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odbeckster's review against another edition
4.0
The lookback storytelling was wonderful as the author dug deep to see where her and Darci's paths diverged. But once she figured out the split, the ending felt a little rushed. Overall, an amazing read.
sam_uelrobinson's review against another edition
3.0
A good book but I struggled to the end. Bit more long-read than a full book.
dakota_riehl's review against another edition
5.0
As someone who moved away from their small, rural community, I saw so much of myself, my friends, my family, and community in this book. I thought the language of despair she consistently used throughout the book made it so easy to empathize with and better understand both the state of modern rural communities and the women who stay there.
alisarae's review against another edition
5.0
Two girls in small town Arkansas: Monica went on to have a stable career as a journalist, while Darci's life spiraled into the rural American triad of poverty, abuse, and addiction. What steps and missteps caused the fork in their lives?
Monica set out to write this book in order to share the human experiences that clinical, academic statistics about the blighted fate of fly-over country fail to tell. We know the usual words that populate these stories: generational trauma, teen pregnancy, alcoholism, opioid epidemic, racism, evangelicals, recession, high school drop out, republicans. But why are all of these things connected and how do they actually affect a person's course in life?
Monica's reflections on her adolescence were so interesting to me because I could recognize much of what she described. I too grew up in rural towns. My upbringing was completely immersed in an evangelical bubble with no expectations for girls beyond homemaking. The class of 2007 at my local high school started with over 900 students and finished with 300. I knew a handful of women who had gone to college but all of them, with the exception of two who were teachers, had stopped working after getting married. So it was interesting to me that Monica could clearly identify the turning points in her and Darci's lives, the decisions that ended up being much more consequential than they had seemed at the time, as well as hearing the refrains voiced by those around her that unintentionally worked to hold people back from achieving or even desiring more out of life.
Monica set out to write this book in order to share the human experiences that clinical, academic statistics about the blighted fate of fly-over country fail to tell. We know the usual words that populate these stories: generational trauma, teen pregnancy, alcoholism, opioid epidemic, racism, evangelicals, recession, high school drop out, republicans. But why are all of these things connected and how do they actually affect a person's course in life?
Monica's reflections on her adolescence were so interesting to me because I could recognize much of what she described. I too grew up in rural towns. My upbringing was completely immersed in an evangelical bubble with no expectations for girls beyond homemaking. The class of 2007 at my local high school started with over 900 students and finished with 300. I knew a handful of women who had gone to college but all of them, with the exception of two who were teachers, had stopped working after getting married. So it was interesting to me that Monica could clearly identify the turning points in her and Darci's lives, the decisions that ended up being much more consequential than they had seemed at the time, as well as hearing the refrains voiced by those around her that unintentionally worked to hold people back from achieving or even desiring more out of life.
cheriekg's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
An honest book that blends memoir and nonfiction pretty smoothly. You will walk away with a much deeper understanding of rural challenges and people. Hard to get through but worth it.
lola1229's review
3.5
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫. Not what I was expecting, but a heartbreaking look at the very real effects of the hopelessness and depressed opportunities that led to the rise of MAGA.