Hillbilly Elegy
This completed the portion of my reading challenge of “A book that takes place over a character’s life span.” Now, to be clear, this book does not take place over the author’s life span…but it does go over multiple generations of his family and it covers the life span of his grandparents. This novel is a candid look into the life of a hillbilly family, their struggles, sadness, and successes.
Hillbillies are thought of as rough around the edges, back woods poor people who are uneducated. A lot of these things are true, but they are rarely given the credit of being fiercely loyal and loving. This book shows both the good and the ugly parts of being a hillbilly. I think what I found most tragic about this book is that you not only see his family struggle with finances, graduating, and domestic disturbances, but you hear that every other hillbilly family is going through the same trouble. It broke my heart to hear how more often than not these problems are passed down from generation to generation; that it takes more effort from this social class to crawl up to a better life. It also surprised me how often I could think of people in my life who are eerily similar to those described by the author. I truly believe Montana, and the Inland Northwest, has it’s own hillbilly populations who struggle in many of the same ways as those of the south. This isn’t a book of solutions (in fact, the author believes some things like this don’t have grand solutions), it’s simply a glimpse into the life of the working class and their battles and triumphs.
I would recommend this book to those in the social sciences fields, and to those who like hearing true-life stories of other people.
Malia's Pizza Rating
Little Caesars $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza.