Hillbilly Elegy

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

By: J. D. Vance

Narrated by: J. D. Vance

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Nonfiction

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 40 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, his aunt, his uncle, his 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.

A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

©2016 J. D. Vance (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Enlightening!

Would you listen to Hillbilly Elegy again? Why?

Yes. I loved the stories that the author shared. Some were colorful and quaint, others were dark, sad, and disturbing. But a life lived, examined, and improved upon--that is irresistible to me.

What other book might you compare Hillbilly Elegy to and why?

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

Have you listened to any of J. D. Vance’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I doubt if J.D. Vance has recorded other performances. One important thing I must point out: a few reveiwers noted that the author/narrator spoke too quickly. I had the opposite reaction. Finally, a narrator who moved along at a decent pace, and who was not more interested in emoting and acting than he was in getting on with the story! This is one of the few author-narrated audio books that I have really enjoyed. Another reviewer made negative comments re the off-colored language used by some of the people in J.D. Vance's autobiography. Sorry, but that's how those individuals expressed themselves. The author wasn't indulging in gratuitous or excessive cursing. What was he supposed to do--censor genuine, pithy remarks and change them to "Gosh darn" or "Gee whiz"? Time to grow up, readers!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I felt very sad, reading how tough life has been and continues to be for one seldom noticed group of people, those of Scotch-Irish ancestry who proudly call themselves hillbillies. This isn't a group of people who suffer from lack of outside intervention, which they resent and resist, often rightly so. The tragedy is their assumption that their fates are sealed, that life will always be tough, that there is no future outside poverty and drugs and violent upholding of cultural codes. The author was blessed with some caring relatives and friends, who helped him cope with the effects of his cultural inheritance and his mother's substance addictions. The author remade himself through a stint in the Marines, then graduated from college and law school. Yet the effects of his hillbilly upbringing remain and require ongoing understanding, acceptance and modification. I'd like to meet J.D. Vance. He sounds like a remarkable man. Somehow, by his own transformation, he is uniting the best of both the hillbilly culture and modern mores and behaviors.

Any additional comments?

I worked as a nurse for decades. I took care of hundreds of people who had physical problems resulting from mental and emotional issues, often caused by unfortunate childhood experiences. Those who took responsibility for their own condition and fate did well. Those who wallowed in self pity, and who blamed others--family, school, law enforcement, the government--for their problems, never improved. Self pity and blaming others is a trap. Giving in to those two negatives is like crawling into a cave and rolling a stone across the entrance, so that no light can enter. Like the case of J.D. Vance, the only way to a happy, productive life is to accept and understand one's past, work hard in the present, and make positive plans for the future. And the key to all that is to recognize one's own worth. It's hard to feel worthy of a good life, unless we receive enough affection and encouragement along the way. I hope the hillbillies of this world, and all groups and individuals who lack good parents and adequate food, clothing and education, find what they need in other positive forms, like grandparents, teachers and good friends. There is always hope. Sometimes, we have to work hard to find hope. But it's there.

Understanding the blame game

I am British and was recommended this book by an American friend as I was trying to understand Donald Trump's popularity in the US. The book is not designed to explain this specifically, but paints a picture of a group of people who are inclined to look for a 'saviour' rather than, for a host of reasons that are not necessarily their fault, believe that they can help themselves - and it's not someone else's fault. As an autobiography the book is very thought provoking.

Touched my soul

I’m struggling to put into words how much this book moved me. It was recommended to me many times, and I wish I would have read it sooner. The author’s story is my story in so many ways. Yet he articulates what so many “Hill people” that have moved out of those circumstances in a way, most couldn’t.
I wish I could thank Mr. Vance personally for writing this book. It should be required reading for teachers, politicians, and anyone who has the able to affect change in those less fortunate.

excellent perspective

This is a great book told by an excellent story teller. I will recommend this to my book club friends.

Moving and eye-opening

I chose Hillbilly Elegy after seeing it described as a good book to help understand Trump voters (I could possibly be described in their terms as a "liberal coastal elite"). I learned once I started it that this was not the author's intent, and in fact the book pre-dates Trump's ascent and does not mention him.

What it does do is explore the forces of nature vs nurture, of fate vs finding one's own way, and beautifully intermixes statistics about intergenerational cycles of poverty with powerful personal stories that illustrate and illuminate them. It gives insight into hillbilly culture and how the environment we live in can determine our worldview.

Some have complained that for all its insight into the problems certain populations face, the book lacks satisfying solutions. This is not an oversight or laziness by the author, however. It is a deliberately honest view from Vance's perspective (informed by his experiences) about to what extent external political efforts can and cannot help.

Beautiful raw honesty

While this is one man's honest retelling of his life, this is the life of too many kids of an whole generation of Americans. This happens all over the country, not just in the rust belt. While drugs & alcohol might not always be prevalent, the abuse and damage to the young child's mind have now brought up a whole other generation of people on antidepressants. There needs to be another movement of people who are recognized for growing up in abusive homes, surviving and hopefully even thriving. I too survived.

Insightful

Mr. Vance, Very well written and performed. There is so much here to ponder about the human condition. Sadly I think as well meaning (or not) as our government intends to be it so often misses the mark. And this can be the way how other social issues are handled, in particular bureaucratic programs in our government. Continue bringing awareness to this and other issues that effect America!

His authenticity.

I liked the way the author shared his perspective of the Appalachian way of life, and how that impacts children and adults beyond the surface.

New perspective

I learned a lot about empathy. It’s definitely an experience very different from my own childhood.

Honest. Helpful. Gripping.

Thank you for this book. I wish I had read it years ago. Thank you.