Hillbilly Elegy - it's hard to believe it's true

[Vanceinyourpants]

I don't agree with JD Vance's politics but find what he's achieved in his lifetime when you look at how his life started is remarkable. The film is on Netflix and well worth a watch if you like Biopics/memoirs.

i watched it last night and it was really interesting.
i went to bed wondering why his mom struggled to parent and avoid addiction in the first place although her parents were brought up in rough circumstances the grandmother and grandfather appeared to have been supportive?
but maybe supportive in their old/retired age with much less stress on their plate.

I adored both the film and the book.

I got the impression she pill popped as a nurse to manage her emotions of losing her dad. But I also got that the parents were abusive to each other having had his mum at 13. Everything I've read suggests Appalachian life is hard, even now. It's the absolute poorest of the poor of America, which makes his views even more jaw dropping given where he's come from and witnessed!

It’s good that him and lindsey are doing better than their parents/grandparents. and good to see bev remains sober.
getting out of poverty is obviously multigenerational and difficult.

This sounds really interesting, thanks!

For anyone interested in today's Appalachia, Peter Santanello has some fascinating documentaries on his YouTube channel about the mountains and its people.

I think his book has been fact-checked and found seriously wanting.....

Oh?

'Hillbilly Elegy' Movie vs. the True Story of J.D. Vance's Family
not really that far off base though.
glen close did an amazing job of portraying the character. as did the make-up crew.

Thanks so much for sharing. I watched one of these yesterday and will watch all the rest, absolutely fascinating and already making me rethink some of my views.

@Wheech you're welcome! I really enjoyed the drugs in Appalachia one, heartbreaking really. I've watched so many of his videos, it's a fascinating insight into the "real" America that you never see in films and tv shows.

Before believing it suggest you listen to ‘if books could kill’ podcast episode on this! Debunking.

Barbara Kingsolver (who is Appalachian herself) wrote a brilliant novel. Demon Copperhead, about the opioid crisis in that area. Sales reps pushed doctors hard and doctors pushed severely addictive painkillers onto people who just had a headache or period pain. Addiction was rife. I got the impression she'd started taking them for some minor pain and quickly got addicted. It was so common then.

It's hard not to admire (and like) Vance after seeing that film but I got the impression he'd whitewashed out most of the bits that showed him in a really amoral light.

I read Demon Copperhead recently, a brilliant book!

It's a memoir and memoirs are allowed to employ artistic license, unlike autobiographies (anyone remember the "Million Little pieces" furore). So for example, Angela's Ashes is not factual.

It's a bit like when TV series say "based on true events. Some scenes and characters are fictional and included for dramatic effect" etc.

A great book, loved it. Also recommend 'Empire of pain' a non-fiction by Radden Keefe. It's how the whole opioid crisis came to be.

Very interesting, informative and well researched. It's about the Sackler family/dynasty who started manufacturing Oxycontin and became fabulously rich in the process, plunging pockets of America into opioid nightmare. Their greed and lack of morals are rage-inducing.

It's a memoir and memoirs are allowed to employ artistic license, unlike autobiographies (anyone remember the "Million Little pieces" furore). So for* example, Angela's Ashes is not factu*al

That's fine so long as he isn't claiming that it's a true account.

A great book, loved it. Also recommend 'Empire of pain' a non-fiction by Radden Keefe. It's how the whole opioid crisis came to be.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll have a look at that. I watched the couple of series made about the opioid crisis on Netflix and Disney (I think), it's heartbreaking how it's been allowed to go so far.

it was well beyond ‘artistic licence’

I watched it a while back and found it interesting, way before Vance was on the scene.

I'd recommend "Dopesick" drama about the opiod crisis.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9174558/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

It's supposed to be an awful movie, so I won't bother, but I just read the book.

It's sad and ironic that with Vance's background, he should have grown up to be a left-wingie compassionate champion of the poor, supporting health care, supporting education - but instead he has recently been seduced by Trump and converted to a cruel, right-wing, anti-feminist agenda.