There is a lot to take in here, even for someone that's seen this life up close in many of its many guises.
While ostensibly about the particular culture of the West Virginia Scots-Irish underclass, anyone that has seen white poverty in America's flyover states will recognize much of what is written about here. It is a life on the very edge of plausibility, without the sense of extra-family community that serves as a stabilizing agent in many first-generation immigrant communities or communities of color. Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living.
This is a story that many of the "upwardly mobile middle class" in the coastal areas, often so quick to judge the lifestyles and politics of "those people" in middle America, has no clue about. I speak from experience as someone that grew up in the heartland but has spent years in often elite circles on either coast.
Two things struck me most about this book.
First, the unflinching yet not judgmental portrayal of the circumstances and of the people involved. It is difficult to write on this subject without either glossing over the ugliness and making warm and fuzzy appeals to idealism and human nature, Hollywood style, or without on the other hand descending into attempts at political persuasion and calls to activism. This book manages to paint the picture, in deeply moving ways, without committing either sin, to my eye.
Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation.
It is this latter point, combined with the general readability and writing skill in evidence here, that earns five stars from me. Despite appearances, I found this to be an inspiring book. I came away feeling empowered and edified, and almost wishing I'd become a Marine in my younger days as the author decided to do—something I've never thought or felt before.
I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves. Given that a Hillbilly like the author can find his way and make good choices despite the obstacles he's encountered, many readers will find themselves stripped bare and exposed—undeniably ungrateful and just a bit self-absorbed for not making more of the hand we've been dealt every day.
I'm a big fan of edifying reads, and though given the subject matter one might imagine this book to be anything but, in fact this book left me significantly better than it found me in many ways. It also did much to renew my awareness of the differences that define us in this country, and of the many distinct kinds of suffering and heroism that exist.
Well worth your time.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
![Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by [J. D. Vance]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/410y-Ibh3TL._SY346_.jpg)
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
|
Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
"Please retry" | $19.49 | $4.95 |
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Popular Highlights in this book
There is a cultural movement in the white working class to blame problems on society or the government, and that movement gains adherents by the day.Highlighted by 4,369 Kindle readers- What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they had for their own lives. Yet the message of the right is increasingly: It’s not your fault that you’re a loser; it’s the government’s fault.Highlighted by 4,021 Kindle readers
- It’s about a culture that increasingly encourages social decay instead of counteracting it.Highlighted by 3,853 Kindle readers
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
The American midwest is in trouble...
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2021
Everybody has adversity to overcome in life. We are all dealt a different hand of cards and must do our best to beat the house. In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance tells of his own hardships growing up in rural Middletown Ohio, a city that has seen a steady decline in its social fabric (due in no small part to the evacuation of the steel industry). With a drug addicted mother and an absent father, he is still one of the lucky ones because he had a grandmother, or Mamaw, who watched out for him and encouraged him to do well in school. Sometimes all it takes is one adult figure to offer support and love to a child in order for them to ‘make it.’In his book, Vance writes how he “watched some friends blossom into successful adults and others fall victim to the worst of Middletown’s temptations—premature parenthood, drugs, incarceration.” He continues: “What separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the expectations that they have for their own lives.” When I look back at my own childhood, this rings with an element of truth. In my family, for example, going to college was the expectation. There was never a conversation about whether or not I wanted to go, or whether or not it made sense for me to attend a university depending on what I wanted to do with my life as an adult. It was simply what kids like me did after high school. Only as an adult did I become aware of the other options to kids coming out of high school: working a job, traveling, joining the armed services or the peace corps, etc. But the expectation for me, set by my parents and by extension my middle class background, was that I go to college. While reading Hillbilly Elegy, I found myself wondering what it would feel like to not have that expectation, or any expectation of getting anything out of life at all. A truly existential crisis, and yet one that a huge population of the people in this country face!Almost every aspect of Vance’s life was setting him up for failure. Whether it was the acceptance of gun violence as a means to settle arguments or his mother putting soda in his baby bottle, his life was designed to keep him incapable of growth in all the important ways. Yet somehow, he made it out and now lives a comfortable happy life in Cincinnati. While regulatory bodies have done their best to help, and some of their policies have indeed made it easier for poor people to afford food and medicine, the revelation that Vance offers inside these pages is that poverty is culturally systemic. The hardships of Hillbilly culture, abundant in Appalachia and the midwest, will be a losing battle for those of us on the outside wanting to help. Herein lies the million dollar question: how do we help a culture that views outsiders with suspicion and aggression? Not to mention a cultural pride that would never admit to having a problem in the first place, and would tell you to shove off if you asked.The answer, it seems, is people like Vance. If he was able to grow up and ultimately thrive (he graduated from Yale Law School) then he is living proof that the American Dream is possible for the poor communities of the rust belt. Being an insider, perhaps he is the key, the antidote to a system inherently untrusting of outsiders. Sometimes all a child needs is a role model to aspire to, whether it be a politician, a musician, a scientist, or someone else of merit. Perhaps Vance can offer hope to some of the midwest’s most destitute children and communities.This book ultimately helped me realize the vast differences in culture across the United States. While I was aware of worldwide cultural differences, I think it a truth that many of us forget the vast variety of people and different ways of life that exist within the 3 billion square miles of land that make up the continental United States. Hillbilly Elegy inspired empathy in me for people who grow up embroiled in trauma and I sincerely hope that Vance can find progressive ways to help uplift his broken community.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2021
Images in this review
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 25, 2016
This book degenerates the hillbilly and says that they are beyond hope since they can't pull themselves up by their bootstrap
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2018Top reviews from other countries
Janie U
Very interesting for many people to read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 4, 2018
Catherine Rotte-Murray
A window to an unknown subculture
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 15, 2017Robert Potter
Terrific personal view of growing up in the industrial underclass
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 18, 2020
