Update: This book has been made into a movie, directed by Ron Howard.
Before I start this book review, I feel the need to print a bit of a disclaimer. This book is about the area of the country in which I grew up. I grew up on the fringes of Appalachia, but I spent a lot of time with my grandparents who lived in Magoffin Country, KY, just two counties over from Jackson, KY, where the author spent at least part of his childhood. I don’t think I’m biased as I’ve spent most of my life in places other than Appalachia. But, I understand the culture and I am brutally honest about the culture. I have delayed writing this book review because the subject matter of the novel is so close to my heart as I’m sure it is close to the heart of J.D. Vance. With that said, here goes…..
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance is about a family who originated in Breathitt County, KY, squarely in the middle of the Appalachian portion of Kentucky (southeastern Kentucky). Breathitt County is poor, even desperately poor, white, and most of the people are, in their way, both hopeless and proud. This book is Mr. Vance’s memoir. However, J.D. Vance did up in Appalachia. He did not grow up in Breathitt County, KY. His family moved to Middletown, Ohio and that’s where Mr. Vance grew up. He was in Kentucky on occasion to visit relatives.
Hillbilly Elegy is a graphic portrayal of life in Appalachia, or perhaps I should say Eastern Kentucky, during the time Vance grew up. I’m speaking as one who was there at the same time as well as before and since. I know that the way Mr. Vance portrayed Eastern Kentucky is based on his truth and what he may have observed when visiting, but it is sensationalized and Hillbilly Elegy gives its readers a warped perspective of the area.
The people of Appalachia are good people. They are proud and they would be hard-working, if there were anywhere to work. Once the occupation of coal mining started to decline, unemployment skyrocketed. Industries simply seldom move into this part of Appalachia due to its relative geographic isolation, the lack of good roads, and a low educational level of the people.
Since work is so scarce, there have been periods of movement out of the area, and Mr. Vance’s family moved during one of those periods. The typical places to move have been to Ohio and Michigan. Mr. Vance’s family moved to Middletown, Ohio seeking a better life and work. Ultimately, they were seeking upward mobility. A generation or two before the period in which Hillbilly Elegy is set, upward mobility existed in Eastern Kentucky. That was during my grandparent’s time. During Mr. Vance’s time, upward mobility was difficult to obtain but certainly not impossible.
One fault I have regarding Vance’s book is that he gave no historical perspective on the Appalachian region. The Appalachia that I knew was not the Appalachia that Vance seemed to know. Those who experienced Appalachia before Vance knew a beautiful, peaceful place with people who immigrated mostly from Scotland, Ireland and England. The people were fiercely independent and self-sufficient because they had to be. They were farmers and, yes, coal miners, among other occupations. They were clannish and family-oriented.
Another problem with Mr. Vance’s book is that he depicted the people as either ignorant, drug addicts, alcoholics, lazy or some combination of all of these characteristics.
Vance couldn’t be more wrong. Even though many are uneducated, uneducated does not always mean ignorant. They are independent and self-sufficient and many were self-educated and went into the trades such as construction, plumbing, electricity, auto mechanics and more. Clearly, alcoholism and drug addiction were not part of their lives. A generation or two before Vance’s time in Appalachia, many were farmers, often tobacco farmers. Some of that ended when the price supports for tobacco were removed by the federal government. However, they farmed other crops. Corn, wheat, soybeans were some and they raised sheep and cattle. Unfortunately, Vance’s family must not have taken these paths.
Vance basically trashed the Appalachian area and the culture of the Appalachian people with little explanation or historical perspective. Hillbilly Elegy is a book based on one Appalachian family, not the entire area. Vance sensationalized those things he had been exposed to, but didn’t do his research on why things were as they were.
Yes, Mr. Vance’s family carried their culture with them when they moved to Ohio. What else were they to do? They knew nothing else. They were hot-tempered and quick to take offense. Perhaps that was because the culture in Eastern Kentucky developed in geographic isolation from the rest of the world. The family had addiction problems. When people can’t find work, that tends to happen. Those things went with them to Ohio as they are not solvable over night. They were “different” than their neighbors in Ohio. Of course they were. They came from a different place with different social norms and different values. It was hard to fit in, especially with people who called you a “hillbilly” and made fun of your accent. Vance’s family all struggled with their middle-class life in Ohio. They struggled to escape the demons of their pasts. They never did and my guess is neither did J.D. Vance. Hillbilly Elegy was the written testament to the chip Vance carries on his shoulders.
Vance’s family life seems chaotic to people who have never lived in the culture of Appalachia but not so chaotic to those of us who have. He did have the stabilizing influence of his grandparents on his mother’s side and that, perhaps, saved him. He went on to become a first-generation college student, a Marine, and he graduated from the Yale Law school. He is not the only young person to have escaped a disadvantaged background. He clearly had determination and intelligence as is evidenced in Hillbilly Elegy.
Vance, however, did not make it clear that the culture described in this book is not limited to Appalachia. Any poor, white, disadvantaged culture can fall prey to the cultural problems that Vance’s family experienced.
Hillbilly Elegy is a bestseller. My feeling is that it was written to be a bestseller by sensationalizing the bad and ignoring the good that exists in Appalachia. It is a social psychology look at a culture in crisis. If you want to read just one perspective on Appalachia, then read this book. Keep in mind that it depicts only the perspective of J.D. Vance. There are other books on Appalachia, the people and the culture that are much more well-rounded. Vance’s book is simply the story of one family.
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