Hillbilly Elegy

One of my former students mentioned reading this book when she was in Mexico on a vacation last spring.  The title intrigued me, and I am always looking for good book suggestions.  I asked her how she liked it and she recommended that I read it.  How can I resist a book recommendation from a former lit student?

It had been several months since I had used my Nook (a Christmas gift from Gary) and the Overdrive check out process connected to the Pulaski County Library.  But I did the other night.  My card was still in the system (they have a habit of rendering library cards inactive if they aren't used within so many months), so I was able to peruse titles and check out a few books.

When I started reading Hillbilly Elegy, I wasn't caught up in it immediately.  It was interesting, but not something that I thought I would be racing through or carrying around with me to read in the car.  However, I was wrong.

Interest point #1 - The setting is in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. 

Interest point #2 - the main characters move from Kentucky into Ohio

Interest point #3 - some of the descriptions of the Hillbillies seem much like me.  Ok...before you jump to all kinds of conclusions...... He writes that the names Mamaw and Papaw are typically used by hillbilly families. He describes families as living in four bedroom, two bath, two story homes in the subdivisions of the towns and outwardly looking like a normal family, but inside the walls there is so much eruption, hillbilly style.  In Mt. Vernon we lived in a 3 bedroom , 1 1/2 bath ranch style house that looked normal, but inside was so much dysfunction and all heck would break loose, much as he described the eruptions at his house.

So it will be interesting to see where this book leads.

And since it is nearly 11 p.m. and I am tired, I think I will lie down with my Nook and read a chapter or two right now.....