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cameronsmith's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
This book was amazing. Super informative and interesting exploration of rural poverty in America. I especially appreciated the end when he talked about the things he thinks can and can't be fixed and how to fix them.
cassmccaff's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book in 2 seconds. It was short and very interesting. I love hearing these kinds of stories. So proud of him for working so hard despite where he comes from and what he’s been through. I loved every last detail. Now I need to watch the movie!
tweetybird0917's review against another edition
4.0
I honestly loved this book. Even though the writing is a little scrambled, the author makes you feel like he's sitting in front of you just telling his story. Makes you sit and think of all the people you've met who might be struggling in the culture of the "hillbilly" world. Great read if you're a social worker and want to understand the families you work with a little better.
agameofbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
I had honestly expected a more personal and emotional story, but this felt a little heavy on the facts somehow. I didn't connect with the characters as much as I hoped I would.
the_sunken_library's review against another edition
4.0
"Its not just our own communities that reinforce the outsider attitude, its the places and people that upward mobility connects us with".
An honest and insightful revelation about of one of the poorest communities in America. A reminder that while there are clear racial lines drawn in the sand, society will always systematically punish and let down one group of people at the bottom of the ladder, regardless of race or religion - the poor.
This book is accessible and necessary.
An honest and insightful revelation about of one of the poorest communities in America. A reminder that while there are clear racial lines drawn in the sand, society will always systematically punish and let down one group of people at the bottom of the ladder, regardless of race or religion - the poor.
This book is accessible and necessary.
crybabybea's review against another edition
medium-paced
0.25
Fuck this guy. I don't understand why this book is touted as a "compassionate" view of rural white America. I found it poorly researched, hypocritical, and borderline offensive. He frequently gives an opinion by starting with "studies show..." then doesn't cite the study or show any evidence.
I initially wanted to give this book at least one star because I thought the memoir part of it was enjoyable enough, but by the end of the book, with the weirdly disparaging/bootstraps messaging, the stories told about his family and fellow Appalachian people left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt the memoir lacked a sense of self-reflection and cohesion; in fact I found the author to walk back his opinions in weird ways, and it almost came across as having some sort of internalized hatred for himself/the people he grew up around. Then, the second half is spent talking about his time in the military with not much substance or connection to the main thesis of the memoir.
As much as he wants to write this book from the perspective of a poor, hard-working country boy, he is in fact a Yale graduate and a member of the elite class. I seriously hate this book so much I feel like it would be a lie to give it anything other than .25. I still love Mamaw though.
My biggest issue with this book is the touting of bootstraps meritocracy and the author's criticism of the poor working class. He says multiple times that he doesn't believe in systemic issues, but instead thinks that poor people are lazy and pessimistic. And yes, he even makes the "you're poor cause you spend your money on TVs and iPads LOL!!!!" joke. But somehow I'm supposed to believe that he wrote this book as a eulogy out of compassion and love for his culture, people, and family. Mmkay.
I don't feel like putting my thoughts into a cohesive review format so here's a list of weird things the author said that pissed me off:
I initially wanted to give this book at least one star because I thought the memoir part of it was enjoyable enough, but by the end of the book, with the weirdly disparaging/bootstraps messaging, the stories told about his family and fellow Appalachian people left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt the memoir lacked a sense of self-reflection and cohesion; in fact I found the author to walk back his opinions in weird ways, and it almost came across as having some sort of internalized hatred for himself/the people he grew up around. Then, the second half is spent talking about his time in the military with not much substance or connection to the main thesis of the memoir.
As much as he wants to write this book from the perspective of a poor, hard-working country boy, he is in fact a Yale graduate and a member of the elite class. I seriously hate this book so much I feel like it would be a lie to give it anything other than .25. I still love Mamaw though.
My biggest issue with this book is the touting of bootstraps meritocracy and the author's criticism of the poor working class. He says multiple times that he doesn't believe in systemic issues, but instead thinks that poor people are lazy and pessimistic. And yes, he even makes the "you're poor cause you spend your money on TVs and iPads LOL!!!!" joke. But somehow I'm supposed to believe that he wrote this book as a eulogy out of compassion and love for his culture, people, and family. Mmkay.
I don't feel like putting my thoughts into a cohesive review format so here's a list of weird things the author said that pissed me off:
- Opens up the book with a short-sighted disclaimer that "even though Black people struggle in America, actually white people suffer too and people need to stop viewing things through a racial lens". He also completely denies the history of the term "welfare queen" being used as an insult against poor Black mothers and instead says "every welfare queen I've known has been white" as if that changes the way it has been used to systemically punish and insult Black women? He continues to purposefully ignore race as a factor and fails to acknowledge his privilege, instead claiming that poor people of any race should be able to pull themselves out through hard work and better choices
- Says that addiction is in fact a disease, but then says that it's harmful to believe addiction is a disease because then addicts feel like they have an excuse to never change and never get help
- The second half of the book (coincidentally when the author goes off to the military) devolves into blind patriotism and the author constantly repeats that Americans live in the greatest country in the world and have more opportunities than any other country. But he spends the first half of the book talking about systemic issues (without acknowledging that the issues are systemic) that make America the bad place? And says that the government and corporations are not to blame, but instead people's individual choices? Like the math is not mathing. It's like he got so close to the point so many times and then the cognitive dissonance blinders settled in and he was like "huh, must be I'm just better and more hard-working than everyone else". And yes, I do think it's cringe to cry at "God Bless America", sorry
- Says multiple times that he doesn't think therapy is worthwhile despite acknowledging that he has a high ACES score. I don't think therapy is a perfect end-all-be-all solution, but, with peace and love, this book really shows his lack of self-reflection and healing
- Conservatives never hated Obama because of his race, but because he is a member of the elite class because he is rich. Listen. You can do a super simple google search for "obama racism" and see the incredibly racist imagery and slogans that were popularly used against him at the time.
- Randomly inserts an anecdote about some guy he met in college who spoke out against the Iraq war for being unnecessarily violent and racist. He says this guy has an "objectively bad opinion" because actually the soldiers had to take culture trainings to learn how to not show their feet to the Iraqi people that worked on the American side. No no, no war crimes or dehumanization or racism to be seen here.
No, don't google Abu Ghraib
- In the beginning of the book, talks about how poor people are stupid because they rely on payday loans that ruin their credit and keep them in debt. Then later he talks about how payday loans are good, actually, and not predatory at all, and stinky politicians should stop trying to help poor working class people by taking away the few resources they have. Okay
- Talks about how politicians think they are helping poor people but are so far removed from being poor that they end up making decisions that hurt the people they are trying to help. Btw, this guy is a senator and regularly votes against bills that would significantly help the working class and by 2020 he was fully in support of Donald Trump
- Poor people waste money on expensive Christmas gifts instead of trying to grow their wealth because they want to pretend to be rich and ignore the reality of their lives
No seriously fuck this guy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
makaylahart's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Incredibly intimate and informative portrait of poor, rural white Americans. Vance’s position as a self-described “cultural emigrant” provides an incredibly unique perspective that not only offers insight to the problems facing these communities, but also to his personal experiences and coming to terms with impacts of being born within one and escaping the poverty cycle.
To me it felt a little rambling towards the end but the conclusion was strong. At first I wished he’d dived deeper into some aspects of American society creating/encouraging some of these issues (like the two-party political system, big Pharma companies, distribution of wealth, etc) but there could be several more books on those subjects. The book’s tagline perfectly sums up what it is: ‘A memoir of a family and culture in crisis.’ It’s a look at how we got here through a scope largely limited to a single family, which may be exactly people need to read to become more understanding and to give a damn.
To me it felt a little rambling towards the end but the conclusion was strong. At first I wished he’d dived deeper into some aspects of American society creating/encouraging some of these issues (like the two-party political system, big Pharma companies, distribution of wealth, etc) but there could be several more books on those subjects. The book’s tagline perfectly sums up what it is: ‘A memoir of a family and culture in crisis.’ It’s a look at how we got here through a scope largely limited to a single family, which may be exactly people need to read to become more understanding and to give a damn.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse and Violence
threegoodrats's review against another edition
4.0
This is currently the most-requested book in my library system with over 1000 holds right now. It's been fairly popular since it came out in June, but interest has really spiked since the election. I've heard it recommended to help people try and understand the election, but that's very simplistic thinking. This doesn't begin to explain the clusterfuck of the 2016 US Presidential election and all the factors that affected the outcome. What it does is offer some insight into the lives of rural, working-class white people, which for me is value enough.
Although I live in eastern Massachusetts and have a career and am fairly worldly at this point in my life, I was born in a rural area full of working-class white people, not terribly different from what Vance describes. So I forget that this culture is pretty alien to a lot of people, and the popularity of this book as a learning tool has therefore surprised me. I'm very glad it's so popular though, because I think that poor, rural, white people are very much overlooked in our culture. That's why I was so interested to read this book when I first learned about it earlier this year. It's one of several books related to this topic that have been published recently, a trend that I hope continues.
My full post is here.
Although I live in eastern Massachusetts and have a career and am fairly worldly at this point in my life, I was born in a rural area full of working-class white people, not terribly different from what Vance describes. So I forget that this culture is pretty alien to a lot of people, and the popularity of this book as a learning tool has therefore surprised me. I'm very glad it's so popular though, because I think that poor, rural, white people are very much overlooked in our culture. That's why I was so interested to read this book when I first learned about it earlier this year. It's one of several books related to this topic that have been published recently, a trend that I hope continues.
My full post is here.