
Hand to Mouth
Living in Bootstrap America
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Narrated by:
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Linda Tirado
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By:
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Linda Tirado
About this listen
From the author of the eye-opening and controversial essay on poverty that was read by millions comes the real-life Nickel and Dimed, as Linda Tirado explains what it's like to be working poor in America, and why poor people make the decisions they do.
We in America have certain ideas of what it means to be poor. Linda Tirado, in her signature brutally honest yet personable voice, takes all of these preconceived notions and smashes them to bits. She articulates not only what it is to be working poor in America (yes, you can be poor and live in a house and have a job, even two), but what poverty is truly like - on all levels. In her thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses how she went from lower-middle class, to sometimes middle class, to poor and everything in between, and in doing so reveals why "poor people don't always behave the way middle-class America thinks they should."
©2014 Linda Tirado (P)2014 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Overall
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Performance
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia. Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won. Or should he have?
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Critic reviews
“Refreshingly infuriating...Tirado’s raw clarity is startling.” (The New York Times Book Review)
"Poverty is a potential outcome for all of us. Outspoken and vindictive, Tirado embodies the cyclical vortex of today’s struggle to survive.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Gripping... Articulate, insightful, and saturated with life experience, Tirado's story is not unlike millions of others in America, but her strong voice has the opportunity to bring that story to new ears.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
Thank you...
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Avid reader
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Eye-opening! Challenging!
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What did you like about this audiobook?
The author's performance adds so much to this book. If you're open to learning what it's actually like to be poor in America and don't mind feeling a bit guilty while you learn what your privilege means to poor people, this book is for you. Of course the author doesn't speak for every single poor person in this country. But she does paint a very clear picture of what millions of people like her go through just to get by. And it's not pretty. Yes, she can come off as a bit whiny at times. But you know what? She has every right to whine. It's hard as hell to be poor. Props to her for telling the truth.Succinct and True
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Simply my reality.
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Change the names and this could be parts o my life
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What is missing from a fair understanding of Tirado’s memoir is its fundamental truth; i.e. being a minimum wage employee in America is grindingly difficult.
Tirado breaks the cycle with some skill as a writer but a lot of luck. Her story is picked up by the media. Her story is told every day by other minimum wage workers seen on main street; e.g. the people serving hamburgers, cleaning houses, waiting tables. Tirado’s story just became the chosen one. Tirado will have a whole new set of problems to face in her life but they will come from her own personality; not the exigencies of American society that chooses to ignore the plight of minimum wage workers.
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I Study Poverty
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Amazing Book!!
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