Hillbilly Smellogy

Elegy: a mournful poem; a lament for the dead

As in, “Who died and made you spokesperson?”

Hillbilly Elegy is not a poem, mournful or otherwise. It is a lament of sorts, and it is lamentable. Nevertheless, I read it.

As writing goes, I’ve experienced worse. There are far fewer notable grammar and punctuation cringe-points than I might have expected. Word misuse and abuse crop up here and there, but the WTFs are bearably sparse. Reader abuse, however, permeates it. We can’t get no satisfaction. It has been said (by Benvenuto Cellini, bless the old sinner) that no one should attempt an autobiography until they are over forty. This book could be held up as proof.

As a narrative, a life story, it lacks bottom. It rambles and staggers and repeats. Chapter after chapter of Mamaw and the rest of the dysfunctional family – a motley bunch of confusable and mostly forgettable characters lacking in essential detail.

Now and then JD mentions having friends. He seldom names them, and they hardly ever appear “on stage” in any role. We know almost nothing about them. One supposes that people outside his miserable family influenced him, but all we get is scraps. It’s All About JD. His lack of empathy is all over the place.

And then it’s All About How JD Sees The World. A narrow, shallow, oversimplified, overgeneralized world. A large swath of territory rich in cultural variety and heritage painted over with a monochrome brush.

You keep reading, and reading, hoping for a bit of real meat, a little depth, some feeling, food for thought. What you get is something like a ten-course dinner of Girl Scout Cookies.

Read Patrick Stewat’s Making It So – you will come away with vivid memories of people and places and events that will make you want to go back for seconds. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Be Useful, doesn’t dwell on constant negativity; he inspires the reader to do better and make the world a better place. JD Vance just says oh it’s so awful.

Dolly Parton grew up in a hard place.
“Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 2 million free books each month to children around the world.”
– https://dollyparton.com/

What has JD done for “his” people?
Insulted them in a self-serving memoir.
Joined the Billionaires’ Club, so he can help them milk the poor.
Lied. A lot.

I can applaud his honesty in revealing what a horrific family life he had. I can understand how it scarred him. That shit never really goes away. What I can’t understand is why, living in a modern world of communications media and libraries, he couldn’t get his head a little above it (if he’s such a cool person as he thinks he is). I can understand his discomfort among the hoity-toity Yale crowd. But again, he skims over so much potential human interest, dismissing his few supposedly close law school friends with capsule descriptions that are little more than clumps of cliched labels.

WTF, he can talk about family rows that would shame a skunk. Is he ashamed to talk about his friends who helped him get out of that hole? Sorry, but WEIRD.

He should have waited at least another decade or two before playing at memoirs. But I have a feeling that time wouldn’t help.