Comments (148)

Hillbilly Elegy

a Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 148 items
Aug 05, 2023goodepk1 rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
If you want to be depressed, read this book.
Jun 26, 2023pacl_teens rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
""Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" by J.D. Vance is an insightful and deeply personal exploration of the author's upbringing in the Rust Belt of America. Through a series of poignant anecdotes and reflections,…
Jan 07, 2023Boych2018 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Interesting insight into hillbilly culture.
Nov 26, 2022Sandycanread rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Horrible
Oct 05, 2022SoHum rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Not a book I would have read but for my book club, but I am so glad I did. It gave my some insight on what's going on in the U.S. right now, particularly given that the author is in the news at the moment, running for the…
Sep 25, 2022Tater rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Given that the author is a Trump sycophant, anything he has to say about the virtues of "hillbillies" has absolutely no merit because the author is a deluded liar. He's supposed to be educated? Phaw!
Sep 23, 2022shirleydudley rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Very interesting- learning about the culture.
Sep 14, 2022foothillbilly rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Didn't finish. About two-thirds of the way through, a good story deteriorates into a lot of blame and nonsense.
May 31, 2022
Hog wash! Born and partially raised in southeastern Kentucky coal mining camp, then on to Ohio. Same as any neighborhood -- good and bad. Hard work and religious upbringing prevailed. My family generation (same as his parents) consists of…
Nov 22, 2021AidanVenneman rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Hillbilly Elegy, current senate candidate J.D. Vance’s autobiography, deals with themes of poverty, addiction, and abuse in working-class Greater Appalachia. The story covers the history of the Vance family up to J.D.’s life and his…
Jul 31, 2021sauronthehippy rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Imagine someone whose parents and grandparents came from California but they had lived their whole life in Washington. Imagine their mom was addicted to drugs and they never had a meaningful relationship with their father. Now imagine that…
Apr 07, 2021jackhwolf rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a riveting memoir of a boy growing up in a dysfunctional family in the rust belt who by sheer will and the love of key family members escaped generational poverty while seeing his mother succumb to drug addiction. It shines a…
Feb 16, 2021NMostacada rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this reading. I think I enjoyed more than I normally would for a few reasons, one being that I have family that are similar to J.D.’s and are hillbilly transplants that moved to Ohio but have Appalachian roots. Second that…
Jan 18, 2021firefly5 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
JD Vance tells the story of his life growing up as a 'hillbilly'. He was very poor, lived with his grandparents most of the time because his mother had problems with drugs and men. His father was out of his life. Through determination on…
Jan 17, 2021
This is not a comment about content as I found it an interesting commentary on the subject. As a self-proclaimed aficionado of recorded books, I say Vance was a terrible, terrible narrator. Very seldom can an author do justice to their…
Dec 22, 2020SJeffery rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The last few chapters were the most important read for me as they reflected so much of my life.
Dec 14, 2020carolwu96 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
According to stereotype, Hillbillies, people of the Appalachian, are uneducated, unemployed, and unmotivated. Abandoned when factories left the Steel Belt, they suffer from a high rate of drug usage and domestic violence and, despite the…
Dec 05, 2020
On Netflix right now.....heartbreaking to watch, but worth it!
Nov 17, 2020
Understanding others, at least trying to, is important I think. This book was a reminder that not everyone in the US is born with all the breaks but much is still possible in this country. Change is the one constant we all face no matter…
Nov 15, 2020
I like very much like what you have done to provide a accurate summary description of a book and provided comments from other readers. I am a loyal non-fiction reader and want to know about the author as well as the theme of the book.
Oct 30, 2020pateljh rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a first person account of young man without a father and a drug addicted mother growing poor and still making a successful escape from that to become a Yale educated lawyer and now a founder of a company. All throughout the book he…
Oct 05, 2020Mietters rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I lived in Middletown for a few years & thought it was much* worse of a “hillybilly” experience than the book only seems to scratch the surface of. I worked at the golf club Vance worked at and served Ron Selby his beers at the turn (9th…
Sep 24, 2020Cidherman rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Learn what it REALLY means to be a proud Hillbilly! Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2020 HILLBILLY ELEGY is JD Vance's attempt to make sense of his childhood and his people, who are the embodiment of what the rest of the…
Aug 07, 2020valy3 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I Just heard from a quite learned, educated person - "You would think that if someone could get education, get a better job, better food, better living conditions etc. that they could work themselves out of poverty..." I insisted they…
Aug 05, 2020The_Most_Casual_Observer rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
😡 It's interesting to see that, though Vance is from southwest Ohio, he's given many people here the impression that he's from Kentucky or West Virginia (Appalachia). But southwest Ohio is indeed a region populated by hillbillies.…