Heartland

DNF at 50%, skimmed the rest. A mix of disorganized memoir with a few facts about rural poverty thrown in. I wasn't a big fan of [b:She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs 51959287 She Come By It Natural Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs Sarah Smarsh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600610910l/51959287.SX50.jpg 76590282] either. I know Smarsh has received a lot of critical acclaim, especially for this book, but I just can't get into her writing.

Okay, I know it's right there in the title, but somehow I thought this was going to be more of a socio-political exploration of the lives of the working class, less a bunch of stories. Putting that aside, I'm not convinced that Heartland completely works as a memoir. The author jumps around, leaves portions of her story untold or keeps the details shrouded. These omissions distanced me. It's fine for an author to exclude any details from their work that they wish to exclude, but doing so may require some patchwork.

I know I'm echoing others by saying so, but the decision to address the book to an unborn daughter seemed awkward and needless. The same points about being a teenage mother living in poverty could've been made without the cloying and forced second-person narration that likely pushed away many readers.

Those readers who are from a similar place (politically, economically) may identify with Smarsh's narrative. Those far outside may be enlightened. As someone close (geographically), but on the outside (city dweller, anarchist), I was not all that engaged. Yet, despite my grumbles about narrative choices, there's ample evidence of great writing here. Had I come from a different place, I may have connected with this book more.

Sarah Smarsh grew up in a poor farm family in the middle of America, and she struggled all her life to overcome the problems—having children young, divorcing, addictions, lack of education—that haunted her family. And she did. Much of the blame for the problems Smarsh lays at the feet of American society, for its condemnation of the struggling poor and its lack of efforts to help families, and much of her work as a journalist centers on helping our country work to do better for the poor.

I held off reviewing this because my book club was going to discuss it, but then I missed book club. Doh'!
This one opened my eyes to a world inhabited by the rural poor I never knew existed. I guess I just stupidly assumed that those that lived in the breadbasket of America would have enough to eat. Consider me enlightened, and intrigued. Just as with the working poor, there are so few voices telling stories about those conditions, mostly because everyone is too busy working to have the luxury to sit and write.
I had a problem with the narrative device of talking to the unborn daughter throughout the entire book. It irked me. I'm not sure why.
I'm left with questions. How does one become a success without the rest of the family glomming on?
One could say a great many things about the women in this memoir, but it seemed that they made taking care of their own a priority (where would Smarsh be without her grandmother?) Yet Smarsh seems to have escaped that trap. I can only imagine that can be a source of guilt. Yes, she chose to avoid having children and got an education. She got out. But at what cost? Hmmm, maybe I will luck out and there will be a follow up book.

Was really disappointed since I had high hopes for this book. Having grown up in Kansas just a few years prior to the author, I could relate to and see a lot of what she was getting at. But I felt this could have been shortened by 50% and also would have worked better as a series of essays. The timelines were hard to follow since she jumped all over the place in every single chapter. A lot of repetition. And the format of talking to her unborn child was not for me.