Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

V.I.R.

Very Important Read.


JD Vance might be surprised that he is "old enough" to write a memoir, but anyone who reads his story will be nothing but grateful that he did.


I love that he starts out by saying he did nothing extraordinary in his life.  He went to college, got married, succeeded in business.  But what he states in his prologue and then explains throughout his book is that while he has achieved something that seems ordinary for most Americans, having achieved it considering his childhood experience and family history is indeed extraordinary in that hardly anyone from his hillbilly town in Appalachia ever considered college even possible.   I mean, his Mamaw almost killed a man when she was 12.  She got married as a teenager and his mom is a drug addict.  And that is just the beginning of his family and cultural history.  JD's story is made extraordinary because he was one of a very few that became ordinary - because he came from pretty much nothing. Well, nothing but the fierce determination of his Mamaw and his sister and one very inspiring teacher.

This book is "about a culture that increasingly encourages social decay instead of counteracting it." There are drug addicts, child abusers, lazy workers and welfare moms here, but "there are no villains in this story."  JD loves these people and does not place blame - really not anywhere.  He is simply telling his truth as he lived it.  And THAT is what makes this an important read.

This book is NOT political.  It does NOT serve as the conservative response to Small Great Things or explain why Trump got elected.  Go elsewhere if that is your ulterior motive here.  JD does tell us how a traditionally Democratic culture finally switched to a more Republican based belief system, simply because the programs put in place by the Democrats ended up making situations worse for the people they were trying to help - at least in his experience.

So many quotes I want to share from this book...like "kids (in my youth) don't expect much of themselves because the people around them don't do very much."  And, "poor people don't wear pajamas," (so why do rich people keep donating them? they are an "unnecessary elite indulgence.").

But overall, this is the true story of what is still happening in back woods America.  Yes, you could probably change the race here and it still be a true story, because it does become a story of opportunity and support.  If not for Mamaw, where would JD and his sister be?  If they had married their next door neighbors and never gotten out of Kentucky, they would be stagnant like most of their neighbors.  JD notes that now he looks back and sees that "every single person in my family who has built a successful home married someone from outside our little culture," thereby breaking that cycle. Interesting too is the comment JD makes about meeting and getting to know his future wife's family - he was amazed at the lack of drama in her family!

But what about the people who cannot break out of their cycle?  What about the people who are so dirt poor they cannot leave their dilapidated houses to move to Ohio like JD's grandparents did?  Why was JD able to "get out" and get educated but his Mother never seemed to be able to crawl out of her addictions to drugs, men, and bad news?  (Very interesting that JD never names his mother and is almost detached when he writes of her.  We do not know what her end story is - proving again that no matter what happens or how badly they treat us, these people are fiercely loyal - he is still protecting a woman who abandoned him again and again and once even tried to kill him, because she is family.)  And what will it take for this cycle to change?  Government programs?  Nope, that didn't help JD.  It has to come from within.  He was mostly raised by his hillbilly grandparents.  They stepped up, maybe because their failure with his mother or their inability at the time to steer her right made them determined that JD would not follow that path.  Papaw helped him with his multiplication tables - it wasn't JD's fault he had never been taught them, but thank goodness someone helped him.  Other kids didn't have a Papaw or anyone else who would help them. Mamaw didn't let him get away with anything - her love for him was as fierce as her language (mercy!!).  Most of the kids he grew up with, and even JD himself, are constantly in fight or flight mode - the chemistry in their brains is changed by the constant emotional and sometimes physical stress they endure which is of course different from a child who is secure, safe, and fed.

My point and I think JD's point is this:  HELP MUST COME FROM WITHIN.  From within you, from within your community, from within your family.  The hillbilly people JD knows have no positive role models, they don't see other families building up that college resume or paying for after school sports and getting academic awards (JD admits he learned early on that good grades were for sissies and girls, not for tough boys!  What kind of incentive is that??), they just see teenage pregnancy and menial jobs where it doesn't really matter if you show up because you know you are gonna get fired eventually anyway.  They give up before they try because they don't have goals to strive for.  It is not in their culture.  What exactly are they trying for??  Kids are not exposed to things from "the real world;" JD wasn't stupid, he was just uninformed.  Again, the whole argument of "the uneven geographic distribution of opportunity" comes into play for poor white people in the South, in Appalachia, in the Rust Belt of Ohio - and yes, a similar argument of lack of opportunity is being raised for the lower income African American community as well.  It matters for both of these communities.

JD Vance has written a deep, thought provoking story which happens to be true.  It will open your eyes to the fact that is not just a white story, or a black story, or an immigrant story.  It is an American story that all of us need to stop and pay attention to, and do something about.  Be a role model; connect with a different community than your own; teach or read to kids that have no one to read to them; give jobs not pajamas!   JD says there is no government that can fix these problems for the hillbillies.  It has to start at home. But are the hillbillies tough enough to do what needs to be done to raise up other kids and find opportunities for them like Mamaw did for JD?  Because it comes from within, the winning.

The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz

The Silent Corner (Jane Hawk, #1) 
by Dean Koontz 

Aug 16, 2017 

it was amazing

First of all, shame on me for not realizing this was the start of a series.

Secondly, hooray, this is a series!!!!!!!!!

Now, I love me some Dean Koontz. This novel/series is a bit a departure for him - my favorite of his novels are the ones steeped in the paranormal. Here Koontz leans more towards science fiction, conspiracy, mystery and a bit of loyalty both to country and family. But, it works - mainly because of Jane.

A strong female lead in this type of novel is rare, so I thoroughly enjoyed this story with a main character that was brave and smart and alone and a GIRL. The story was confusing at first, just as Jane was confused by the sudden (I mean, like, in the middle of dinner) suicide of her loving and happy and stable husband. You share her fear, her tilted world, and her determination to find the truth. So Jane, who happens to be FBI, goes underground. She knows something is fishy here, but keeps hitting roadblocks. Spy novels of old, take note - the new future is here, but you can still go off the grid if you know what you are doing.

(And I loved the explanation for the title of the novel.  Well done.  It bothers me a bit when a title really has no meaning for the story.  But I digress.)

Stay with it  - the confusion starts to clear about half way through (yes, I guessed it but that was ok) and the action picks up tremendously. Jane gets some answers, but I did mention that this is a series, right? So more to come....I can hardly wait!

The Fix by David Baldacci

The Fix (Amos Decker #3) 
by David Baldacci

Aug 16, 2017 

really liked it

So often a series begins to wane after the first few books - formulaic, familiar and finite (I am all about alliteration...see what I did there????). But after not really expecting much from this third Amos Decker installment, I was pleasantly surprised!

I LOVED Memory Man (book one). I also enjoyed The Last Mile (book two). So I was thrilled to hear another Amos Decker book was coming out. I really enjoy this character and his "flaws."

The story this time is a bit convoluted, so get ready. Lots of threads in the mystery of why a man shoots a woman in broad daylight and then kills himself when there is no connection to be found between the two people (some reviewers say too many threads). Secrets, espionage, the Hoover building and an imminent threat to the USofA? Decker is on the case with Jamison in tow as usual, but we get a bit more of the human side of Decker in this book I think. Less emphasis on his exacting memory and more on the personal relationships (although he still dashes out of a room with no warning which I think is hilarious, I hope that never changes!!). One arc includes a terminally ill boy and Decker really shows some heart with this kid, very refreshing. Super small hint about the possibility that Decker's memory might fade into normalcy.....hmmmm. And a cameo from Melvin Mars too! Oh! And a reference to To Kill a Mockingbird - loved it!!!

A fun series, I hope it continues but would like to see more of the memory man back if there is a book four, which I am sure there will be!

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Anna and the Swallow Man
by Gavriel Savit



I just didn't get it.

Beautiful writing, yes.  Plot?  Not really.  Historical times? Definitely.  Parable?  I can only hope.

I may come back to this after my soon to be Godson-In-Law reads it and explains it to me.  (He's a doctoral candidate in Literature.)  But my girlfriend and I read this simultaneously at the beach and we both gasped at the same page, then threw the book across the room at the same page, then were absolutely stunned at the end - and not in a good way.

My main question - WHAT WAS THE POINT????  Young Polish orphan girl leaves her village to follow a strange man in the midst of WWII; they walk in circles for years, avoiding the troops; pick up another strange man along the way, forming a stranger still family unit of sorts; they see horrors and winter in the woods and have no direction; then it ends.  What the what??

And other reviewers are saying this is young adult or juvenile fiction?  Nope.

Wasted day of reading.  On to better stories.  Sorry, bookseller who told me this was the best historical fiction book in his store.  Definitely not a literal take on the times - I think it was more fantasy/allegory - and even then maybe I just wasn't in the mood.....bring on David Baldacci....ahhhhhhhhh!!!!