Review: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sarah Smarsh grew up in the 1980s and 1990s in rural Kansas, just outside of Witchita. Her family life was pretty typical of poor rural midwestern families who lived day to day, surviving off of what work they could find and hope that each year's crops would get them through another year. She also came from a long line of women who became mothers at an early age and shacked up with the next guy that seemed like they could pull them out of their sad circumstances. The men usually ended up being abusive and uncaring, leading many to multiple divorces and broken hearts. Sarah vowed to end the cycle and pull herself out of poverty, forgoing a family for a college degree. This story is not just Sarah's. In fact, it is more the story of 3 generations of women before her and the economic causes that kept them in rural poverty.

Smarsh's memoir examines the causes behind generations of mid-western rural women who seem to find themselves locked into a cycle of teenage motherhood and broken marriages. It's hard for many to believe that this cycle continues for many in our era of technology. Having grown up not far from where Smarsh lived, I understand the circumstances she reflects on and remember many women who had big dreams of independent success but ultimately ended up following in their mother's footsteps, having children young and a string of men in and out of their lives.

Smarsh used an interesting technique of addressing her story to an unborn child. It is a technique similar to Ta-Nehisi Coates' letter to his son in his book Between the World and Me. However, I don't think Smarsh's use was as successful. Her idea was to write to the child that might have been, had she continued the cycle of her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother. It kind of bothered me until the end when she makes a point of saying goodbye to this child that would have been born in poverty. This child will never be because she broke the cycle and has become a successful woman. I think if she had teased that information at the beginning and then reference back to it at the end it would have been better.

Overall, it was an interesting read that made me reflect back on my own mid-western childhood and the circumstances of many rural people I knew growing up. I don't think this book is for everyone. There are no major insights or revelations that come out of it, but the ending does provide a bit of understanding of why poverty exists in small-town America.

I received this book gratis through Goodreads Giveaways.

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