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Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
7 reviews
faythd's review against another edition
fast-paced
1.0
This book is trash. An upper-middle class white lady pretends to be poor for one month at a time, has a car and a get-out-of-trouble free card. Need a prescription? Call up your private doctor. Low on rent money? Dip into your savings. On top of that, while she pretends to be poor, she really, really judges the poor people around her, especially women. She makes classist, racist, ableist, and fatphobic comments left and right. I wasn't expecting this to be good but I dug in to read a banned book that had topical appeal; I ended up rage-reading it, taking notes on every messed up thing this lady said. Only a few useful bits of information were sprinkled in. And - this was like "poor 101" in the same way that the Barbie movie is "feminism 101." For somone who can relate to being financially unstable, none of this is news. This is written for wealthy people who are also looking down on poor people. This book is gross.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Classism, Racism, and Ableism
laurel616's review
informative
medium-paced
2.0
There was a disappointing and surprising page about fatphobia in the "Selling in Minnesota" chapter. It came out of no where and was never challenged by the writer. I was shocked, and almost put the book down and DNF’d (honestly I would have if it had come earlier in the book). this was in the 20th anniversary reprint from 2021 too! Barbara, I am so disappointment and I hope you have had time to reflect on your bias since.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Dementia
tonyliu30's review against another edition
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.75
Incredibly affecting stories about the realities of working at minimum wage, and how difficult it is to make a living on that.
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia
mscalls's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Medical content
abby23's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Ehrenreich manages to make her point about the plight of low-wage workers, the people she lived and worked with to write this book, while still maintaining a truly incomprehensible sense of superiority over them due to her PhD and workout routines.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Racism and Classism
sarahhartland's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia
Chapter 3 has some pretty blatant fatphobia in reference to midwesterners and Walmart customersbeckbrl's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
1.5
Whew. The only redeeming pat of this book is the last chapter. The author’s condescending tone and racist undertones made most of the book eyeroll-worthy and best and, at times, downright offensive. In the final chapter, where she makes her case about the working poor and the pathetic state of the US’ systems that should, theoretically, aim to keep people alive and productive, there are several salient points about the separation of the middle class and above from the lowest 20%, and some of that sadly may remain the same or worse 20 years on.
Overall, there are better reads covering this same ground. Try Maid or Nomadland.
Overall, there are better reads covering this same ground. Try Maid or Nomadland.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Fatphobia, and Xenophobia
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