I'm finding this book difficult to read. It just doesn't capture me.

I think I like the IDEA of reading it more than actually reading it.

Though Ehrenreich's experiment is over ten years old (done from 1998-2000), it rings close to home more than ever. With an economic downturn that has no end in sight, more Americans are part of the "working poor." These are the people who work long hours for little pay and still don't have enough money for sufficient food and shelter. The author vowed to work and live like one of these people and take the project seriously: Accept the highest paying job, the cheapest apartment that was safe, and live within the means of her salary. She became a waitress, a nursing home "nutritionist" (the home's fancy term for "lunch lady"), a maid, and a Wall-Mart associate. The first thing she learned was that one job is not enough. And don't just take her word for it - her coworkers in the various fields had to do all they could to scrape by: sharing housing, living in their cars, skipping meals, working a second or third job. These jobs are in demand, so why the low wages? Talk of unions are taboo. Socializing is deemed "time theft." With such morale killers, why do workers put up with it? There are many reasons: need for a job close to home, no time to job hunt or educate yourself through schooling, no money for clothes that will make you look presentable for job interviews... or even your current job! Barbara tells of how a woman working at Wall-Mart on 7 dollars an hour couldn't afford the required uniform polo shirt.

I believe Ehrenreich proved her point, but I do have some criticisms. First, her depiction of management as ogres because they make more money. She literally describes their personal appearances in unflattering terms, including pointing out weight problems. Yes there are mean managers just as there are mean coworkers, but the problem lies further up the chain -- there's no need to add "having a paunch" as a reason someone should be villainized. That comes off as less journalistic and more petty. She goes a bit overboard with her villainizing at times, such as when she talks about the upper-class folks who keep the maids in business. It's right to point out the class differences, but to turn the homeowners (or the ladies of the house, rather) into Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother is a tad one-dimensional. But this is the working class's story, so we get more heartbreaking tales of their struggle to survive on abysmal pay. And it is difficult not to be moved by their stories.

Another criticism I had was that the cities Ehrenreich chose to work in weren't very eclectic. (Key West, Florida; Portland, Maine; and Minneapolis, Minnesota) She purposefully avoided big cities like NYC or LA, but I would have liked to see how she would have fared in these places. I'm not sure how accurate a representation of the working lower-class American she got in the places she worked avoiding the big cities, where much of the lower-class population lives.

This novel was cited in "Mental Floss" magazine's most influential books for its expose on the working poor and the conditions in which they work. But ten years later, has the book made it's mark? She confronts some major social issues that affect a good portion of the population. But has anyone listened? These days we give bailouts to floundering businessmen while the lower class fills up tent cities, modern-day Hoovervilles. Ehrenreich makes a good point that society is less likely to feel sorry for the poor when they paint them as lazy, ignorant do-nothings. She paints them different: overworked, underpaid, and physically and emotionally exhausted.

This book will resonate with anyone who took a low-paying job to get by, and hopefully give a little perspective to those who had it easier in life. I hope that if nothing else comes from this book, that people treat their waiter, their maid, their cashier a little more kindly in the future. ( )

Highly recommended, Ehrenreich has a witty self-deprecating writing style and the audiobook narrator, Cristine McMurdo-Wallis was also excellent. The author evaluated her own ability to cover food and housing expenses on minimum wages after the Welfare reforms of the late 90's, in 3 separate ares of the US. The issues facing this sector were eye-opening. I would have liked more in-depth coverage of her co-workers and how they coped. ( )

Student Reviews:
This book presents an excellent example of how millions of Americans are living their lives today. Ehrenreich goes from a $100,000 salary to working in the lower class and making minimum wage. During this time she learns how it is to live at minimum wage. She is living the American Dream in reverse. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America to its full extent. Learn all about the life of living under minimum wage through this excellent book.

I’ll start out by saying that I had recently been told by a coworker that I should read Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich and that I am the type of reader that must finish any book I start. I can not think of a time when I read a book and I didn’t finish it. I’ll admit - the idea of not finishing this book crossed multiple times in my head. I guess that is why I am writing this … the why part. I haven’t figured out exactly why and I am hoping writing it out will put my thoughts in order and I can come to a personal conclusion on this subject.

My conflict arises in that I found the book to not ring true - but who am I to judge if it is not true or not. Thankfully I am not one who lives paycheck to paycheck and can afford a home and a car and has a job that provides me with the means to do more than survive from day to day. [I do for now at least]

I did not grow up as a child that wanted for anything that I needed. I was fed, went to the doctor, went to school w/ new clothes - my parents took care of everything. In college, as most college kids do, I had times where I scraped by. As the half assed responsible adult I am now I am not in without of any of the basics needs - food, shelter, proper medical care, etc.

So why do I think that this book does not ring true?

I found a lot of the dialog uncomfortable in the book. The one passage that stands out in my mind is during Barbara’s stint with the maid service and how they drove by a Dairy Queen and one of the author’s co-workers told about how she had a sundae from there once. I mean … a $3 or $4 sundae and she can remember having one once.

And therein lies my problem. My conflict. Maybe that dialog does ring true and I just don’t know. How am I to know?

I found a lot of the book to be very demeaning as well. I figure that the author was wanting to do nothing more than bring attention to families living off of a meager minimum wage - however, what I found was her telling the story with a lack of respect to these families who are barely getting by on a system stacked against them.

This book was most certainly not what I expected. I thought I’d get a true insight into what the trials and tribulations are of the class of people working doubles, daily without days off just to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. What I found instead was a book more about the author’s need to tell her story of the difference between her life and some of the people she became involved with during her few months in disguise as a lifetime member of the minimum wage class.

I just wasn’t impressed with what I read in this book … however, a week after I finished reading, I am forced to do some introspection and have the recognition that I did not have prior to reading of the problems our system does place upon those who are at the bottom of the barrel for earners.

I guess in that sense, the book has done more than I thought it had … ( )