Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Best book that there is out there.! Should be in everyone’s only wish there was an update to 2020

2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I thought this was an interesting listen. Ehrenreich recounts the months she spent working various blue-collar jobs, and includes a lot of statistics about the working poor. It was an eye-opener for me, and I recommend it for people who are (like myself) interested in trying to form a complete picture of how people live in the US these days. The recording was fine. To my ear, it seemed the reader was trying to put a cynical spin on the prose in places, which I found to be at odds with Ehrenreich's objective and journalistic writing.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am so sick of hearing about the problems in America with no attempts at offering a solution. Instead of being an insightful book, it just came across as whining about the great injustices. As a former member of the low wage work force, I was more insulted than anything else.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is the mildly funny story of a rich, self-important middle-aged writer who leaves her life to take on the struggles of the working poor. Her goal was to expose an unjust society. She bumbled around from town-to-town and job-to-job looking for a story. She was able to uncover the *shocking truth* that maids clean poop, Wal-Mart employees are forced to fold clothing, waitresses serve food; and often "poor people" live with relatives or *gasp* roommates. She witnessed such horrors (perpetrated by the evil managerial class) as an employee being fired for stealing, bosses who got angry when she didn't work... Other readers thought she provided compelling social commentary. I thought she missed her mark. The author admitted: -she could have earned promotions -was offered higher paying jobs -might have struggled less had she not switched jobs weekly and moved monthly -her co-workers never tried to improve their lives (she blames society for their lack of motivation)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is the second book by the author I've read and I see it includes the same perennial demons that her other book contains. Guess one could sum it up before one even reads it as: Christians & Republicans bad, bad, bad, socialism and the welfare state, good, very good. Well now you know the Cliff Notes version. Really and truly I have always meant to read this book because it did cause quite a stir. I was born into the bottom rung of middle class, married into the bottom rung of middle class, became a divorced mom of two and thrown into Welfare and then low and behold I worked my way off it, got a good job, and now teach people things they desperately need like job skills, help them to continue the education, encourage them to stay in school, etc. etc. I did that doing jobs that Miss Barbara felt a bit beneath her standard of life. Let's see I was a cocktail waitress, worked two jobs, went to college, raised two kids on my own. Like American Express would say priceless.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book gave no insight into what poor people feel. It was just one woman's repetitive story about how being poor isn't fun. She just complained nonstop. I wanted to hear about the story's of the people she met and how they got to where they are. But, the story just revolved around the author.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I thought this would be a liberal pity-party for the poor, but it ended up being pretty decent. Barbara could have done more to advance herself, and thus stayed in poverty more than she had to, but it is a good look at "the other side". Made me glad I went to college, and should be required reading for all high school seniors contemplating skipping school or forgoing college.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a riveting piece of journalistic writing, simple in concept and clear in the telling, to show comfortable well-educated readers what working poverty is all about. Read it, please, and see how you feel about discount America.

Gets you thinking, but leaves me with... what was the point? People who can't understand don't, people who do understand don't get to go back to a money filled life. What's the point of a book like this?

An interesting look at how working-class/ low income families have the deck stacked against them. A bit preachy at times, but the overall message is an interesting one that speaks to how the US has its own caste system.