I know you can't really know what it would be like to live on minimum wage unless you tried to do it yourself, but this book makes an excellent attempt to share it with you. It's almost as if because all these people are working, we forget about them and the conditions they may be working under, the lack of respect, the unsafe conditions, the lack of employers concern for their physical and emotional health.

This book opened my eyes and made me aware of many of the things the 'working poor' must deal with everyday and made me once again very grateful and appreciative for the life I am able to live today.

(trade paperback)

Released on Tuesday, July 08, 2003 at The Green Room, 296 Brunswick in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

Offering at tonight's meetup.

An excellent book. It's well written and a fast, engrossing read. I've worked in low paying jobs but I never really thought about the various advantages I had that made it possible, including the government health care that we have in this country. The situation for working poor in the US (and I'm sure here too) is truely horrifying. I also think the author made some important points about the directions in employee "management" amoung corporate america, especially Wal-mart.

Released on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 at Bookcrossing Meetup in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

I picked this up at the August Bookcrossing Meetup. It sat a few book down in the to be read pile, but has since risen to the top. I began it this morning and was unable to put it down. It should be finished and released very soon!

I finished the book and thought it was great. Should be required reading for everyone! I did read that it was required reading for all freshman at a university in North Carolina. It also insipired me to read _Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress_ by Debra Ginsberg.

I have passed this book along in a controlled release to my sister who lives in Ardmore, PA.

An engaging and disturbing read...This book made me think about the "equality" in the United States. Well written, with a perceptive and honest author. I am happily satisfied to have been initiated to BookCrossing with this book.

Caught the book from a controlled release from my sister. Read the first half already and couldn't put it down... Great read so far.

Before I was even able to think of where I'll release the book, an neighbor I've never seen before asked if he could borrow it after I'm finished. I said, "Can't borrow it, but you can have it and then pass it on..."

Well, friends, I finally released the book. Finally. I kept picking it up and re-reading the evaluation and questions at the end. I'd sit with it, skim it, think about it, fall asleep with it... I loved it!

I enjoyed how Barbara Ehrenreich was so honest, transparent, and self-aware. She admitted that her experience was artificial (not the true experience of a low-wage worker), yet so valid and important (as she had so many advantages from ethnicity to formal education, etc, yet struggled to make the financial ends meet). She highlighted how the American system of low wages without health care and other federal assistance does not work- even for the ideal candidate, ready to pull herself up from her bootstraps. This is truly a well written and thought provoking book.

So, I passed it on today. I gave it to the front door worker of my building, who will pass it on to my neighbor...