#Middlebury
Books look at real and fictional family struggles
October’s book choices explore the struggles of real American families and some of our favorite fictional Americans. Books to be discussed are “Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis” by J. Vance and “Beyond Reach” by Karin Slaughter. Copies of these books can be checked out at the library front desk
The Brown Bag Book Discussion Group will meet Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m. to discuss “Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis” by J. Vance. Vance, a former marine and Yale Law School graduate from a poor Rust Belt town, lays out the struggles of America’s working white class. This is a personal and passionate memoir about being raised in an environment of social, regional and class decline.
Vance’s story begins with his “dirt poor” grandparents from Kentucky’s Appalachia who escape poverty, raise a middle-class family and in turn have a grandchild with a Yale Law School degree. The Vance family’s upward mobility was a profound struggle and never a full escape from the abuse, alcoholism, poverty and trauma so common in Appalachia. “Hillbilly Elegy” is a firsthand account of the struggles of upward mobility and the loss of the American Dream.
A similar book is “Squeezed: Why our families can’t afford America” by Alissa Quart. Today’s families feel financially squeezed from all sides; attaining the standard of living our parents achieved is nearly impossible. Through examination, Quart shows how many middle-class Americans can barely afford raising children and that America has failed its families. From lawyers to caregivers, the system does not support them and only cultivates the wealth of the tiny elite. Quart offers real solutions to this enormous problem and argues for a cultural change.
The Mystery Book Group will meet Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. to discuss Karin Slaughter’s “Beyond Reach.” This is the sixth book in her Grant County series. Police chief Jeffery Tolliver is being pulled in different directions. His wife, Sara Linton, who is the resident medical examiner/pediatrician for Grant County in Georgia, is involved in a malpractice suit and her career is in shambles. Detective Lena Adams, Tolliver’s friend and coworker, is sitting in jail with a murder charge hanging over her head. Linton is not a fan of Adams and her drama, but Adams needs her support to help clear her name. Tolliver and Linton have to sift and sort through evidence as they try to unravel a web of betrayal and vengeance that puts all three of their lives in danger.
If you are a fan of Karin Slaughter, you might also enjoy reading books by Tess Gerritsen, who has written a series with two female protagonists, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. There are 12 books in the series; the last is “I Know a Secret.” Two separate homicides, at different locations and with unrelated victims, become entwined, and Rizzoli and Isles have to untangle both murders.
The women also are having separate but complicated mother issues that are interfering with their effort to solve the murders. The investigations lead them to a secretive young woman who survived a cruel and abusive scandal and, just when the pair thinks the mysteries are solved, the long-buried past threatens to engulf more innocent lives, including their own. This famous duo inspired the TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles.”
