Thomas Kidd’s Reviews > Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis > Status Update

I've been hearing quite a bit about this book. Would love to hear what you think of it.

I enjoyed the book, Bob. Like many, I heard of the book through my following of Rod Dreher's blogging at The American Conservative.

The book is a quick and enjoyable read. Vance's description of his family border in the outlandish, but are believable. He has no solution to the problems of the Appalachian underclass, likely because there are no simple solutions.

On a personal note, I especially enjoyed this book because Vance's life mirrors mine without the extremes. Like him, my family came up to SW Ohio from Appalachia to obtain factory work after WW II. Vance grew up in Middletown. I grew up in a quite similar town, Springfield. He discusses drug addiction and the opiate crisis that has engulfed the white lower class. These are the people I represent weekly as a criminal defense attorney. Vance commends the deep loyalty, courage, and devotion to family that "hillbillies" can exhibit. While I think Vance attempts to be optimistic about changing this culture, in the end I (perhaps influenced by my own Scots-Irish melancholy) sense a resignation that change will be hard.

Just picked it up and look forward to reading it. Thanks for your comments. I personally wonder whether anything short of a gospel revival will reverse the drug and opiate crisis.

I think that is right, Bob. I wish more were called to minister to these people, whether in SW Ohio or E.Ky.