Books

Hillbilly Elegy

A kid grows up in a poor, dysfunctional family and somehow makes it into Yale. 

My wife, a devoted memoir reader, read this when it came out and hated it. The only books we’ve ever mutually loved have Harry Potter in the title, so this was a positive signal for me. 

Turned out there wasn’t much to love nor much to hate in my experience. The writing was respectable but not remarkable. The story was familiar for those of us who grew up in socioeconomically analogous communities. Same with its insights—nothing too surprising. That is, unless you’re a coastal elite in a bubble, and then it apparently blows your mind. 

For a directly comparable masterpiece of the genre, read The Glass Castle. For a similar story with different textures, read Angela’s Ashes or This Boy’s Life. 

Three stars for its class, mostly unexceptional.

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“Same with its insights—nothing too surprising. That is, unless you’re a coastal elite in a bubble, and then it apparently blows your mind.“

🤣

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I read this when it first came out.  I was living in cincy at the time, that was almost 10 years ago. 

I think the interesting part about this book is if you read it early on, you perspective on JD vance back then is most likely vastly different than it is now.