Rating: 
Summary: An Important Message For Society
Review: With close to 500 reviews already posted about this book, is there anything new to say? Probably not, but i'll weigh in anyway.
The level of response, and the fervor of these responses, both pro and con, indicate to me that Ehrenreich has touched a deep nerve here. For those who criticize the artificial nature of her experiment--picking a strange community, finding a job(s) and a place to rent, and somehow trying to hold together body and soul within her limited means--the author herself acknowledges many of these restraints. Of course, she will never live in the exact same circustances as her subjects...but by working alongside them for weeks, getting to know them as people, she gives voice to a segment of society that is too often ignored. I know many of these people. If not for a modest inheritance, I would probably be one of them too. There are millions of people in this country who are seeing the American Dream moving steadily further and further from their grasp. These aren't addicts, slackers or idlers. They are caring people with friends and families who want to better themselves, but are trapped in a system that, intentionally or not, seems designed to forever defeat them.
As powerful as her individual stories are, Ehrenreich does not rely entirely on anecdotes to convey her message...the statistics she uses to butress her case make the depth of this problem clear. May those in a position to move us toward a more humane, more human, system, be moved by the message.
Rating: 
Summary: A good piece of investigative journalism
Review: In "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America", Barbara Ehrenreich attempts to jump feet first into the world of low-wage, unskilled employment in order to determine, first-hand, the feasibility of getting by in the world of the minimum wage.Ehrenreich abandons (most of) her financial resources, credentials, and home in order to attempt to find jobs and affordable housing in three American cities: Key West, Florida, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her goal: to find gainful employment, affordable housing, and earn enough in one month to pay for an additional month of housing. This goal truly represents the bare minimum required to get by in America; food, shelter, and minimal clothing. Ehrenreich waits tables and rents a small trailer in Key West, works for a maid service and nursing home and rents a motel room by the week in Portland, and folds clothes at WalMart and rents motel rooms by the week or nightly in Minneapolis. Through her attempts to find employment, Ehrenreich describes the insult that she feels over the personality tests, drug tests, and disinterested interview techniques that seem to be commonplace when applying for entry-level service and retail jobs. She takes great interest in her low-wage co-workers who seem to be endlessly struggling to ward off poverty and homelessness. Most co-workers share one bedroom accommodations with multiple roommates or relatives...one even lives out of a van. Ehrenreich summarizes her overall experience by rating her work performance/ethic as a triumph and giving a neutral to mildly negative rating for her ability to secure adequate lodging. Although she does pay homage to the more advanced trials that true low-wage workers face, she fails to calculate her lack of the mental and physical maladies suffered after years of degrading manual labor. Ehrenreich does note that she benefits from a history of adequate medical attention and voluntary physical exercise. But I think that she stops short of considering how her overall situation would be impacted by a shift in those factors.
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Summary: Americans working full-time jobs are living in motels
Review: Honestly, people, is this how our ancestors at the dawn of the 20th century pictured livelihood for their offspring? Nowhere in America can any individual have even a decent standard of living on $ an hour. The different arrangements and living conditions Barbara Ehrenreich describes in her undercover investigation "Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America," are not only spot on, but hold a certain degradation to all citizens of the United States. The writing of Ehrenreich superlatively demonstrates how educated writers are in no way different from people who clean houses for a living, or work at Wal-Mart. To actually reason why Barbara Ehrenreich discovered and uncovered these findings in the current period, the reader must have some background information on economics and the current trend of globalization. Ehrenreich does present some worker's rights movement history and union information, but there is no correlation between how current government malfeasance in congruence with corporate empowerment seals the fate of wage working individuals. Ehrenreich is far too busy to go in-depth on these issues due to her need to focus on writing what she discovers, and the constant demands placed on her to support her own self with no outside help at all. The particularly femaley writing style actually helps the cause of the account because the compassionate attitudes of the Ehrenreich befall the reader's own compassion. Ehrenreich meets many people, does not tell these individuals what she is doing, and then writes their stories lacing them with one into her own tale of inequality. The legend of the missing health coverage and pension, the parable of the eight hour workday becoming less and less likely in society while working more than one full-time job, and finally, these people doing all this work are barely able to afford to house and feed themselves. Ehrenreich decides to wait tables in Florida, clean houses for Merry Maids in Maine, and work for Wal-Mart in Minneapolis-St.Paul. It seems as though in every situation, every job, and every geographic region, Ehrenreich has an incredibly hard time collecting enough cash to provide life-sustaining necessities like food and home. Ehrenreich tells of her co-workers who do extremely hard work with little pay, while being gracious and kind to customers and each other... most of the time. Besides these miracles, Ehrenreich describes of her own living standards, budgets from paycheck to paycheck, and living with a friend's annoying bird. Ehrenreich offers the reader a statement before the journey begins, describing how she came about the idea to go undercover and live on these wages. There is also a post-statement and set of reading group discussion questions after the anecdote finishes. The storyline does have slow points and hard spots, "but on the whole, preparation H does feel good."
Rating: 
Summary: Here's to the Hoi Polloi!
Review: Here's the deal.......well-to-do, journalistic, artsy type mingles with the Hoi Polloi, professes to understand them and their lot....then blames those who work hard, study hard, and become a success for the plight of those who are not as well off. In Madame Ehrenreich's world, someone should be held to task when a hard working waitress doesn't net $100K a year. It has to be someone's fault that little Johnny pool boy can't afford the 52" HDTV and the beach house overlooking the ocean. There are poor in this country, working poor who do the best they can, yet still come up short. And for those people, assistance and compassion are the order of the day. However, for the most part, this is still a land of wonderful opportunity where someone, without a background of affluence can, with a lot of sweat and a little ingenuity, can educate oneself, go into business and build a thriving enterprise. I know.....I am one of them. There are an awful lot of so-called working poor who are in that position because they have made personal choices of one sort or another to take the easy way during their lives, then begrudge those who work harder, better and smarter than they do. The author, unfortunately, caters to that group as well as to those who have been given a healthy dose of guilt at their own success. She succeeds, but by pandering. In a sense, she exploits even more than the greedy entrepreneur - the latter creates jobs and helps people build a better life.
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Summary: Thoughtful book
Review: Like another reviewer, I agree that this is NOT the definitive treatise on the problems of the working poor but it takes a slice of the situation and analyzes it very well. We live well at the expense of others. That is a sobering thought. Moreover (though Ehrenreich doesn't go there at all) we do it not only at the expense of our fellow Americans but also global family members as well. On a day when I had more time, it would be entertaining to read all of the one-star reviewers. Those reviewers will tell you more about themselves than the book. (I want to simultaneously apologize for that grossly biased remark, but many of those folks were unwilling to minutely face the costs attached to their life style and who pays). A thoughtful but quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Nickel and Dimed? Author fleecing her audience
Review: Here's an individual that did like anyone who was willing to work, get a series of jobs, education and now becomes a financial success. And now she is making it big on the backs of the very ones she is claiming to assist. She is a shyster who laments the only country that really allows the freedom to become wealthy. She should have made her attempts to enter the upper echelon in the nations that are steeped in socialism/communism, (i.e. fat chance of success). Those 'utopian' examples are the very nations that have for their course of history been responsible for the elimination or ostracizing of it's intellectuals and the deaths of some 100 million people over the last century. And she wants America to emulate these policies? The best thing for Ms. Ehrenreich to do would be to find another country to live and not belittle the nation she enjoys so much freedom to succeed and see if she comes to a different conclusion. Perhaps Saudi Arabia or Cuba?
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Summary: Well, at least the title isn't offensive . . .
Review: . . . because everything else about this book sure is. Just like "Stupid White Men," this book presents another opportunity for socialists and those that are anti-capitalists to whine about the unfair treatment of the poor by all those evil moneymaking corporations and businesses. Instead of writing a balanced book highlighting the difficulties of living in poverty, as supporters of this book want you to think it is, the author instead chooses to play the blame game. A more fitting title might be, "Socialism Now!" or "Blame the Productive." If you have any sense of individualism or the capitalist spirit, spare yourself and consider reading "Atlas Shrugged" instead.
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Summary: from a woman who lived this life through her mother.
Review: I grew up with a magnificant woman who has struggled with-out complaint to rise 5 daughters on $25,000 or less a year. our fater was simply never around to help out nor did he provide child support. She was able to attain a college degree but only after we all left home. Even with that degree,she still works for far less than she is worth. This book was like reading my mothers true story. We too moved around a lot so she could find work. I went to 5 different 7th grades and 4 high schools. I also attended 6 different grade schools. My mom is a living inspiration for me and I will give her this book as a gift. I was lucky enough to have married a middle-class, hard working man who is putting me through college and I thank my lucky stars I have been given that opportunity, I have lived both of the worlds in this book and was my-self a house keeper at a hotel. I witnessed a woman fired because she collapsed from fatigue. I know both worlds and this author portrays them with acute accracy. I will have all my friends and family read this book, chances are, they all will relate.
Rating:
Summary: A Clear and Present Danger
Review: I thought I had seen it all. I have read some of the most passionate of diatribes from those left-of-center bashing the very capitalist society in which they thrive, but this lady takes the cake. It is laughable at best for ANYONE with half of a fraction of a decimal of a single I.Q. point to take this woman seriously. Why, you ask? It is very simple. Ask the author how much money is she making from this book. Then ask her how much she is sending to the poor and the downtrodden she embraces in her "journal of woes". Once again, another liberal (sorry to lay that label down on some of you...I would run like the wind!) biting the very hand that is feeding them. Avoid this book, unless you run out of Charmin.
Rating:
Summary: A book everyone should read
Review: It's great to see someone giving voice to America's poor...who are so often ignored.
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