Rating: 
Summary: a must read!!
Review: This was the absolute best book I have ever read!! Ms. Ehrenreich walks us through the experiences of low-wage jobs with a sense of humor and insight that keeps you captivated. I could not put this book down for more than five minutes!
Rating: 
Summary: Disgusting
Review: In a previous reveiw of this book it was written, "Anyone who is curious about why poor people can't stop being poor should read this book."Typical of the sort that should read this garbage and consider themselves "enlightened" as to the difficulties millions of Americans face. Buy the book, throw it onto the passenger seat of your Ford Expedition, and read it while waiting for Brittany or Blake to finish soccer practice.
Rating:
Summary: Work That Won't Pay for Housing
Review: Hopefully someone will leave a copy of this book in the office of every "Big Box" executive. Working two jobs and still not being able to afford decent housing is inexcusable in this country which is overflowing with excess. Barbara Ehrenreich's experiences were authentic for the time she worked the three jobs and provided a window to truths the "powers that be " choose to ignore. Life should not be so hard, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Editorial More Important Than Reporting
Review: The first third of the book was great, educating the reader about life as seen through the eyes of low-wage workers. Then the author lost her focus, told the reader less about her co-workers, and wandered off into a sarcastic, condescending editorial, with repeated rants about pubic hair. She had a great opportunity, and missed it.
Rating: 
Summary: Lies, damn lies and statistics
Review: The author went out to prove her thesis that it is impossible to live on minimum wage and guess what--she proved it! What a surprise. I wanted this book to provoke thought and make me uncomfortable, but I could not get past the author's incessant whining, corporate bashing and misinterpretation of constitutional rights. I am fiscally and socially a conservative. I enjoy reading books from both sides of the aisle--I had hoped this book might be an interesting story. It isn't. I believe the point at which I completely tuned out was when the author implied rights and protections afforded to the citizens of the US by our constitution--protections from government--should somehow be used to protect workers from "evil" corporations. It was amazing at how far the left will go to make a point. It is as if the framers of the constitution believed and spent their time creating a constitution to protect us from "evil" business owners and corporations, and that ALL are inherently evil. What a stretch! Please find another book. There must be some intellectually honest books (on the left) which can provoke and stimulate thought and discourse.
Rating:
Summary: I've been lending this one to friends
Review: I was pleased to find this book. Over the past few years, I been employed in retail, foodservice and custodial occupations. I have worked alongside people whose economic reality mirrors the author's experiences. Although Ehrenreich started out with the raw materials, a car and some some cash, she nevertheless struggled. It seems that upper and middle-class Americans love to believe that everyone has 'so much.' In a nation where the gap between rich and poor is widening, this text is a wake-up call. Perhaps it will encourage people to re-evaluate their perspective on labor and poverty.
Rating: 
Summary: Fasinating tableau of the American working poor
Review: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is a new, unique, hands-on analysis of the working poor in America. The book takes the reader to three regions of the country and demonstrates the struggles endured by countless people including the author. In the book, some not widely known facts about certain large corporations are brought to light which would make anxious many baby boomers who's parents worked from nothing to provide them with a better life a reality check that there are still many people who have a hard time getting by in American culture.
This book attempts to pique the reader into contemplating whether our current treatment of the poor is adequate or whether there is another way.
This a must-read for any economist, public policy maker, and businessman. It has a lot to offer anyone who has strong opinions on what they think America is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Nickel and Dimed: A Great Book
Review: This book was a great read. I enjoyed reading about all of the different things that she had to do to just keep a roof over her head. Having a minimum wage job and that being your only source of income is something that is very hard to do. It is virtually impossible if you have someone else to support because you can barely support yourself. If someone had to do that here in Santa Monica it wouldn't be possible because rent nowadays is nearly $1,000 a month for most areas. Then adding your other bills you would probably not even be able to live on your own. Barbara Ehrenreich does a good job in this book conveying that so many people are treated unfairly and can't live comfortably and live check to check because of their minimum paycheck.
Rating:
Summary: Brave
Review: Anybody with half a functioning brain will understand her journey and the courage it takes to leave a secure position in society to report about the disgraceful disparity between the rich and poor in the United States. And for those who believe that having a heart for those who cannot defend themselves both economically and intellectually is a "left" position, then being part of the right should require a human rights investigation.
Rating:
Summary: On (Not) finding a decent book for ($$$)
Review: When conducting an experiment of any kind, one variable to avoid at all costs is experimenter bias. Nickel and Dimed reeks of experimenter bias, beginning on page 4 where the author refers to those who legislated welfare reform as "wonks". It's all downhill from there as we sit back while Ms. Ehrenreich scolds the upper 20% of society, who according to her, can quite easily acquire just about anything they want all while walking over the backs of the working poor. The author really goes nuts when working in Maine as a housecleaner. She develops a deep resentment for her housecleaning clients, referring to them as the "owners". At one point, she even comtemplates spreading ecoli around in their kitchens, possibly to get back at them for refusing her a glass of water. Maybe she was just suffering from dehydration when she wrote that section. In the end, I felt [taken] by the author. I'm sure that few of her co-workers from Nickel and Dimed could afford the [$$$] I paid for this book, and as sympathetic as the author is to their plite, I'm sure she will not be donating even a nickel of the proceeds of her book to any of the working poor she met along the way.
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