Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ~ J.D. Vance

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

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. 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.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.

Book Review:

I was recommended this book by one of my high school teachers and mentors months ago but it never peeked my interest until I was looking for audiobooks to listen to over the course of two 5 hour bus rides one weekend. I found that Vance spoke to the truth that I lived as well. I grew up in a lower middle class family that fits the class of Hillbillies that he describes, but where I come from we call them Rednecks. He had a harder upbringing than I did. His father was only in the picture sporadically, his mother was addicted to drugs and the wrong type of men. His sister was his only constant for the majority of his life and most people, including himself, didn't believe that he would make it very far in life. Somehow, he defeated those odds and became a marine, went to Yale Law School, became a prominent lawyer, had a family of his own. 

I've had to overcome my own list of obstacles and his story of self-discovery, self-sabotage, and determination to grow depicts my story as well. He knows that he wouldn't have made it without his determination and work-ethic instilled in him by the Hillbilly culture but also knows that he wouldn't have made it without the various people who took an interest in him. I read this book at a time where I needed to feel like I wasn't alone in my story and this did that for me. 

Pages: 272                                                                                                                             Rate: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

“Today people look at me, at my job and my Ivy League credentials, and assume that I’m some sort of genius, that only a truly extraordinary person could have made it to where I am today. With all due respect to those people, I think that theory is a load of bullshit. Whatever” 

A Study in Scarlet ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

'There's a scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.' From the moment Dr John Watson takes lodgings in Baker Street with the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, he becomes intimately acquainted with the bloody violence and frightening ingenuity of the criminal mind. In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes and Watson's first mystery, the pair are summoned to a south London house where they find a dead man whose contorted face is a twisted mask of horror. The body is unmarked by violence but on the wall a mysterious word has been written in blood. The police are baffled by the crime and its circumstances. But when Sherlock Holmes applies his brilliantly logical mind to the problem he uncovers a tragic tale of love and deadly revenge . . .

Book Review:

I've always had an interest in Sherlock Holmes and even more so after watching the show by BBC and then reading A Study in Charlotte, which I reviewed here. I finally decided that it was time to pick up the original Sherlock Holmes stories, so when I found a bindup e-book version for a good price on Amazon, I snagged it. I have the four main stories in this bindup, the first obviously being A Study in Scarlet. 

I read the story, which isn't very long anyway, in about two days. I immediately fell in love with Conan Doyle's writing style. For having written these stories so long ago, the story didn't have the same dullness to it that I find in many other books written at the same time. I loved the characters right off of the bat, especially Sherlock. He is just so unapologetically strange. I hope that John has a bit more character development because I could see that his time overseas left neverending effects on him but I would like that to be developed more. As well as more conversations and interactions between him and Sherlock in general, not just John listening to Sherlock's explanations. 

Overall, the story was amazing and I can't wait to jump into another, but I am going to put other books in between each Sherlock book so that I can prolong the enjoyment.  

Pages: 116                                                                                                                                 Rate: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.” 

What Happened ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton

For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.

In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics.

She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future.

Book Review:

I listened to the audiobook version of this, read by Hillary Rodham Clinton herself. I wish I was able to call her Madam President Clinton at this point but that would be inaccurate. Even through the unfortunate political climate that has occured since the election, she remains strong, stoic, and gives insight that I feel was necessary for me to read. I supported her throughout the campaign and throughout the book you can tell that she is grateful for each and every individual, including myself, that did support her and continue to support her. She remains hopeful for the future but is not afraid to be critical of the current situation either. 

She discusses everything from her early childhood, being told by her parents that she could do anything she wanted; to law school, where she began to see more of the gender indifferences and had to work twice as hard as her male counterparts; to her early marriage with Bill Clinton, where her choice to keep her Maiden name may be one of the reasons that he lost an election; to the birth of her daughter, who is the one who keeps her strong; to her first presidential campaign that she lost to Barak Obama; to the most recent and devastating presidential election; and finally to her current fight for our country and the many young girls who look up to her. Listening to all her personal stories and revelations gave me hope. So much has changed since she was a child, and although we agree that under the current Presidency we are falling backwards a bit, we will eventually break all of the glass ceilings and as long as we keep fighting, Trump will not break us. 

Beyond the hope that she instills in me, she also discusses every potential mistake, thoughout her entire life, that she credits with potentially allowing for her defeat in the past election. She doesn't only blame herself though, she does recoognize that Russia's interference, Comey's letter days before the election, and the media only portraying the controversy around her eventhough she had many amazing policy ideas, all had a part in her defeat. This was important to me. It was important to me that she recognized her own faults but that she also knew that there was nothing more she could have done because other factors still would have been there and they still would have led to her defeat. 

She also does an an incredible job at explaining the differences that she experienced on the campaign due to her gender, things that Trump never had to deal with. She was accused of being too emotional, not emotional enough. She was told to be polite even though Trump was congratulated for being ruthless. She had to do hair and makeup every day. She had to remain feminine but not too delicate. She felt fear of Trump as he loomed over her on the stage after he basically congratualted sexual assault on the public stage. I feel that all women can relation to her experiences that may have been influenced by her gender in some way shape or form. 

Overall, I would listen to this book a hundred more times. Thank you, (Madam President) Hillary Rodham Clinton. 

Update

College has been keeping me very busy recently and I haven't been able to do much reading for fun. I am currently 1/2 way through the second GoT book, after about a month of reading it. I am listening to What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton. I have read two pages of a Sherlock Holmes novel.

Most of the reading that I have been doing has been textbooks and boring novels for classes. I am attempting to get back into the swing of things and make more time for reading. I have so many books staring me in the face, saying "READ ME!!!!" As soon as I am done with the audiobook, I will post a review and same when I finish this book of Got.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I am really trying though!!