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missyjohnson's review against another edition
4.0
recommended read. very insightful and thoughtful observations from such a young man.
the difficulty of breaking cycles and patterns and the impact of broken systems that do not address issues of poverty and class/caste structure is a hard realization to admit. We do need to stop blaming and ignoring our own part in the mess.
the difficulty of breaking cycles and patterns and the impact of broken systems that do not address issues of poverty and class/caste structure is a hard realization to admit. We do need to stop blaming and ignoring our own part in the mess.
kenturbo's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
drusmilford's review against another edition
3.0
Glad I read this to give me a better understanding .....
catbrigand's review against another edition
1.0
This guy is a self-righteous asshole. I'm proud of him that he was able to find his own fire in life and work extremely hard to get where he got. But if I had to read one more time about how he went to Yale, I was going to have to pitch the book out the window. He bemoans the existence of welfare while extolling the supposed virtues of payday loan and check-into-cash businesses. He makes the mistake of conflating his family being from Appalachia with his family being neglectful, abusive, and unbalanced. And I'm honestly horrified that so many people in my life have read this book and walked away feeling like they perfectly understand the south, Appalachia, and "what we're all like." This is a tale of a man who proudly identifies as a hillbilly while spouting stereotypes about them left and right, and to someone who is a proud resident of Appalachia, it's a mess.
As a memoir of a family it's compelling. As a memoir of a culture in crisis it's a biased, classist heap of trash.
As a memoir of a family it's compelling. As a memoir of a culture in crisis it's a biased, classist heap of trash.
eggjen's review against another edition
4.0
I found myself relating to this book a lot more than I expected to. While I think the author was a bit muddled on exactly what book he was writing and why, I still got a lot out of it. It's kind of part memoir / part social commentary but there's definitely something to get out of it and it makes for good conversation fodder and food for thought. It's not perfect but it's interesting and written in a conversational style that makes it easy to read.
jfrie65's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a little disjointed and I was thankful for Vance’s disclaimer to expect that. I’m sure it would be seen as ground breaking for anyone who had never considered that people make choices that are largely influenced by their environments: social, cultural, economic and set in Appalachia, geographical, for sure. The thing I appreciated/hated about how he wrapped this memoir up was his strategies to sort of “raise others up”. It perpetuates a dividing us/them feeling but is also simple, memorable and practical. His grateful struggle to overcome relational baggage felt honest too.
rachelburaczyk's review against another edition
1.0
I’m dumb for reading this, just because it is a memoir, without researching the author first. While his childhood story was interesting, it is a book full of trump loving, racist, conservative propaganda. One of the saddest elements of the United States is how the right wing has used their power to take advantage of low-income white people, while voting in laws that systematically keep them poor. The democrat party is not much better, capitalism is a horrible drain on everyone. Anyway, I do not recommend and it honestly wasn’t even that well written.