the book you HAVE to read to understand why Americans from the flyover states like Trump and why they would vote for him.

It sorta does that, but indirectly, I guess? To me, it was all about what’s not in the book. It was marketed as being written from the perspective of “omniscient narrator explaining why those people are the way they are”, but really it’s more “unreliable narrator explains his worldview”.

I read it probably around the same time as you, and it really just made me angry more than anything because basically the whole thesis is “poor people are poor because they are dumb”.

The fact that Purdue pharma made a pill that they claimed would last for 12 hours, when it was more like half that, so people had to either take them way more frequently (or take way bigger doses at 12 hours), and then proceeded to sell them to towns in Appalachia by the hundreds per capita is never mentioned.

There’s a whole bunch of structural problems that he just breezes by that he probably should recognize (cause I do think he’s probably intelligent), but your average person from the region may not. Basically, it’s just propaganda.

My exact thought as well. It was mandatory in HS, and i just never got the hype. Holden Caufield is a whiny phony.

Read rich dad poor dad. Nothing but leveraging yourself into oblivion and doing your best to make the most sketchy writeoffs or deductions you can. Heck, the author is allegedly a billion in debt and has filed for bankruptcy at least once. Not exactly a resounding example of his own financial advice.

If, instead, you like lists of designer clothes, sound systems and skincare regimes, then I highly recommend American Psycho. Genuinely, I loved it.