Nickel and Dimed
(On [Not] Getting By in America)
by Barbara Ehrenreich
Review Andrea lord
Hardworking women with bowed backs but not bowed spirits - Sometimes no place to live except hand to mouth -Who still kept their sense of humor and made time for friendship and a helping hand.
All the superfluous rules and oppressive time management couldn't stop them from flowing into the natural community that women cannot help but create.
Well written with a common community vernacular tone, that lets the reader really get to know these working-women, on their own ground.
Lots of pain, frustration and humor but refreshingly free of angst.
I especially appreciated the way the author came to some realizations herself after she would reveal to her coworkers that she wasn't really a maid, waitress or retail worker etc, but really a writer, she wonders at her own deception.
To quote," There's no way for example, to pretend to be a waitress, the food either gets to the table or not. People knew me as a waitress, a nursing home aide, or a retail clerk not because I acted like one, but because that was what I was, at least for the time I was with them…."