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Hillbilly Elegy
- A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
- Narrated by: J. D. Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
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Publisher's summary
Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Nonfiction
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's white working class.
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis - that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over 40 years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.
The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.'s grandparents were "dirt poor and in love" and moved north from Kentucky's Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.
But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance's grandparents, his aunt, his uncle, his sister, and most of all his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.
A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.
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What listeners say about Hillbilly Elegy
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- Jeff Lacy
- 04-14-17
Wonderful life story close to home
This is a wonderful life story close to home not in its poverty or abuse but in its people. I laughed and cried with Papaw and Mamaw and empathized with J. D.'s account. This is a very entertaining and compelling memoir, one of the best I have read. It deserves all of its accolades.
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5 people found this helpful
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- karen moten
- 07-10-17
Painfully familiar
i'm from Kentucky and kept having epiphanies, then looking around to share them with someone.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Golanka
- 03-04-17
Memoir with a larger view
This memoir goes beyond a personal or family history; it illuminates social and political issues affecting millions of Americans (ultimately all Americans).
The story J.D. Vance tells is a timely one. It adds an important perspective to the discussion of our society in today's world.
The book is well written and easy to read. (And pretty short.)
As for the narration, it is nice to hear the author read his own story. However, he is not a professional narrator and while J.D.'s voice is fine, it did not enhance the story. I was a bit disappointed that when he quoted someone--himself or others--from his past, J.D. didn't alter his voice to speak with the dialect/accent he grew up with (he mentions this, but never lets us hear what that sounded like).
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5 people found this helpful
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- Julie S.
- 09-07-20
Eloquently Written and Read
This is not an anthropological review of "Hillybilly" culture, this is a coming of age story from a wickedly-bright and insightful young man whose open eyes and heart enabled him to thrive in the rest of the world while not turning his back on his family, his childhood, or his people.
Personally, this was a gift because it gave me compassionate insight into the ways in which people who are not like me think, live, and survive.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Soonermorrissw
- 09-26-16
Enlightening
I was hesitant getting this book but I'm very glad I did. I found the view into their live was an example of how tough some people have in this country. It is heart breaking what many people go through each day. In this day and age it shouldn't be that someone has to worry about being or going hungry. I know a lot of people like to blame others for their failures but I really like how he mentioned that taking accountability for our action is one place we need to start to fix the issue. Great book and highly recommend it to you.
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- Geoffrey Montgomery
- 09-24-17
Author/Reader & survivor JD Vance is impeccable
The way in which the author navigates his narrative of a traumatic childhood in the poorest areas of our country and into his evolved adulthood, is kind, funny, sympathetic and illuminating. I am very grateful having found this book and I believe it has moved my own evolved adulthood in a positive direction.
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- Eric Suire
- 09-22-17
Fantastic.
Thank you JD. Your story was phenomenal. I grew up in a totally different place in the exact same way. Your introspective view of yourself has helped me adapt the same sort of awareness of my own flaws and I've grown as a man for it. If you ever run for office I'd be honored to serve on your team. God bless you sir.
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- mti
- 02-06-17
A realistic look at a slice of American culture
Recommending this book to psychologists and medical professionals. Also an insightful read for those who grew up in similar circumstance.
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- William P.
- 09-08-16
great story of the 21st century hillbilly's state
this offers great insight into the working class white community and what lies beneath the culture in today's society.
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- Jonathan
- 09-21-16
Important book about the American we don't hear about often
Vance's life story is critical for anyone interested in the complexity of poverty, class, education, and childhood in America. It's a story rarely told and a community rarely discussed when we talk about the challenges Americans face.
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