Cassie ChambersCritiques

I thought Cassie Chambers did a great job of telling the history of the women in her family.

Cassie Chambers is a strong woman from a long line of strong Appalachian women. Hill Women is at once her memoir as well an exploration of the social strengths and challenges of life in Appalachia. Having been brought up there and also having been educated in law at Harvard, Chambers has a unique lens through which to conduct this exploration. She focuses a great deal on the females' role in this society. She reflects back on the past, but also addresses modern issues such as the opioid crisis.

I truly enjoyed the author's writing style. I felt as though I were sitting across the table from her, sharing a pot of coffee and a piece of pie as we got to know one another. I live not too far from her home county. Our church supports a mission nearby. I have met some fine educators who work to improve literacy rates in the area. Chambers' work puts faces and personalities to the statistics with which we have become too familiar. I am left to ponder what next, what now; how to honor, how to help.

I am grateful to have received a copy of Hill Women from Ballantine Books an imprint of Random House via LibraryThing in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review, and received no monetary compensation.

The author feels that this book is a response to Hillbilky Elegy which has unfairly judge Appalachian people. She demonstrates thru her family how strong the women have been and how she herself took advantage of the admonition to learn. She eschewed wealth after law school to become a lawyer to women and families in Appalachia. She then became a vocal and successful advocate and changed laws to be fairer to the poor. Her book tells of mistreatments and neglect by the mines and government.

Although it was mostly about the author's life, it did off and on tell of the Hill women she grew up with and then returned to help. I enjoyed reading it.

This is the second time that I have started this book, hoping to like it. I just can't seem to become engaged with it. My family is from Kentucky, as is Cassie Chambers' family. My parents worked hard to get an education and raise a family, as did the author's family. The difficulties that are depicted here are real, and the hard work required just to survive, to say nothing of succeeding, is also real. The depiction here just didn't grab my attention enough for me to finish the book.

I really wanted to love Hill Women but sadly it fell flat for me. My reaction was like a ping pong ball, bouncing between sorrow for the challenges that the family faced, admiration for the grit and determination it took to rise above that upbringing, intermixed with various bouts of boredom throughout, and finally distaste for the political ranting that ended the narrative.

Though a lot of the novel is about Cassie's life what tugged at my heart was Cassie's grandmother and her aunt, Ruth. I grew up poor myself, but I can't even imagine the abject poverty and remoteness they faced. I love that Appalachian women believe in the value of hard work and this trait continues to be passed down from generation to generation. The first part of Hill Women was great! I loved hearing the backstory very much, and commend Cassie for fighting for the education that she sought, but the stories from her school days were tough to get through and I believe it's because Cassie wrote it like a lawyer, and this style tends to be dry for me.

Although I did not enjoy this novel, I do believe the stories of the Appalachian Hill Women are tales that deserve to be told, and I commend Cassie for starting the conversation about this area and its unknown inhabitants, and for being brave enough to tell her own story. Everyone's story deserves to be told.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.

If you're going to read [b:Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis|27161156|Hillbilly Elegy A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis|J.D. Vance|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1463569814l/27161156._SY75_.jpg|47200486], don't. Read this instead.

The writing in this book was great. It's a great look into an area that I only hear about through music. But this brings in stories of strong women (and some men) that make their lives and their families' lives possible in a region left behind.

Chambers delves into her family's deep history in the Appalachian mountains - especially as it pertains to the women in her family. Backing her story up with statistics, Chambers points out how hard it is to grow up and away from the Appalachian environment - as her mother and father worked so hard to do. Especially impressive was her own story of going to a good college in the East and then taking on law cases for abused women throughout Kentucky as a lawyer.

Appalachia's problems - opioids, poverty, lack of jobs, lack of education - are vast, complex, and well-documented. But what Cassie Chambers sees in the mountains where she grew up is, yes, hardship, but also determination, grit, a love for family, and a commitment to hard work. Especially focusing on three generations of women in her family, she writes about her journey in Appalachia, going to college at Yale and Harvard, and back again to work as a lawyer, primarily for poor women trying to leave abusive situations.

Chambers' love for the people and place of eastern Kentucky really shines through in this memoir of her family. In addition to her own story, she talks a lot about her mother, Wilma; her aunt, Ruth; and her Granny. Each woman had a slightly different experience. Reading these experiences adds to the narrative of Appalachia and gives perhaps a more nuanced and complex look at the difficulties of the poverty and opioid abuse that have plagued that area of the country. Chambers' story is one of hope while still grappling with challenges.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. While I did not grow up in the Appalachian mountains I did grow up in a small community with little opportunities to advance. The first half of the book was more appealing to me as it described her family's life and growing up in the region. I did disagree that Appalachian people work harder than others. My grandparents grew up during the depression and their stories were very similar to Cassie Chambers.

Hill Women by Cassie Chambers is the memoir of a Harvard-educated lawyer, who takes us back to her beginnings in the poorest county of Kentucky and helps us to understand the special strengths of the women in her family. These women, she portrays so beautifully, that you have a sense of being right there with them and embracing them as family, too. This book was crafted with such a sense of familiarity and ease, showing much love and care for its subjects. It was a pleasure to share Cassie's memories and to embrace the personalities, especially those of her granny and Aunt Ruth.

The author tells her story of growing up in the Kentucky mountains. She is able to move successfully from that environment to eventually graduate from Harvard Law. Afterwards she moved back to rural Kentucky to put her legal skills to work. She cites the example of the "hill women" in her life. Her mother was able to leave the mountains and go to college. Her grandmother and her Aunt Ruth were also major influences in her life. Fascinating, inspiring.

This is a book that I won. I really enjoyed this book. It gives a first hand description of the lives of the people of Appalachia, and the hardships they face in a changing world, and the discrimination they face because of the bias others have about them, especially the women.

Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
————
I was expecting this book to be about the women in the author's extended family, as well as their neighbors. Instead it is mostly a memoir of the author herself (who is in her 30s!), with a lot of detail about her mother's, grandmother's, and aunt's lives.

I found this book easy to read but exhausting. She brags. A lot. People in Appalachia (especially the women!) work harder and care about their families and neighbors more than other Americans. And when they are poor, they are poorer. Her mother was brave and smart and a hard worker, and so is the author! Scholarship to fancy high school, Wellesley (not good enough--Ivy League is better), Harvard Law. Led legal aid while at Harvard, World Traveler, met the queen of England. And because she is such a well-raised person (Appalachia!) she went home to practice legal aid in Kentucky. Ran for and office in KY and won! And then was shocked to meet another lawyer who doesn't find her family embarrassing--and his family doesn't either, even though they have money!

This isn't shocking--she met a normal man, from a normal family. Life is not a contest, though she seems to think it is.

Also--most rural areas in the US are on individual wells, and they worry about pollution. This is not the world out to get the people of Appalachia. Most mountainous areas have poor-to-bad cell service. The mountains block signals, this is not the world out to get Appalachia. Much of the US is hoping for good job-creating industries, doctors, hospitals (especially ones that won't throw opioids around like candy), this is not the world out to get Appalachia.

Meh.

Hill Women is very much Cassie Chambers memoir of her life, her family and the women of Owsley County, the poorest country in Kentucky, the second poorest in the United States. It is exactly the sort of place J. D. Vance was writing about when he wrote Hillbilly Elegy, poor, with the Appalachian culture and history. That’s where the similarity ends.

First, Chambers centers the women of Owsley County, primarily the women in her family. More importantly, Chambers grew up in Kentucky and lives there to this day. She didn’t just visit during summer vacation and look back from an ivory tower. She grew up in Berea, a college town, so she didn’t actually live in Owsley County, but she was frequently there to visit her aunt and grandmother. She is proud of her people and the strength and fortitude of the women. This is no story of escaping poverty by rejecting your roots. Her mother went to college, too, thanks in large part to her own mother’s and aunt’s hopes for her. She writes about their self-sufficiency, their endurance, and generosity. She writes about how families help other families, working together to eke out a living in a place America likes to mock.

She also writes about how some of the seemingly poor decisions are perhaps not really decisions at all. For example, she jogs everywhere, except when in Owsley County where the roads are too narrow and there is no cell service in case she runs into trouble. She eats healthy, but there she has never eaten a salad as the produce in the stores is limited. Then there is the environmental contamination, particularly of groundwater, contributing to poor health.

Her father was a professor and her mother finished college, so she came from a family that believed in education. She spent two years at a boarding school called United World College, then on to Wellesley, and then Yale and Harvard Law. Her education seems like a road from alienation to acculturation, from being an outsider to fitting in. She devotes a chapter to each school before returning home where she went to work in family law.

She describes many of the injustices of the law. Justice may be blind but it has a calculator and poor people are often deprived of access to the legal help they need and punished by the legal system just for being poor.

Hill Women works best as a memoir of Chambers’ family. Not only are the women of her family indomitable and memorable, but you can also feel her love for them on every page. The stories of the women she helped as a lawyer will outrage readers, the injustice and how poverty can deprive people of justice. I will confess, though, that as much as I came to admire Chambers and her family, I occasionally lost interest in the story, particularly in her college years. I don’t believe a memoir needs to reveal great truths or change my worldview, but the idea that the daughter of a college professor and Ph.D. managed to go to an Ivy League college and do well is not particularly shocking.

I received an e-galley of Hill Women from the publisher through NetGalley

Hill Women at Penguin Random House
Cassie Chambers author site
Why should a woman have to pay legal fees for a man who beat her? op-ed by Cassie Chambers
Justice is not blind to your finances op-ed by Cassie Chambers

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/hill-women-by-cassie-cham...

I received this book from LTER. Generally, I liked this book. But I did find the first half more compelling than the second. I loved the descriptions of the generations of family members growing up in Appalachia. The author was fortunate that her parents valued education as much as they did. For her to get from the hollow to the Ivy League was an impressive accomplishment. And she ultimately chose to go back and make a difference, when she could have became a high paid big city corporate lawyer. Unlike other reviewers, I had no issue with her bringing politics into the book. To ignore it would have seemed odd. It’s part of who she is and it’s a big part of why Kentucky is the way it is. Why criticize an author writing a memoir for including her passion for assisting the underdog and recognizing how much politics impact their lives? The book definitely reminding me of Educated, by Tara Westover and also The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. I felt the second half of the book was a bit choppy and not well written.½

I received Hill Women as an advance copy through Libary Thing's giveaway (my first one ever) and was thrilled. Hill Women is similar to Hillbilly Elegy but told from a women's perspective. Born and raised poor in Kentucky, Cassie Chambers eventually gets a Yale-London School of Economics-Harvard education before returning home to provide free legal service to those in need. Rather than dwelling on the well publicized troubles of Appalachia like opioid addiction and unemployment, Chambers sings praises of the strong Kentucky women in her life who influenced her. The Hill Women might not have been well educated but they were anything but lazy. They were hard working, creative, supportive women. Chambers' own mother was a great role model having finished school after becoming pregnant with Chambers and going on to having a successful and fulfilling career.½

A counterpoint to the book Hillbilly Elegy, which tended to show the worst of the Appalachian people.
This book shows the best, shows their strong sense of family, their hard work and the hardships they face daily. Owsley County, KY is one of the poorest counties in the nation, but despite that these proud people soldier on, without public aid.

Women and their strength, women who encourage their children to get a higher education, knowing that is their ticket out of the poverty that encompasses so many. The author parents, even after her birth, did finish college, and the author would get more than one degree. Still, she has find memories of her time, when younger, spending time there, working with her aunt. It is a place and family that she cherishes.

An ode to strong women, women that pass on their morals, sense of family and strength of character.

ARC from librarything.

This book reminds me of both Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and Educated by Tara Westover. It is an account of the lives of the women in the author's family as well as a look at the economic and social situation of Eastern Kentucky generally. Like the other two books, it is a moving portrayal of the lives of those who grow up in poverty and without much encouragement to pursue education or opportunities outside the familiar communities of their early years. Chambers writes well and there is a warmth, intimacy, and hopefulness to many of her stories that the other two books sometimes lack. Like other reviewers, I thought the first half of the book was much stronger than the second. Chambers describes her time working in Legal Services, representing the poor of Kentucky after having obtained an Ivy League education. She highlights a number of the problems facing Appalachia, such as the a lack of new types of employment, a lackluster educational system, and a serious opioid crisis.

As another reviewer mentioned, the book changed tone at the end and became a partisan political piece that attempted to persuade the reader of the flaws of conservatives, Republicans, or Donald Trump, rather than maintaining a focus on the stories of the women of the region. Chambers reveals in the last pages of the book her move into the Democratic Party's leadership structure in her state. Instead of simply saying that she works in politics in order to persuade people of the efficacy of a certain policy approach over another, she relates numerous examples that serve only to promote division, though decrying the political divisiveness of the times. For example, she says that some churches in the rural regions of Kentucky tell people they will go to Hell if they vote for Democrats, or that (Republican) parents won't let their children play with the children of Democrats. A nun persuades people to vote for Democrats because, apparently, she explains that Republicans are simply "pro-birth," not pro-life, seemingly arguing that once a child is born Republicans only want to cut children's health insurance and make life hard for working families. My own belief is that Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, independents, or anyone who is not a Democrat, would want much the same as a Democrat for children and working families. There can be a difference in opinion about the best policies or approach to a problem without it meaning that one side is basically evil and unfeeling while the other only wants the best for people. She devotes several pages to wondering why people in Kentucky like Donald Trump, and then spends time discussing why he is not as popular as he was and that he has "done nothing" and "made women mad." She then says that Owsley County, the focus of the book, elected a Democrat in the 2018 elections. However, this result does not seem to have followed from any direct connection to Trump, but rather to the Republican candidate's position in favor of merging the county with another, something the majority of residents in Owsley County opposed. She also throws in an assessment that supposedly came from her Aunt Ruth that Brett Kavanaugh was guilty of what he was accused, she could just tell. This seems awfully irresponsible coming from an author who is herself an attorney and should now be aware of the very serious credibility issues of Kavanaugh's accusers, problems that came fully to light once the hearings ended and highlighted, or should have done, for the country of the dangers of a rush to judgment and a willingness to convict someone based solely on an accusation with no evidence. Again, this seemed out of place in her memoir and once again promotes a divisiveness that she claims to abhor. (Sigh). It's an unfortunate chapter that is clearly an attempt to sway people to adopt her political affiliation, and which damages the story she was otherwise trying to convey.

Overall, there are some things to admire in the book, and other things that would have been better left out, or which should have received less attention so that the focus could stay on the "hill women" of Kentucky.

In this memoir, Cassie Chambers describes the lives of the maternal side of her family in the hills of eastern Kentucky from the 1950's to the present. Despite the poverty and lack of resources, there is no lack of resourcefulness and strength in the women she describes. Her maternal grandmother was married and mother at 17 to a man twelve years her senior. Her spinster Aunt Ruth keeps the family farm going when her parents become to old to raise tobacco and farm. Her mother, Wilma, the youngest in the family is the first to finish high school and goes onto attend college in Berea, where she meets Cassie's father, a teaching assistant. They marry and have Cassie in her first year of college, yet Wilma manages to finish her degree while raising Cassie.

Inspired by the example of these strong women, Cassie attends a unique preparatory high school in New Mexico and from there attends Ivy League schools and eventually earns her law degree. At the time of writing the book, she is back in Kentucky, working to help women have equal access to the courts in family law
issues.

This book is an encouraging counterpoint to the existential pessimism put forth in J. D. Vance's book about a community in Kentucky just two counties over from the Owsley County.

I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers Program, but this review is not influenced by that fact.

I have high praise for this book. What a wonderful telling of lives well lived in Appalachia. It does not matter if you are poor, middle class or rich, lives can be well lived in any economic class. As someone from Appalachia I found this book as the beginning of understanding to those who live outside of these regions. The book discusses the morals and the values held by many in Appalachia and how those tie the people and communities together.

There were many passages from this book that affected me, here are just a few:
• “I try to look at it with a sense of respect: to remember how hard they are working to survive in the overlooked corner of the world they call home.” This passage is so true. Why do we tend to look at someone like this and feel sorry for them because they make so little for what they are breaking their back for? How can you not respect a person that works hard to survive and not receive what many Appalachians consider charity?
• “There is hope in the spirit of a people who find creative ways to exist in a community that has been systemically marginalized. In men and women who take care of each other even when the outside world does not take care of them.” This is what happens when creative minds and unified communities come together to help their own when the world does not. Community gardens happen, mission happens, using your own wealth and supply to help those in need around you happens, businesses happen according to community needs, skills are shared.
• “We don’t take time to see it: the hope in poverty, the spark against the dreary backdrop, the grit in the mountain women.” Many look at “mountain women” and feel sorry for their plot in life. But what we don’t see is how that poverty has made them fight for what they have, it has made them learn skill sets many others will never have, it has made them use ingenuity and creativity to make things happen. Many of these women may be poor economically but their lives are rich, richer than many outside of the region.
• “But outsiders who rush into the hills do not always take the time to see that mountain people are a creative, resourceful lot. They don’t understand that Appalachians can be –should be—partners in the effort to make their lives better.” Many on the outside rush in to help those in need and do not ask for help from those they are helping. Outsiders do not know how the family or community runs, so they do not know what would work best in each individual situation. Outsiders come at a problem from their own understanding and how they have lived. It is best to get the help of those you extend help to so that whatever is done continues to work. Use the gifts, the skills, the creativity, and resourcefulness of those you come to help.

This book is the story of Cassie Chambers and her family, but it is the story of many growing up in Appalachia. It is a story of morals and values passed down not only in speech but in action. It shows that no matter where you are from or what economic class you may find yourself in, you are valuable. Each human has a gift/skill and when given the need it can be used for the good of self and community. The Hill Women brings attention to the women who are too often overlooked. They are doing so much more for their families and communities with the small resources given. It is through challenging work, creativity, and resourcefulness that many a family and community has survived.

I must be truthful in saying that I do not read many Non-Fiction books, I am not much of a fan, but this book looked interesting, so I asked for it. I was won over before I had even made it to Chapter 1, and I did not want to put it down. The book is eye opening, funny, sad, and so many other heart felt things. I did not want to put the book down and I was telling friends and family about it before I had even finished Chapter 3. If you are from Appalachia, live near it, know someone from there or are curious about it, this is a book you should read. If you like to read about strong women who came up from nothing, who used their minds to start businesses or use their inventiveness to make things work, women who felt strongly about education, women who wanted to make the lives of those around them better, or women who stood behind one another proping the next up, then this is also the book for you. I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers group for the purpose of my honest review.

A woman’s look at her own life and how it was shaped by the women in her family. A good look at women in Appalachia and the region in general. The last few chapters were less engaging and a little abrupt maybe but overall well written and an interesting read.

I read this book as an Early Review book and absolutely loved it. Not only did I cheer for Cassie, but I felt like I personally knew her mom, aunt and grandmother. Cassie has overcome the odds, but is still humble and proud of her Appalachian roots. Coming from one of the poorest counties in the United States, Cassie has truly beaten the odds. She understands that she is only in the position she is now because of the strong women who have always stood behind her. I hope that young women across the country read this book and realize not only the importance of believing in yourself, but also the importance of education. Sometimes going against the grain of your community is uncomfortable, but that is truly the only way to grow. I hope to read about Cassie in the future as a United States Senator changing policy to help people from poor and under-served areas in the United States.½

An excellent memoir by Cassie

An excellent memoir by Cassie Chambers on the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and the problems the people have that live there. It was an inspiring book on how she went to both Yale and Harvard and became a lawyer then went back to help the people who still lived there. One of the best books I have read in a long time.