Kate Gale

Mia lives in her car, only has two outfits to wear, and eats rice cooked in her car, despite making almost enough to live better from her gig work. She refuses to take out student loans, believing them to be a bottomless pit of hopelessness, and is totally out of touch with other gen Xers. When Covid comes she scrambles around to survive, and does even better, tutoring and cleaning to the rich. She observes the life around her, a very California life, without bitterness and with incisive show more social humor. We cheer for her success until the end. The short book is a breath of fresh air. show less

I really enjoyed this' Pandemic Experience' book. There really are two different worlds in America, and it all rests on the the only true power anyone here REALLY has- and that's money. While the rich stress out about not being able to get facials, the poor live in their cars. This book was not a downer, though. It was an adventure and spoke to a lot of issues that most people- especially the 'haves' do NOT want to discuss. I liked all the characters, and the book definitely rang true.

I wanted to like this. The story is okay but the characters are one-dimensional & often speak exactly the same, so it’s hard to keep track of which person is getting told off for watching FOX News this time — there are two nearly identical rants, just pages apart. I agree, but don’t we all know that FOX is toxic? There’s also repeated use of “man cave,” 5 times in the first 25 pages, the last three uses all on pages 24 & 25. The repetition isn’t for hyperbole’s sake; it’s show more just repetition. When the characters say something new, they tend to lecture each other in long, stilted, declaratory sentences.

There’s also some weird, noble poor stuff about how admirable it is to have your rich employer’s child & never sue him for child support, though your own family hasn’t enough to eat. It’s like Patient Griselda. And endless telling without showing. Those lectures the characters exchange? The narrator addresses quite a few to us, her readers, as well, making for rambling clunkiness.

I’ll stop. You get my point.

I wanted to like this, but it was impossible. show less

I liked the premise of this book contrasting the differences in the life, and in some instances, the morals of the reasonably rich in the city of Los Angeles, and the poorer workers who came to take care of their houses and their children, but it felt like the author kept intruding into the story with comments to make sure we understood her point of view, as if we might miss it from the story line. I finally quit trying to follow which houses the workers were cleaning as they all felt about show more the same with drugs and sex and Fox news being the main themes. I think there could be a good story in there,and with the help of a good editor I believe the author definitely as something important to say. show less