Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001)

This book is a good expose on the myth that the United States is a classless society, an assertion so blind that it would be comical if it were not one of the major myths perpetrated by corporate media. In fact, the newspaper series in the New York Times a couple of years ago which purported to be about class spent a good three quarters of the time trying to maintain this myth.

Barbara Ehrenreich does her best to try to survive on entry-level jobs, and finds herself struggling severely. Eye opening on the level of Fast Food Nation. I read it for university. It surprised me only because I didn't grow up in a household that actually lived like Ms. Ehrenreich, which a good majority of the country does. If you didn't, you might catch some insight, but nothing more than you would working at a similar job and trying to pay rent. ( )

-- At almost 60 y.o. this female reviewer has spent all yrs. after college graduation doing entry-level work at entry-level wages so was glad to finally read Ehreneich's NICKEL AND DIMED in a bookstore's "free" box. -- ( )

I wanted to start out by giving this book a harsh review. I spent the first quarter being annoyed by Ehrenreich's tone: especially her consistent attitude of amazement that this is what people live like. Nearly every paragraph was met with a "well, duh" from me or a "oh poor little you". The strange mixture of awe and contempt that suffused the book never stopped making me wince.

And then, I came to a startling (if obvious) revelation. This book was not for me.

If you're someone who already recognizes the deplorable conditions and near-impossible odds poverty-level Americans face, then this book will make you roll you want to punch the author a little bit.

If you're not, then this book is for you. Ehrenreich does an excellent job of confronting the most rampant of poor stereotypes and, more often than not, finds them completely false. I imagine that it'd be an eye-opening book. ( )

(Quibble: I was all of seven years old when welfare reform was instituted, so many of Ehrenreich's attacks against the reform went completely over my head. I couldn't recall anything about this legislation while reading.)

While interesting, Ehrenreich's account never really connected with me on any level.
Basically, the book covers three points: 1) minimum wage sucks, 2) businesses sucks, and 3) welfare reform sucks. ( )

A nice piece of writing, but I suppose I expected more. Barbara Ehrenreich, a woman with a Ph.D in Biology decides to go and write about the Working Poor in America. She goes and gets entry level jobs in three different states with caveats. She tries to get homes that are acceptably classed, but not too badly. She doesn't feel like starving, and some other things. Like she has a bank account and savings but only uses it in dire circumstances.

So she starts in Florida, the place near where she lives, goes to Maine, and then to Minnesota. She does many jobs but is surprised that though it is supposed to be 'unskilled' labor, a lot of the jobs require concentration and learning things. Even back then she acknowledged the wage gap, and figured that people would eventually go for living wages. So it is interesting in being foresighted, but it feels rather hollow to me.

So in all, the book was okay but I didn't like it as much as I though I would. At least it is short though. I mean, there's only so much you can go and write about a minimum wage job. Mostly it's about the relationships she makes and stuff like that. In the end this is only a project, so it's like a short glance at something that people live every day. ( )