Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
J.D. Vance did an amazing job of describing the Appalachian culture and a crisis that so few of us truly understand or have seen first hand. It was so eyeopening and heart-wrenching.
Gave me hope but also made me feel somewhat hopeless or maybe helpless. How can we really help these people, how can we change this culture that affects so many of our fellow Americans? Vance doesn't have the answer and I appreciated that he didn't try to stick some solution to this story. Because the truth is there isn't an easy fix, but we need to be aware and see that there is hope that more people can have a store like Vance. They can get out of that terrible cycle and have a different life if they are given the correct opportunities and solutions and also have the support of the right people.
I appreciated how Vance was so honest on his opinions as he grew up as well. He wasn't just this determined individual, he had moments where he didn't care about doing something else, where he almost gave up. It made it that much more real that more goes into just one person's mindset about their life.
It was also a perfect time to read this book (2016 election), to show how a large part of our population is living that so many of us forget about. How they are struggling and are looking for a change, for help, for something. It of course doesn't say anything explicitly, but it just helped shed some light on opinions of those on the other side of Appalachia.
Synopsis: From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's white working class. It is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.