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lukekono 's review for:
✒︎2.5 stars
I am so sorry to one of my very kind librarians at my local library, but I don't know why you liked this book.
I read Hillbilly Elegy for a YouTube video that I am in the midst of. For some background, I was born and raised in actual Appalachia. I still live here. I would consider myself a hillbilly due to some aspects of my personality, upbringing, and where I live. I also have an odd fascination with J.D. Vance and his political transformation. (Although some may argue that he was the same this whole time. I beg to differ.) I have a unique perspective that I will be getting more into during my YouTube video, and more on Vance himself, but I want to focus more on criticizing it for the book aspects of it, not the outside factors.
The writing was very simple, which made this book relatively easy to get through. I will say that I definitely related to some aspects of this book and Vance's life. I also found that he had a humor within some of his writing that did make me laugh out loud a bit, I have to admit. If Vance got one thing right in this book (it was only one thing) it was definitely how he described the certain parts of the hillbilly life. His Mawmaw and Pawpaw were true hillbillies, for sure.
I found that he did not reflect on his life nearly enough for my enjoyment. I prefer it when authors actually critique their (and their family members/loved ones) choices, and it was sorely lacking in this book. I mean, the book was about 260 pages and I left it feeling like I didn't know much more about Vance than I did going into it. He would ramble at times trying to make a larger, grander point, that almost always fell flat. As reviewer Lark Benobi said in their review:
I am so sorry to one of my very kind librarians at my local library, but I don't know why you liked this book.
I read Hillbilly Elegy for a YouTube video that I am in the midst of. For some background, I was born and raised in actual Appalachia. I still live here. I would consider myself a hillbilly due to some aspects of my personality, upbringing, and where I live. I also have an odd fascination with J.D. Vance and his political transformation. (Although some may argue that he was the same this whole time. I beg to differ.) I have a unique perspective that I will be getting more into during my YouTube video, and more on Vance himself, but I want to focus more on criticizing it for the book aspects of it, not the outside factors.
The writing was very simple, which made this book relatively easy to get through. I will say that I definitely related to some aspects of this book and Vance's life. I also found that he had a humor within some of his writing that did make me laugh out loud a bit, I have to admit. If Vance got one thing right in this book (it was only one thing) it was definitely how he described the certain parts of the hillbilly life. His Mawmaw and Pawpaw were true hillbillies, for sure.
I found that he did not reflect on his life nearly enough for my enjoyment. I prefer it when authors actually critique their (and their family members/loved ones) choices, and it was sorely lacking in this book. I mean, the book was about 260 pages and I left it feeling like I didn't know much more about Vance than I did going into it. He would ramble at times trying to make a larger, grander point, that almost always fell flat. As reviewer Lark Benobi said in their review:
"The entire book is based on the premise that the poor are poor because they are lazy and bitter."
Vance barely reflected on the systems of power that enable addiction and unemployment, among other things. Not to mention, that there were a few sparse sentences discussing race and how that greatly affects ones risk of being impoverished. Yes, white people in poverty suffer, but they never have suffered- and never will- on the basis of race, like non-white people- particularly Black and Hispanic people.
This book is gratingly ironic given J.D. Vance's recent political shenanigans. He literally became an elite and abandoned low-income people, especially hillbillies. He's not different from any other politician, in fact, his recent change is deeply insidious given his upbringing. I would expect less from someone who grew up wealthy and privileged.
I saw some good in this book, but Vance's naive, and baseline understanding of white poverty and poverty overall was incredibly trite.
✂︎----------
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