Hillbilly Elegy

Not even Mamaw understood how
terrible things had become. My slipping
grades were the first indication.
Not every day was like that, of
course. But even when the house was
ostensibly peaceful, our lives were so
charged that I was constantly on guard.
Mom and Bob never smiled at each
other or said nice things to Lindsay and
me anymore. You never knew when the
wrong word would turn a quiet dinner
into a terrible fight, or when a minor
childhood transgression would send a
plate or book flying across the room. It
was like we were living among land
mines—one wrong step, and kaboom.
Up to that point in my life, I was a