Hillbilly Elegy

like a snack, I’d just walk over to
Mamaw’s.) Mom had recently acquired
her nursing license, and Bob made a
great salary, so we had plenty of money.
With our gun-toting, cigarette-smoking
Mamaw up the street and a new legal
father, we were an odd family but a
happy one.
My life assumed a predictable
cadence: I’d go to school and come
home and eat dinner. I visited Mamaw
and Papaw nearly every day. Papaw
would sit on our porch to smoke, and I’d
sit out there with him and listen to him
grumble about politics or the
steelworkers’ union. When I learned to
read, Mom bought me my first chapter