
Poverty was, and still may be, the common denominator of that culture. He tells how few high schoolers go on to college, how few even graduate from high school, and how most kids never go to work as adults. Mamaw and Papaw did believe in education and that may be what saved Vance. After Vance’s family moved to Ohio, his mom and her third husband began to fight seriously. Lindsay is his favorite step-sister. Eventually he returned to his biological father who never physically abused him.
Although hillbillys think they go to church more than other people, it turns out that statistically, they don’t go any more often than San Franciscans.
Vance tells how his mom, married four times, was addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was moved around from one house to another. Finally he stayed at his Mamaw’s for three years. His grades improved at school and he made life-long friends. Mamaw turned his life around. The neighbors fought and screamed until the police were called, and spectators watched through their windows. Hillbillys ate fast food, mothers didn’t watch their kids, and few dads went to work. Life expectancy is lower among Appalachian residents.
When Vance joined the Marines (and stayed in for four years) he learned a lot about himself; that he could be and do anything he put his mind to, what he wanted out of life, and how to get there. After his stint in the Marines,, he enrolled at Ohio State University, and began the rest of his life. He went on to Yale Law school and is now a successful, happy human being. Why did no one else in his community go to Ivy League schools? Why did Harvard and Yale seem unattainable to them? Why do successful people seem so different? He asks us these questions.
“Elegy” in Webster’s Dictionary means a poem of sorrow, but his book is more a song of joy as author Vance becomes a fine adult. Find this on the new non-fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community library.