Kilbourn Public Library Book Club

The book selection for the Kilbourn Public Library Book Discussion Group for November is Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance.  Hillbilly Elegy is the UW-Madison Go Big Read selection for 2017-2018.  Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis--that of white working-class Americans. J.D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.  A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures,  this is the story of how upward mobility really feels. 


In what way is the Appalachian culture described in Hillbilly Elegy a "culture in trouble"? 


What are the positive values of the culture Vance talks about in the book?


The author's mother is arguably the book's most powerful figure.  How would you describe her and her struggle with addiction?  How did the violence between her own parents, Mamaw and Papaw, affect her own adulthood?


Critics of Hillbilly Elegy accuse Vance of "blaming the victim" rather than providing a sound analysis of the structural issues left unaddressed by government.  What do you think?


What does this book bring to the national conversation about poverty--its roots and its persistence?


Let us know what you think!