I got this fair-condition trade paperback from the charity-sale bookshelves at Hannaford's. I'd read it quite a while back, and was glad to get another release copy.

This one's a wake-up call, all right - a reminder of just how hard it is to get a leg up if you're starting from zero. Makes me feel very thankful that I have a car and a house and a college degree... I hope that working conditions aren't universally as awful as the author's experiences showed, but I fear that for most of the low-wage jobs they probably are. (Perhaps they're even worse, since the author had the significant advantage of knowing she didn't have to depend on these jobs...)

Interestingly, the book wound up on the American Library Association's "most frequently banned or challenged" list - in part for accusations of inaccuracies, but also for language and for references to drug use.

I plan to leave this book on the bus-stop bench at around 2 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2nd Annual Banned Books release challenge. ***