A different kind of poverty memoir

“My father was born in Vermillion County. He was the kind of wanderer who knew the value of home. No matter what any stranger or pundit said, to him Indiana was a magical place full of good buddies,” writes J. Dana Trent in her memoir, Between Two Trailers. Witty, poignant, and unrelentingly honest, this coming-of-age story traces a woman’s journey from preschooler who assists her drug-dealing father to ordained Baptist minister and college professor. In a story simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious, Trent shows us that no matter how painful our origins, there is healing to be found when we dare to go back home.

The last several years have seen a proliferation of memoirs exploring poverty in the United States from the perspective of individuals who overcome it. J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, Tara Westover’s Educated, and Stephanie Land’s Maid all involve characters who overcame childhood adversity to start prosperous new lives as adults. What distinguishes Trent’s memoir from these and others in the coming-of-age genre is its refusal to employ the conventional American rags-to-riches plot arc. Trent’s story has neither heroes nor villains, and it ends not with a “happily ever after” or fully transformed life but rather with the narrator’s poignant reconciliation with her upbringing.

Trent’s father, “King,” is a former recreational therapist, college-educated, who suffers from schizophrenia. Her mother, “the Lady,” is a nurse who suffers from personality disorders that keep her stuck in unhealthy patterns. Both are portrayed vividly and with deep love. The same King who trains a young Trent (“Budgie”) to be a lookout during his drug drops uses picturesque midnight bike rides around the county to teach her about her family’s history. The same mother who steals her daughter away to start a new life in North Carolina and racks up thousands of dollars in debt also encourages her to go to Duke Divinity School.