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Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed

On (Not) Getting By in America

by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • Critics' Consensus (13):
  • Readers' Rating (11):
  • First Published:
  • May 1, 2001, 221 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2002, 240 pages
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There are currently 11 reader reviews for Nickel and Dimed
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Robert Holloway

Nickel and Dimed
The book is good,but it fails to state how other low wage workers feel about their jobs. Besides in the end when she quits all the jobs, her so called friends don't even care when she leaves. So working in low wage America isn't necessarily bad. There are plenty of Americans who enjoy working their low wage jobs that may offer many benefits such as Health Care, and Retirement Benefits.
tmg619

bad
I did not like this book at all, the way it was written made the book boring and pointless to read, a lot of people know its hard to work low wage so do we have to write about it some people may have liked this book and thats ok.
Amanda

I thought this book was a waste of time. We all know about the low wage job world out there. Why do we need some journalist to go out there and pretend that she is poor. All she did was complain, and complain. She was always able to turn back to her old lifestyle when things were rough. In the real world her story would be different. I think if she told one of her low wage working friends to write the book then it would be ten times better. The book doesnt give the full truth of how people in those situations live. What about kids, and raising a family in those conditions? Well all she figures is that she can't pay the second months rent, so she must leave and go get more money and move onto another city to try it. Well, that is not how it works. Maybe she should have tried living that way for at least a year, then lets see the kind of shape she is in. The whole thing is that she had a plan B. Unlike all of the other workers she had something to fall back on. I wouldn't reccomend reading this book. If you want to find out how the conditions in low wage America are then go and ask someone who is actually trying to survive on that lifestyle. Also, why did Barbara just leave after a job. She left those poor people there, with more work to bear becuase she can't stand it anymore. She could of at least bought them some food, or donated some of her book profits to the areas she visited. That would of been the least she could have done.
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