Hillbilly Elegy

who were nothing like Mamaw and
Papaw. Bob, however, was a walking
hillbilly stereotype. He had little
relationship with his own father and had
learned the lessons of his own childhood
well: He had two kids whom he barely
saw, though they lived in Hamilton, a
town ten miles south of Middletown.
Half of his teeth had rotted out, and the
other half were black, brown, and
misshapen, the consequence of a lifetime
of Mountain Dew consumption and
presumably some missed dental
checkups. He was a high school dropout
who drove a truck for a living.
We’d all eventually learn that there
was much to dislike about Bob. But what