Hillbilly Elegy

many of those fights would keep me up
well past my bedtime. They said things
friends and family should never say to
each other: “Fuck you!” “Go back to
your trailer park,” Mom sometimes told
Bob, a reference to his life before they
were married. Sometimes Mom would
take us to a local motel, where we’d
hide out for a few days until Mamaw or
Papaw convinced Mom to face her
domestic problems.
Mom had a lot of Mamaw’s fire,
which meant that she never allowed
herself to become a victim during
domestic disputes. It also meant that she
often escalated normal disagreements
beyond where they should go. During