Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture

Vance provides background on his biological father, Don Bowman. Vance’s mom and Bowman marry in 1983 and divorce “around the time [Vance] started walking” (61-62). Bev, Vance’s mom, remarries a couple of years after. When Vance is six, his father gives him up for adoption, moving to Kentucky and converting to Pentecostal Christianity. Vance’s sister, Lindsay, has a different biological father than Vance.

Bob Hamel, Bev’s new husband, becomes Vance’s stepfather and adoptive dad. Mamaw refers to Bob as a “toothless fucking retard,” (62), in part because Bob, like Mamaw herself, comes from a hillbilly background, and Mamaw wants something different for her children. With the adoption comes Vance’s first name change. “When Bob became my legal father, Mom changed my name from James Donald Bowman to James David Hamel. Until then, I’d borne my father’s first name as my middle name, and Mom used the adoption to erase any memory of his existence” (63).

Bob and Bev buy a house a few blocks from Mamaw; Vance develops a fondness for reading and football, and, especially, for quarterback Joe Montana.