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

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.0

I didn’t know who J.D. Vance was before I started this book and had I known, I would’ve been more hesitant to listen to it. I listened to this as an audiobook and don’t think I would’ve been able to read a physical copy of it as I don’t believe the writing was all that fantastic. As a memoir of his childhood, the book is fine. But I personally felt his analysis of a culture in crisis was lacking; it felt kind of vague to me and i don’t feel he addressed the core of why some Appalachian families struggle the way they do. He analyzed his specific family but missed the mark on the culture as a whole. I won’t argue that his childhood wasn’t difficult, but I do feel he failed to acknowledge some of the privileges that did work to his advantage. 
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