At different points I have attempted to start a memoir, or several. I felt like I had run into a few issues in my life that I could speak to. They haven’t gone very far because, well, I am fucking tired and distracted most of the time.
I have been reading “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” by J.D. Vance. It has been a slow read and I don’t understand what all the hullabaloo over this book is about. It was supposed to explain why so many people feel as they do and why they’d vote for Trump. It is a bestseller and that is how the recommendations on the book cover sound–like this is the book with the answers! There really hasn’t been that much on politics in the book other than something to the effect of, “”my Papaw never cast a vote for a Republican other than Ronald Reagan in 1984.” Now, finally, today I got to page 139 and the author has a little political musing on his and his Mamaw’s ideas for a few pages but that has been it. I wonder if he will pull it altogether at the end. Now anyone who has know a hillbilly knows how they and their family life are. I have known a few hillbilly’s in my time (transplants from the south–the families came up here from Kentucky, West Virginia, etc. to work in the factories) so I already had a good idea what they are like. Mostly I’ve have been just nodding in agreement with the author with very little insight to be had. It has been such a boring read that I have put it down for weeks (or even a month), read other things, and came back to it because I do want to finish it. The writing isn’t bad but it isn’t great. It seems much is missing from his story, he could have delved deeper into some subjects/memories, and he tells more than he shows. It lacks some emotion…and certainly it is lacking in the analytical aspects. He transitions (ha, if they can be called that) or conclusions don’t make much sense because he doesn’t go into enough depth.
So I figure if he can write a memoir at 31 (and it is not all that scintillating), and make the bestseller list, certainly I can write a memoir. I’ve been through some shit. And I am going to take all my separate memoir ideas and weave them into one. The more I think about it, the more I read, I think it can be done. My idea is to tie it altogether through the lens of feminism. Being female ain’t easy! That’s my idea in a nutshell. Now I need to do it. If I can just get past being tired and distracted.
Jacquelyn's Space 