Customer Reviews

At Home in the Heart of Appalachia

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like John O'Brien, my parents were born and raised in WV. In the Franklin of his book, in fact. Like John, my parents left WV after high school look for jobs and greater opportunities. Like John, I am "from" WV, even though I didn't grow up there.

This book went straight to my core. First of all, because he's writing from Franklin, a town I know as "home". He explained so many things I've seen all my life but never quite understood -- the Woodlands Institute, the fight over school re-districting, the conflict between Franklin and the North Fork communities, etc.

I know the places and people he talks about and his words ring true. Everett Mitchell really could sell raffle tickets to a tree stump if he decided to! I also have had the same feelings of attachment and alienation from WV and "Appalachia". It's home but....

I've heard my parents describe their confusion about this mythical place called "Appalachia". I've heard them wonder where it is and what it's about because the myth never seemed to describe their home and their childhood, even though, theoretically, they are from the very heart of Appalachia.
I've seen the conflicts John O'Brien describes between the "middle class" and the "hillbillies" acted out within my own family. Within, I suspect, my parents marriage.

John O'Brien does the ONLY credible job of describing the myth of Appalachia I've ever read. Living in DC, every few years the local papers will come out with a fully predictable feature article. It will include someone, usually a transplant from the midwest, finally wandering away from the whirlwind of Capitol Hill and the White House and national politics and taking a drive west.

They "discover" that WV (and, by extension, the mythical Appalachia) is a mere 2 hours (2 hours!!!) from DC! But, oh!, the contrasts! Oh, the stark beauty! Oh, the poverty! Oh, the feuds! Oh, the tragedy! How can this be, a mere few hours from our nations capitol! The most powerful city in the world!! What can we DO about this?????

yada yada yada. Pretty nauseating, predictable, lamely written stuff. It was an incredible relief to finally read something true, thoughtful, and considered about West Virginia.

The one...downside?...to the book is some of the stuff about John's personal life. I'm torn between really appreciating how Appalachia and his personal trials are interwoven. But sometimes it seems just a bit too...much. That's a judgement call though. I can see why he did it. I can't really blame him.

I lent the book to my father, born and raised in "Appalachia", and currently living back on the home place in Franklin. He found it frustrating but I think that's mostly because it hit much too close to home for him. Once he got past his frustration, he agreed that John O'Brien honestly describes his home, his culture, and his world. I suppose you won't get a better recommendation than that.

I love to read, but im not much of a writer. However, i was so moved after reading this book that i had to share my thoughts. For years I have struggled with labels while traveling outside of the my home state of WV. If people even know that the state exists i get comments such as "Are you married to your Uncle? Ha, Ha" I would get so frustrated because these people have absolutely no idea what they are talking about, Where do they get this?!? O'Brian does an excellent job of explaining where the stereotypes of our region origiate and how some people then unknowingly act the part of the stereotype.

I had to read this book for a college course, but i could not put it down. First, it is interesting in that I am from the area his book describes and I can identify with so many of his feelings about his home. Second, unlike many reviews at this site, I believe that his life story is essential to the book. His dads relationship is described to aid in the understanding of the region and the people, and i personally found his introspection honest and refreshing, instead of trying to remove himself from the book he put his soul in it.

Maybe I am not quite old enough at 42 to find peace with West Virginia. Mr. O'Brien's book worked on many levels for me - the perspective on the Hatfields and McCoys (a "real" McCoy was one of my best childhood friends in Charleston) - and his insights about the "Appalachian" character, but the region still maddens me just the same.

Like the author I too am estranged from my father. In my case it was in part to provide a buffer for my daughter against his racism, despair, and raging insecurities and in part my personal revulsion against the same traits. In the book however I found a beginning of an insight as to why older men of that region feel the way they do. Having achieved personal success it has always saddened me that it could not have been gained without leaving the land of my birth. Unlike Mr. O'Brien however I have never felt the urge to return. What his book has done however is to somewhat soften the hard edges of my personal feelings about the state, it's culture, and perhaps pave the way for a more mature perspective that Mr. O'Brien has obviously achieved. While I will never live there again (I left in 1981),maybe one of these days I too will think of it as "home".

Having spent the first 19 years of my life in Appalachia and still returning every few years, I found this book to be extremely insightful and thought provoking. I did not understand the class systems of McDowell County WV in the 50's & 60's. Having lived in a neighborhood of "Haves" I had little contact with the "Have Nots." I did not understand at that time how important it was to my parents to not be seen as "hillbillies" and why those living in poverty and squalor (prior to the establishment of welfare) were so distasteful to them. I wasn't aware of these stereotypes until I went to college and met people from New York who found me to be different from what they expected a "hillbilly girl to be." John O'Brien's book helps certain parts of my past make more sense. I also appreciate his personal history and feel that this is part of the story that needed to be told.

I grew up in southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia and I write, so I've always been interested in books about Appalachia. In most of them, I've read about illiteracy, incest, black lung, poverty and a whole heap of despair. Okay. Unfortunately, that was true for some residents--but the West Virginia I knew was friendly, funny, loving and, at times, breathtakingly beautiful. I make it back at least once a year and it still is all of those things and then some.
That's a side of the state I'm still looking for in fiction and nonfiction both.

I'm grateful to John O'Brien for the sections of his book that take on the long-standing myths and misconceptions about the Mountain State. It's definitely worth reading just for that. The other criticisms I've read on here have merit and I felt O'Brien's emotional problems and his relationship with his father were vague and sometimes even evasive. He sounded very clear about the state around him but not his own state of mind at times.

Still, definitely worth reading if you have an interest in West Virginia and Appalachia.
A great step on understanding a misunderstood region.

This is a terrific book. O'Brien writes with a compelling style that could almost classify the book as a page turner (which is quite rare for this type of non fiction).

As a native West Virginian, just about every chapter had something that I strongly identified with...the West Virginia style family reunion in Pocahontas County, the "deep family secrets" that only the women talk about, the strong sense of family and community, the love of the outdoors, etc.

Growing up in Northern West Virginia, I always considered (and still do) my childhood to be somewhat idyllic. It was small town life with football, 4-H camp, camping vacations, spending summers at my grandmother's farm, etc. I was always puzzled as an adult after I had moved out of the state for graduate school at the quizzical/sorrowful looks that I would receive from people when I told them of my native state. John O'Brien has clearly articulated the history and reasons behind those stereotypes and I believe debunked most of the unfair ones.

I would recommend this book to any West Virginian (both resident and expat) who has that strong sense of pride in their heritage, but is searching for answers and explanations about the conflicting messages they receive from "the outside".

My only trepidation in this whole thing is that it took John O'Brien so long to write this first book, that another book from him may be a long time in coming.

As a native "Appalachian" who has lived in areas other than Appalachia I feel that John O'Brien's book was right on target. He understands and explains the fatalism that exists but also provides a terrific description of the hardships which are physical, political and economic (including the colonial mentality of many). He depicts kindness, intelligence, values, and the importance of sustainability present in the lives of many of the residents. It is also just a great story.

Elegantly written, this is an illuminating and deeply moving book. O'Brien offers intimate knowledge of the region where he was born, combined with a more distanced analysis. Appalachian history is brilliantly interwoven with the author's own family story. O'Brien's personal struggles are painful and courageous, two qualities he would apply to the lives of the Appalachians...that is, once he confounds you with the complex mythology behind that term. Excellent.

It looks like all the customer reviewers to date are associated with Apalachia. As a native New Yorker living in California I can say this book is fascinating--I could not put it down. I didn't know "Apalachia" was a social construct and this is one of the best descriptions I've read on how stereotypes become self-fulflling. No matter what your ethnic group, you will identify with the author's feeling of being a minority, his dilemma in defining his group, and his relationship to his father. It's a little hard for us city folks to read the descriptions of nature and hunting, but well worth plowing through for the human insights.

As a resident of Pendleton County during the first 22 years of my life, I have discovered through the writing of John O'Brien why I harbor an intense pride of my home state. A must read for anyone who has lived in the beautiful mountain state, anyone who has traveled there, or anyone who is curious about Appalachia. Beautifully and simply written, with historical facts and interspersed with personal vignettes.