Darwin8u's Reviews > Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“One way our upper class can promote upward mobility, then, is not only by pushing wise public policies but by opening their hearts and minds to the newcomers who don’t quite belong.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis


(my dad's father [center on the stairs], uncle, and other workers during harvest)

The writing and conclusions of this book are probably a 3-star, but emotionally this is a 4-star book for me (thus my vacillating between 3&4-stars). J.D. Vance is my father. Reading his memoir is like reading a story about my dad. My dad, like Vance, grew up in a family with a lot of dysfunction. Neither of my dad's parents graduated from high-school. He wasn't a hillbilly, per se, but he was born in a small dry-farm community in the mountains of Southern Idaho. Poor. And he wanted the hell out. He didn't get good grades, but a stint in the Navy and marriage to my mom provided the stability and the perspective that allowed my dad to climb. And climb he did. The GI-bill and my dad's grit enabled him to eventually graduate with honors from UC Davis' Veterinary school.

His work ethic still is a thing of wonder to my brothers and sister. He is intimidating. He, by force of will, natural intelligence, etc. climbed (always with the assistance of my mom) up several economic and social rungs. His effort provided middle class, and eventually upper-middle class opportunities for his children. I will have to travel to the moon, I feel, to maintain the same trajectory he set.

Vance's story about growing up a hillbilly in Kentucky and Ohio resembles not just my dad but many people I know from many cultures, races, and backgrounds. The positive of this book is Vance's lack of meanness married to his willingness to criticize. That is a fine line, but I think Vance is right. There is no magic bullet, but there are several things that need to come together to help address some of the cultural, economic, and societal challenges facing not just poor whites in Appalachia, but inner-city poor minorities, Native American poor, etc..

Vance and Vance's publishers also benefited from timing. His book was published during the Trump movement of 2016 and 2017 (and yes, we are still trying to understand all of that). Vance seemed to offer SOME explanation why poor whites in Appalachia and the Rust Belt seemed to vote against their interest for a demagogue and pseudo-populist. Vance seemed available with at least SOME answers. If you look at the way this book was published, this book almost seems like a Yale project to get J.D. Vance into congress. A hillbilly Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. I can't completely go down that caustic hole, but this book seems almost designed as a political answer, as a legitimizer. I have a friend from the poor town in Ohio whose BS radar is high on this book. I'm still not sure.

We are a nation that is seeing a huge chasm open up between the haves and the have-nots. There aren't enough bridges, and not enough shepherds helping those on the edge across. I remember thinking about this very issue years ago. It was one area where I felt I needed to take a personal stake in someone else's development and progression. It is hard to see neighbors struggle with debt, single mother's barely keeping their heads above water, addiction, and hardest of all despair. Despair. I don't want to wait until government addresses the income gap. I think, because of the tremendous gift I've been given and the resources attached to that -- that I have a moral responsibility to pass that gift on. My kids will get it naturally enough. They will have a stable home (mostly), education, too much food and exposure to opportunities that will allow them to maneuver through the hurdles and the traps of the modern economy and upper-middle-class culture. What I need to do, because I have been blessed, is find a way to extend this opportunity to more. I really think -- and like Vance I don't have all the answers -- my way is person-to-person. Mentoring. Looking for an opportunity to take a kid who, given the opportunities I was BORN with, could excel me -- and helping her or him out. I've done this a couple times and it is miraculous and I think going forward necessary. Both for the economic survival for our nation, but also for our nation's soul.