Cathy answers “After reading this book, I find that any...”

Angela Mogin asked this question about Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis:

After reading this book, I find that any empahty I might have had for the people depicted in the book has disappeared. They seem self-destructive in the extreme. Does anyone else feel that way?

Cathy I think the family is quite dysfunctional. They don't know how to make good choices, because they hadn't seen good choices made by their parents, or t…moreI think the family is quite dysfunctional. They don't know how to make good choices, because they hadn't seen good choices made by their parents, or them by their parents.
Also that English/Scotch/Irish can be victims of alcohol abuse, which can cause it's own set of problems: Failure to hold a job which causes a lack of money, arguing that turns into physical abuse, etc This I know, I lived with it. My mom's family is German, back several 100s of years. My dad's mother was German/Swiss. My dad's father, on the other hand, is primarily Irish and Scottish and he was a mean drunk, I know because he lived with us. There was a padlock on a refrigerator in our garage that held any alcohol. He'd lost his license to drive permanently. He was a home builder and all the contractors who hired him had to provide transportation, a driver who could not weaken for requests to stop for alcohol.
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