This had to have been the most talked about memoir of 2016 so much so that my local library had a wait list as deep as the Mississippi River. JD Vance, the author, is now a venture capitalist in California; however this book is about how he grew up dirt poor in Appalachia to a family that was highly dysfunctional on a good day. This book generally details how he transcended this dysfunction to attend college and then law school at Yale, while also making forays into why the working white poor in the United States is in such a state of socioeconomic crisis.
Vance's family came from a long line of hill people originally from Kentucky. They migrated to Ohio to work in the factories that sprang up following World War 2. His grandparents, in spite of the alcoholism that plagued them, had a decent life as a result. However by the time that Vance was alive industry had left and there was mass poverty. His mother was a neglectful parent with alcohol and substance abuse issues that had a series of new husbands seemingly every year. Vance's father was largely absent, although he eventually meets him.
I was very much struck by Vance's story but I had a really difficult time with his analysis of why this was happening. In part, this was because I found his academic writing to be mediocre at best. In part it was because I found the story of his life more interesting. That being said, he does pose some really interesting questions the most important of which - how much should the white poor be responsible for their own misfortune? He actually comes out with saying that the white poor are tremendously responsible for their misfortune - albeit in a compassionate tone. While economic insecurity is a factor, the social decay that seems to come along with it is something that doesn't always need to be a result of that insecurity.He seemed to be particularly frustrated with his people's inability to counteract it - in part because I think that he saw his mother caught in a vicious cycle of abuse, drugs and a revolving door of men. He also told a story about how he worked as a cashier and got tremendously frustrated seeing his neighbors game the system and have cell phones, while he worked and could not afford one.
I respected Mr. Vance tremendously for attempting to take on a subject that everyone knows exists but which no one seems to want to explicitly tackle head on in an honest, straightforward and compassionate manner. Hats off to him for advancing the conversation.
Vance's family came from a long line of hill people originally from Kentucky. They migrated to Ohio to work in the factories that sprang up following World War 2. His grandparents, in spite of the alcoholism that plagued them, had a decent life as a result. However by the time that Vance was alive industry had left and there was mass poverty. His mother was a neglectful parent with alcohol and substance abuse issues that had a series of new husbands seemingly every year. Vance's father was largely absent, although he eventually meets him.
I was very much struck by Vance's story but I had a really difficult time with his analysis of why this was happening. In part, this was because I found his academic writing to be mediocre at best. In part it was because I found the story of his life more interesting. That being said, he does pose some really interesting questions the most important of which - how much should the white poor be responsible for their own misfortune? He actually comes out with saying that the white poor are tremendously responsible for their misfortune - albeit in a compassionate tone. While economic insecurity is a factor, the social decay that seems to come along with it is something that doesn't always need to be a result of that insecurity.He seemed to be particularly frustrated with his people's inability to counteract it - in part because I think that he saw his mother caught in a vicious cycle of abuse, drugs and a revolving door of men. He also told a story about how he worked as a cashier and got tremendously frustrated seeing his neighbors game the system and have cell phones, while he worked and could not afford one.
I respected Mr. Vance tremendously for attempting to take on a subject that everyone knows exists but which no one seems to want to explicitly tackle head on in an honest, straightforward and compassionate manner. Hats off to him for advancing the conversation.
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I agree the analysis part of this one was not up to par. Vance's opinions were not well supported when he extended them beyond his personal experience. But it was fascinating to read about his life story.
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