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A review by dreesreads
The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Tracie McMillan
3.0
This book is meticulously researched, and has great notes. Unfortunately, they are organized by page number, so when you are reading the book, there is no way to know there is an endnote (I hate that!). Also, in the notes there are repeated references to the website, with photos of pay slips, receipts, etc etc. I went to the site, I can find no such information, nor could I find it on the related blog. I know these things can't stay up forever, but this book was published in 2012. I read it in...June 2012.
McMillan's writing is easy to read, her experiences interesting. But the book reads more as a memoir (which it kind of is) than as investigative reporting--yes, there are great notes in the back, but the text does not come to conclusions, it just tells stories. I would like to know what people do when their check is short, the are injured, their credit card is frozen for suspicious activity. Yes, she, as single white woman, was helped by new acquaintances, but she herself admits that as a single white woman, she didn't blend in (except, probably, at Walmart). Was she helped because people are just nice and generous? Because she was an oddity? Because she was single? What do people who don't have a chunk of change to start with DO? Where do single parents put their kids for childcare while working? What do they feed them? Do they go hungry for their kids?
Interesting read, but largely anecdotal.
McMillan's writing is easy to read, her experiences interesting. But the book reads more as a memoir (which it kind of is) than as investigative reporting--yes, there are great notes in the back, but the text does not come to conclusions, it just tells stories. I would like to know what people do when their check is short, the are injured, their credit card is frozen for suspicious activity. Yes, she, as single white woman, was helped by new acquaintances, but she herself admits that as a single white woman, she didn't blend in (except, probably, at Walmart). Was she helped because people are just nice and generous? Because she was an oddity? Because she was single? What do people who don't have a chunk of change to start with DO? Where do single parents put their kids for childcare while working? What do they feed them? Do they go hungry for their kids?
Interesting read, but largely anecdotal.