A “memoir of a place”, Crapalachia is the semi-unreliable account/ recollection of growing up and coming of age in rural West Virginia. Throughout reading (well, listening to) this, I found myself jumping between sadness and laugh out loud laughter. The characters often feel exaggerated to the point that I feel there’s no chance it’s an accurate recollection, but then there are moments where they’re brought back down to earth instantly grounding them and making sense of some of their eccentricities. To give you a small taste of what’s in store for you if you choose to read this - the antics McClanahan recounts range from helping his uncle pour beer down his feeding tube before listening to his favorite radio preacher, to visiting his Grandma’s pre purchased grave because it’s a “good investment”.