An unsettling reflection on why many in this nation no longer live the American dream.
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and intimate examination of a white working-class American culture in crisis. In his real account, J. D. Vance describes what it’s like to be born with a social, geographic, and class decline hanging over your head.
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Hopefully, the Vance family’s journey starts in wartime America. The grandparents of J. D. relocated to Ohio from the Appalachian area of Kentucky because they were “dirt poor and in love” and wanted to get away from the abject poverty they were surrounded by. As a traditional indicator of their success in accomplishing generational upward mobility, their granddaughter (the author) would eventually graduate from Yale Law School. They raised a middle-class household.
“A profoundly affecting memoir with a healthy dose of comedy and brilliantly colored characters that tells the genuine tale of what upward mobility is like.”
The Book Guide® Editor
But as Hillbilly Elegy’s family tale unfolds, we discover that this is merely a condensed, superficial portrayal. The rigors of their new middle-class existence presented significant challenges for Vance’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, sister, and, most importantly, mother. They were never able to totally escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma that was so typical in their region of America. Vance piercingly demonstrates how he still battles the ghosts of their turbulent family past.
Hillbilly Elegy (2016) by J. D. Vance
Dune (2007) By: Glennon Doyle-
by The Book Guide® Editors4.4/5 Very good
