Hillbilly Elegy

And I hated how often these boyfriends
would walk out of my life just as I’d
begun to like them. Lindsay, with the
benefit of age and wisdom, viewed all
of the men skeptically. She knew that at
some point they’d be gone. With Bob’s
departure, I had learned the same lesson.
Mom brought these men into our
lives for the right reasons. She often
wondered aloud whether Chip or Bob or
Steve made good “father figures.” She
would say: “He takes you fishing, which
is really good” or “It’s important to
learn something about masculinity from
someone closer to your age.” When I
heard her screaming at one of them, or
weeping on the floor after an especially