[The Urban Sombrero]

There is a line in Frost's DEATH OF THE HIRED MAN: "Nothing to look backward to in pride//Nothing to look forward to with hope//so now and never any different."

With all the issues of abandonment, betrayal, rejection, abuse, being shut in and/or shut out, Vance does a good job, in my view, of portraying the challenges children face growing up in the midst of drug abuse and social and personal dysfunction, with poverty sitting right in the middle of all of it. "Mamaw" sure rings true. We've all had contact with a person like that.

It seems to me that Vance was given the gift of relative stability and security at the most pivotal point in his young life: a mamaw who was in his corner, demanded he take interest in his "schooling," and then a few teachers who grabbed his attention and directed his focus. That's a lesson to bureaucrats and policy wonks about how HUGE interpersonal relationships and home life and quality teachers factor into the educational experience of every student.

Each one of us is a complicated mess and mixture of heredity, environment, and personal response. For children not blessed with even a remotely positive and supportive environment, HILLBILLY ELEGY brings out a lot of useful pause for thought. I agree: super good book.