Let's Bust a Recap : Hillbilly Elegy

All right, y'all, over here in the States it's what we call "Super Tuesday" and if you haven't cast your vote already, I hope you have plans to do so at some point today. I can't think of a better recap to post today than the memoir of one of the vice presidential candidates. I had no intentions of reading this book this year (or possibly ever, I got it for free out of a stack of books someone was getting rid of), but when Trump announced back in July that J.D. Vance would be his running mate, I remembered I already had this wildly popular memoir sitting on my shelf, figured now was as good a time as any to read it, and determined to pick it up before the election. 

And I did, back in September, but ugh. Where to start? I have a lot of thoughts about this, and they're not particularly positive. On the one hand, it was easy to read and you have to admire someone who claws his way out of poverty and makes something of himself, but on the other hand, the only reason he called this book "Hillbilly Elegy" is because "White Trash Elegy" doesn't have the same ring and probably wouldn't sell.

And that's not me being ugly. Vance says as much himself in the introduction to his book when he writes, "Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks, or white trash. I call them neighbors, friends, and family." Now, I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it with y'all, but down here in the South, "hillbilly", "redneck", and "white trash" have different connotations for most of us and I would hardly lump them all together as being the same class of people. But that's really neither here nor there. I would venture to say that his beloved Mamaw and Papaw, who he dedicates Hillbilly Elegy to, would roll in their graves if they knew he aired their private business all over the country (and world?) the way he did and even turned the circus into a huge movie.

Vance opens his introduction admitting that publishing a "memoir" at the ripe age of thirty-one is absurd and I agree with him there. He wrote this book before he even went into politics or had any children. He says himself that he hasn't done anything great or anything worth paying money to read about. 

And then he proceeds to write a whole book about how white trash his family is and how he got out of the cycle of poverty in the Rust Belt through the Marines, Ohio State University, and eventually Yale Law School. 

And I mean, good for him. Truly. If half of what he writes is true, then the fact that he worked his way up and out is commendable. 

But honestly, he's just not a likable guy and reading his memoir turned me from being indifferent about just another U.S. senator I didn't know much about, to rolling my eyes at another clichéd politician. Literally in 2016, his memoir dragged politicians and their ilk through the mud, and he outspokenly opposed a Trump presidency in the press. But just a few years later, he's running for the Senate, and now he's Trump's vice presidential running-mate? Can you say whiplash? 

And let me be clear: this post is not intended as some kind of smear campaign against Vance and an endorsement for Tim Walz. Kamala's running-mate is an even bigger joke than J.D. Vance. My point is: it's hard to be an American and not get cynical about our political landscape. While I'm thankful for the privilege to vote and having a say in the composition of my country's government, I can't say I'm particularly excited about anyone I'm voting for as I head to the polls today. It is what it is.

Hillbilly Elegy is *ahem* colorful, and an entertaining read, but I ultimately walked away from it scratching my head as to why Trump chose Vance to be his running-mate. Then again, I'm still out here astounded that I live in a world where Donald Trump was the president of the United States of America...and is running again. Politics, am I right?

I guess I'll wrap this up by reiterating my encouragement to get out and vote. Be informed. Read books. Keep your head down. Make good choices. And God help us all.