Book Review

When attempting to make people aware of a socioeconomic issue, authors generally take one of two approaches. They can either present their research on the topic or they might choose to provide anecdotal evidence about the issue. Thus, the first aspect to consider about Nickle and Dimed is that Ehrenreich decided to do the ladder and immerse herself in the world the minimum wage. Ehrenreich believes that middle and upper class America is blind to this struggle and thus decides to draw attention to the problem by becoming the experiment subject herself. This is further exposed in the introduction as Ehrenreich claims: “the idea that led to this book arose in comparatively sumptuous circumstances” (p.1). The sentence serves as the author’s confession that the book is full of juxtapositions and ironical situations created by an upper middle class journalist attempting to recreate the life of a poor minimum wage earner. Naturally, this will give rise to both positive and negative consequences that affect how the book is perceived. Thus, from a critical standpoint, it will be beneficial to evaluate the book’s strengths and weaknesses based on these consequences.

To first analyze Ehrenreich’s performance, one should outline her experiment and the way that it was carried out. The book can be simplified to an experiment because she considers herself as a scientist that had the duty of plunging into the “chaos” of society (p.3). She decided to hide her true skills, take the best paying job, and pay the cheapest rent. Also, she decided that she would always have a car and that she will never go hungry. Finally, she promised herself that if any of these limits approached, she would cheat. For the experiment, Ehrenreich took on low-wage job...

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... with more emphasis that the fact that US population still believes in the idea that job equals success is absurd and naive. Nonetheless, this review considers that this “weakness” was caused by the nature of the piece as Ehrenreich decided to create her own experience rather than show research about the topic. Overall, this book deserves all the praise that it has received as it fulfills its main purpose and then some. The weaknesses are overshadowed by the ability that the narration has to engage the reader and show not only the economic hardship that individuals in minimum wage jobs face but also the psychological and physical consequences that are attached to this lifestyle. Hence, Nickel and Dimed can be considered as an eye opening experience for those individuals that have not considered the downsides of capitalism that mainstream media seems to forget about.