- c.2016, Harper
- $27.99 / $34.99 Canada
- 264 pages
Home is where the heart is.
It’s where folks take you in because they love you, and put up with your nonsense for the same reason. It’s where you go when there’s nowhere else, a haven both for body and soul. Home is where the heart is — and, as in the new memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” by J.D. Vance, it’s also where troubles begin.
At first glance, most people would say J.D. Vance had a pretty good bringing-up.
Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio, sometimes referred to as “Middletucky” because, like him, many residents’ roots lay in the Bluegrass State. Kentucky’s Appalachian hills, in fact, were where Vance remembers spending the best of his childhood, running wild with cousins while his Mamaw, visited kin. Her brothers — Vance’s beloved uncles — taught Vance how to be a man.
Such information didn’t come from the men his mother brought around.
There was a succession of them: five husbands, various boyfriends, in a roulette-wheel of homes. Vance mistrusted his mother, barely knew his father, and was raised to believe that the man didn’t want him; he grew to rely instead on his sister and his Mamaw, whose home was a shelter.
She lived close-by, often just a block away, and he stayed with her more than he lived with his mother. A heavy smoker who spewed profanity, Mamaw was tough as nails but tender with babies. She demanded that Vance excel in school, and she protected him from “the worst of what [the] community offered,” though there were times when he was ashamed of her, too.
He was ashamed of his mother, his behavior, and the poverty that surrounded him but as Vance matured, he learned a few truths: his mother tried to do her best, but drug addiction was stronger. Anger and yelling were not keys to a successful relationship. Education was the strongest way out. And “…Mamaw was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Let’s face it: you’ve been watching the news lately, and you’re confused. Who is JD Vance? You may get a glimpse of him here but it could be tarnished, depending on your stance and given that “Hillbilly Elegy” was written long before Vance’s political career launched. On that note, readers will absolutely see that the Vance of almost a decade ago had almost nothing good to say about his current running mate.
Back then, Vance poetically wrote of the beauty of the place of his kin: deep hollers, green rolling hillsides, and honorable people. But we learn a different story, too: that of hopelessness, early pregnancies, addiction, and the sense that poverty is a life sentence. These are the things Vance says he grew up with, and the tour he offers rises and curves like an Appalachian mountain road.
This is a book that’s easy to dive into and is absolutely relevant to current events. It’s perfect for readers concerned with the marginalized, and with those who fiercely follow politics. If that’s you, then “Hillbilly Elegy” is the book to take home.
