Elizabeth R. (esjro) -
I thought I would enjoy this book, but I gave up after reading about 60% of it. The author is obviously very talented, as her descriptions of the places and people from her life were very detailed and eloquently written. It was all too much though. I don't want to know about someone else's aunt or some garden to that level of detail. Nothing interesting happens; just descriptions of simple pleasures enjoyed during childhood and doing surprisingly well in school.
The book was written as though the author is talking to her unborn child, which is also weird.
The book was written as though the author is talking to her unborn child, which is also weird.
Laura P. (hemmputnam) reviewed Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth on + 1116 more book reviews
I thought this was a powerful personal story of what life looked and felt like for Smarsh as a child. What I was hoping for was a more explicit connecting of the dots about what we should be doing differently as a society to adress the class inequality she experienced. Some of it is pretty easy to intuit - school was her way forward, so fully funding public education would probably be a good idea in her mind. What are the other fixes that she wishes were in place?
