Tag Archives: Appalachia

Friday Book Whimsy: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

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I’m not a big fan of nonfiction unless it is a topic about which I have a great interest. Life in the hills of Appalachia is a topic I find entirely compelling. It’s why I am such a fan of fiction – particularly mysteries – that take place in the area designated Appalachia.

Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir written by J.D. Vance, therefore captured my attention despite it being a memoir. I very often find memoirs self-serving and uninteresting. Hillbilly Elegy caught my attention from the get-go, and kept it throughout the book. Well, almost. Even the most interesting memoirs can get tedious when the author is talking about certain points in his or her life.

Mr. Vance is a former Marine who graduated from Yale Law School despite his difficult childhood. He uses the word hillbilly, a term with which I find myself somewhat uncomfortable, despite the fact that I occasionally use it to deprecate myself as part of my humor. I guess that’s why its serious use makes me squirm a bit. Still, he uses it to describe himself and his family.

Vance’s grandparents moved from Kentucky to Ohio when they were newly married. According to the author, a large number of Scotch/Irish Appalachians moved to the so-called Rust Belt following World War II in search of a better life where jobs were plentiful in the mining and manufacturing region. Unfortunately, the poverty, drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, and general dysfunction followed the immigrants. You can take the man (or woman) out of the violence but you can’t take……

The book is not really so much about so-called hillbillies as it is about white working class Americans and how our system has failed them. Vance was mostly parented by his grandmother and grandfather, who were not unblemished themselves, but at least were a constant in his life. His parents were unavailable to him. His mother, in particular, failed him because of ongoing drug addiction. Aunts, uncles, cousins all demonstrated violent behavior and depended on drugs and alcohol to get through their difficult days.

There has been much talk lately about the problem of drug abuse as well as how poorly working class Americans are faring, but Vance’s perspective is different from many as this was his real life, the background from which he came. Drug and alcohol abuse, and general violence, were part of his roots. He credits his grandparents for his success.

Vance’s talk about government’s failings might be anathema to some who believe government assistance is the best way to help fight poverty. But he makes so many good points that I found myself highlighting section after section of my book. And then, unfortunately, returning it to the library.

A very interesting read indeed.

Here is a link to the book.

Friday Book Whimsy: Prayers the Devil Answers

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searchSharyn McCrumb has always been one of my favorite authors. Well, actually that’s not entirely accurate. She has a series featuring a forensic anthropologist named Elizabeth MacPherson that never grabbed me, though I read a couple of books in the series. But McCrumb’s ballad series books are pure poetry to my ears.

All of her books take place in the Appalachian Mountains, deep in the hollers of Tennessee. Prayers the Devil Answers is no exception. While not part of her Ballad Series, I was excited because it purportedly had the mystical element I like so much in her ballad books. The ghosts and folklore and old wives tales told from generation to generation. Banjos strumming. You know.

Prayers the Devil Answers has a good, solid, interesting storyline. It is 1934 and in an effort to survive the hard times,  Ellendor and her husband, along with their two small boys, move from the country, where they live with relatives, into town where there are still jobs to be had. Her husband not only becomes employed, but soon is elected sheriff. Unfortunately, he unexpectedly dies of pneumonia, leaving Ellie with no way to care for her sons. Ellie manages to talk the town fathers into letting her finish off her husband’s term, thereby providing her with income.

And while she – and those who hired her – assumed her job would be nothing more than paperwork, a murder takes place in her county. The man is convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Unfortunately for Ellie, the law requires that it is the sheriff who must do the actual hanging. Is this something that Ellie will be able to handle?

Prayers the Devil Answers is a story of the strength of family, the tenacity of women who must provide, and the sorrow that can creep into your life when you least expect it.

Overall, I liked the book. McCrumb is a phenomenal writer. But there was something about this story that I found odd and frankly off putting. The prologue tells a detailed story about a group of mountain girls who, a few years prior to when this story takes place, conduct what’s called a Dumb Supper. According to Wikipedia, in the mountain culture of Appalachia, Dumb Suppers are secret suppers held at midnight in which the dead may come back and talk to their loved ones. In this story, however, the Dumb Supper is held to determine who among the young girls in attendance will marry. Something unexpected transpires at the Dumb Supper that causes much dismay.

And then the book begins, and for all intents and purposes, the Dumb Supper is forgotten, except for a very brief side note later in the book that has almost nothing really to do with the story. It was like the author just wanted to get this old piece of folklore into the book. It made no sense to me and seemed just odd.

Odd enough, in fact, that it contributes to my not being able to highly recommend this book. Read Sharyn McCrumb, but choose one of the novels with Nora Bonesteel as part of the story. The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter would be a good place to start.

Here is a link to the book.

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