Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Summary (from the publisher): From a former Marine and Yale Law School Graduate, a poignant account of growing up in a poor Appalachian town, that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. Part memoir, part historical and social analysis, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating consideration of class, culture, and the American dream.

Vance’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love.” They got married and moved north from Kentucky to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. Their grandchild (the author) graduated from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving upward mobility for their family. But Vance cautions that is only the short version. The slightly longer version is that his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and mother struggled to varying degrees with the demands of their new middle class life and they, and Vance himself, still carry around the demons of their chaotic family history.

Delving into his own personal story and drawing on a wide array of sociological studies, Vance takes us deep into working class life in the Appalachian region. This demographic of our country has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, and Vance provides a searching and clear-eyed attempt to understand when and how “hillbillies” lost faith in any hope of upward mobility, and in opportunities to come.

At times funny, disturbing, and deeply moving, this is a family history that is also a troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large portion of this country.

 

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

 

After serving four years in the marines, author J.D. Vance went on to earn his bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and became a Yale Law School Graduate. Yet he argues that he wrote this memoir not because he accomplished something extraordinary but because he's "achieved something quite ordinary" but yet unusual for kids where he comes from. Vance grew up poor in the Rust Belt of Ohio, splitting his time between Middletown, Ohio and his grandparents' hometown of Jackson, Kentucky. This book is both personal commentary but also historical and social analysis of class and culture of the Appalachian region. Vance systemically reveals how "hillbillies" have little hope in achieving the American Dream and how by graduating from one of the best law schools in the country, he defied the odds. This memoir is also a love letter to those that helped him get where he is, most notably his grandmother and his sister who provided stability in an other impoverished and violent childhood.

 

J.D.'s story deeply resonated with me and I appreciated the passion he feels for describing the problems and possible solutions that plague the region where he grew up. For the people in Middletown, and greater Appalachia, there is a "feeling that you have little control over your life and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself. This must be separated from the larger economic landscape of modern America" (7). The inherent violence in his childhood is undeniable and J.D. himself does not realize that other families didn't behave that way until he was grown. "Seeing people insult, scream, and sometimes physically fight was just a part of our life. After a while, you didn't even notice it. I always thought it was how adults spoke to one another" (73).

 

J.D.'s life is living proof of many of the sociological studies he references, but the personal example makes this a more compelling and inspiring read. J.D. recognizes that many of the issues he faces as an adult - both his temper and avoidance of conflict, as well as the very reason he was able to escape - through the security and love offered to him by his grandmother, can be backed up by social science. Likewise, he is a participant in the brain drain phenomenon, having left Middletown as an adult. Additionally, Vance is open and honest about the difficulties he faced fitting in in law school, which felt like a whole new world, with a different "set of norms and mores" (207). Without his girlfriend (now his wife), he likely would have struggled to fit in or succeed, since he was unable to navigate fancy law school dinners and interviews without her ready advice. Yet these are problems that all first generation college students face, who are not all as fortunate to find a mentor as the author was.

 

Although Vance is highlighting issues that need attention on a national political scale, I did not enjoy the segues into commentary on the current political climate. Although working class whites' mistrust and misunderstanding about the government is very real, it is yet another symptom of their poverty and general ignorance of the wilder world. Focusing on improving their circumstances would begin to eradicate this issue, among others. Although perhaps justified, there were large political segues that made me feel as if I had been cornered by the author at a dinner party, only to have him get on his soapbox about the need for a massive political overhaul in America. Furthermore, there were times when Vance comes across as cocky. For example, when the girl ahead of him at graduation takes too long shaking the president's hand, Vance steps behind the president and "off the podium. I may have been the only graduating student that day to not shake his hand. On to the next one, I thought" (187). Despite his background, I don't think he can misunderstand that this was a rude gesture done in a very public way.

 

However, these moments were few and far between, and overall Vance comes across as honest and passionate, not afraid to share his deepest secrets in an effort to help his reader truly understand the critical needs of the Appalachian region. Vance makes his hometown and his family, particularly his beloved Mamaw, come alive for his readers. This was an enlightening and greatly needed look at the world that many in America live and rarely are able to overcome. 

 

Stars: 4