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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.3 out of 5 stars 4,169 ratings
This engrossing piece of undercover reportage has been a fixture on the New York Times best seller list since its publication. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America's working-class poor.

A successful author, Barbara Ehrenreich decides to see if she can scratch out a comfortable living in a blue-collar America obsessed with welfare "reform". Her first job is waitressing, which pulls in a measly $2.43 an hour plus tips. She moves around the country, trying her hand as a maid, a nursing home assistant, and a Wal-Mart salesperson. What she discovers is a culture of desperation, where workers take multiple thankless jobs just to keep a roof overhead.

Often humorous and always illuminating, Nickel and Dimed is a remarkable expose of the ugly flip side of the American dream.

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  1. Listening Length
    8 hours and 12 minutes
  2. Author
    Barbara Ehrenreich
  3. Narrator
    Cristine McMurdo-Wallis
  4. Audible release date
    August 13, 2004
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Recorded Books
  7. ASIN
    B0006IU7B8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 12 minutes
Author Barbara Ehrenreich
Narrator Cristine McMurdo-Wallis
Audible.com Release Date August 13, 2004
Publisher Recorded Books
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0006IU7B8
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4,169 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book eye-opening and thought-provoking, providing valuable insights into the lives of the working poor. The writing style is simple and easy to read, and customers appreciate its authenticity based on hard facts. The book's humor and wit make it engaging, and customers consider it worth the price. However, the author's attitude receives criticism for being condescending.

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ReadabilityWriting qualityValue for moneyAuthenticityLookHumorAuthor's attitude
352 customers mention "Readability"325 positive27 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a fascinating and thought-provoking eye-opener, particularly noting its importance for those who work with children.

"...I don't have a solution. I am not rich. But I FELT SO RICH reading this book...." Read more

"...Ehrenreich's writing is fresh and enjoyable to read, her voice bold and unapologetic...." Read more

"...It is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read in a long time. Here were some of the things I admired: 1. Her writing ability...." Read more

"...All in all, it was definitely a worthwhile read for those with or without low-wage jobs, and I would recommend it." Read more

85 customers mention "Writing quality"66 positive19 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, describing it as simple and easy to read, with one customer noting it reads like a diary.

"...I found it an easy, five-hour read of 221 pages. The negative reviews of this book, I believe, are coming from two sorts of people...." Read more

"...This makes the book easy to read and allows the reader to sympathize with Ehrenreich's struggles to provide basic things such as food and shelter..." Read more

"...1. Her writing ability. She has a wonderful fluid style that is very easy to read and yet which struck me as much easier described than done...." Read more

"...It seemed as I read through the pages that every word was dripping with unrealized insincerity, superiority and a lack of genuine compassion...." Read more

36 customers mention "Value for money"28 positive8 negative

Customers find the book worth its price, with one mentioning it provides a short trip into the minimum wage world, while another notes it effectively addresses the issue of low wages.

"...Mainly, just having good food to eat every day, and being able to pay for medical, or dental, care whenever I need it is a true luxury that we all..." Read more

"...However, I thought she nails the issue of low wages and the plight of those trying to live with those earnings...." Read more

"...around I found a great selection of the book I was looking for at fantastic prices. Even as new they were great prices...." Read more

"...; poor end up eating fast food meals which are unhealthy and an expensive way to eat, simply because they don't have the means to cook their own food..." Read more

32 customers mention "Authenticity"25 positive7 negative

Customers appreciate the authenticity of the book, noting it is based on hard facts and includes real-life examples.

"...This book provided some poignant and real life examples about the world of low-wage work, using instances that are glossed over in many facets of..." Read more

"...the book could have been half its length and still been entirely convincing and alarming." Read more

"...wings spread it cannot be denied that this is a superb work of investigative journalism...." Read more

"...This is an unblinking and meticulously documented look into the lives of millions of the hardest working Americans...." Read more

27 customers mention "Look"27 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's appearance, describing it as bold and fantastic in shape, with one customer noting its realistic portrayal of blue-collar life.

"...Ehrenreich's writing is fresh and enjoyable to read, her voice bold and unapologetic...." Read more

"...3. The force of her message. There was something subtle and understated, or shall we say less than shrill, about the way she presents her case,..." Read more

"I heartily recommend this book as a sobering and engaging look at the trials and travails of low-income workers in America...." Read more

"...I recommend this book as an overall fair and insightful look at those many of us will rarely interact with on an intimate level...." Read more

24 customers mention "Humor"24 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, finding it witty and nice to read, with one customer noting how the author engages readers with her intelligence and wit.

"...Her witty insights are entertaining, her stories of struggling to scrape together enough money to make the rent are sobering...." Read more

"...2. Her sense of humor. Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of humor in this book and I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times...." Read more

"...Eminently readable (I finished in just under a day), Ehrenreich handles with humor, insight, and not a few footnotes the problems our economic..." Read more

"...But she has a sense of humor that will be sure to produce a chuckle as she sums up the low wage corporate experience in her expressive writing..." Read more

33 customers mention "Author's attitude"4 positive29 negative

Customers find the author's attitude condescending and mean-spirited throughout the book.

"...My only complaint is that this author at times comes across as condescending, and it’s clear she has come from even more privilege than me." Read more

"...enjoyed this book even though I became angry at the lack of social justice in our society. Go Barbara Go!" Read more

"...This kind of hypocrisy, the critique of individuals based on stereotypes in contrast with the far reaching idealistic ideas of equality and the..." Read more

"...political persuasion to agree that this book is a very cold reminder of how capitalism works...." Read more

Good read
5 out of 5 stars
Good read
This book was a great read, and a good look into the life of people who work low-wage jobs to get by in the day to day life. Where a paycheck can never come fast enough, and the stress of your daily life adds up, this book covers all the bases of what life is like in the service and hospitality industry. Highly recommend.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Jamie Huynh
    5.0 out of 5 stars A quite enjoyable book with a good lesson.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    What can I say about this book? When I started reading it I was as appalled and shocked with the introduction as one might expect, she is going to give up her PH.D high salary lifestyle to go "mingle" with the minimum wage world so she can try to find some secret economy about the poor and than write a book about it? Sounded like a complete waste of time nonetheless demeaning like the poor was s disease that she was going to do research on. However as I got further into the book I knew that my concepts were going to change about her.The longer you stare into the abyss the longer it stares back at you, in chapter 1 of Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich author of the book was preparing to set off into an adventure that eventually turns a bit out of hand. Ehrenreich in need of a minimum wage job to start off everything had filled out 22 applicants for jobs and none of them called back leaving the impression that the employers simply put in the advertisement solely as a "filler" to replace the ones that are going to quit or get fired. Having read this first chapter I could tell already this journey of Ehrenreich is going to be a lot more grueling than she signed up for, seeing as how they treat their employees as expendable workers with no skills. Ehrenreich in return had no choice but to accept a job as a waitress, a job that she didn't want to take seeing as how she already was one when she was 18 and did not much enjoy the job, however Ehrenreich soon realizes that the job was more than a job and she soon felt responsible for delivering the food to the customers in need and soon starts to bond with them in her workplace. The accountability for the customers Ehrenreich served soon escalated as she picked up the tab for a customer who spent most of his money on dental surgery wanting them to be happy, Ehrenreich states ""If you seek happiness for yourself you will never find it. Only when you seek happiness for others will it come to you", (20). It's as though this job is starting to grow on her and becoming a part of her very nature and instilling morals in her. After reading the first chapter of this book I am appalled and amazed at this, It reinforces everything of my ideals and philosophy as I believe that working hard and doing manual labor instills great morals and responsibility into a person and trains that person to appreciate things in their life more, not less. Ehrenreich soon finds out that there is no secret economy to the poor and their whole life is horrifying compared to her old one and even now she is well-off than most of her co-workers who are living in trailer parks or in their cars in front of a parking lot. What endows me with adrenaline even more was reading that when Ehrenreich tried to return to her old life to catch up on things, she soon realized she wasn't the same person anymore, the foreshadowing of her life that has been flipped is amazing. How I feel is that these workers are like everyday people and once you get to know them they become a part of you just like everybody else. In the end of all of this Ehrenreich only felt failure, she states "I am in a position to realize, for the first time in many years, that the tear ducts are still there and still capable of doing their job", (48) the thought going through her mind as she quitted both her jobs in a semi-dramatic fashion and soon came into the realization that she was human just as much as anybody else.
    - Jamie Huynh Review
    19 people found this helpful
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  • Imperial Topaz
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST Books I�ve Read
    Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    I thought this book was absolutely fantastic. I found it an easy, five-hour read of 221 pages. The negative reviews of this book, I believe, are coming from two sorts of people. First are those who wish the book to be something it is not. This book is NOT attempt to be a serious, sociological study. It is only what its author purports it to be-the experiences of ONE reporter, making three reasonable attempts, in three vastly different locales, to live at a minimally acceptable standard on the salaries offered in low-wage service positions.
    Other criticisms of this book came from those who felt the author was a left-wing extremist, against the rich, advocating transfer payments from rich to poor. A few people ranted and raved, in their reviews, about what "solutions" she was advocating. I think these people didn't read very carefully. I did not find her advocating any solutions at ALL, only bringing up the dilemmas, and posing questions that we should ALL be posing. But to accuse the author of advocating things which she did not say, is akin to putting words in her mouth, by some people who literally feel threatened by anyone who asks the questions she poses!
    The most overwhelming feeling I got from reading her book was of HOW RICH I AM (and I'm an American living in a third-world country)! Anyone who is feeling the least bit sorry for themselves in this life should read this book, and they will IMMEDIATELY feel better. Mainly, just having good food to eat every day, and being able to pay for medical, or dental, care whenever I need it is a true luxury that we all forget about, as well as having a comfortable roof over my head. We are all guilty of taking these things so much for granted, when we have them.
    The most important conclusion the author draws in this book is that low-wage jobs are so far out-of-whack with the costs of housing, and that this is what is just killing people, and keeping them barely surviving. She shows how this situation has gotten worse in recent years. It is certainly true that most people in low-wage jobs are working two jobs to make ends meet. I know this from personal experience. My husband, a foreign immigrant to America for a time, worked in a hotel cleaning rooms. He was the ONLY person who did not go to a second job at the end of an 8-hour shift (as we fortunately didn't NEED him to do that). What this author, and most Americans, may not realize however, is that this is NOT just an AMERICAN problem. It is true that the more socialistic countries in Europe "distribute the wealth" to lower-income persons. But they are about the ONLY countries in the world that do (Canada may also). In MOST countries of the world, salaries are FAR out-of-whack with housing costs. And the disparity if FAR worse than in America. But there is one difference in America. America has a lot of laws making it illegal to have too many people living in an apartment, for example. You aren't allowed to have more people that two in an apartment for each bedroom. In third-world countries, these restrictions don't exist. So you could have ten people crowding into a one-bedroom apartment. And believe me, they sometimes do. It's the only way to make ends meet, for a lot of people. This is a problem that has been with us since the world began, and will continue. I don't have a solution. I am not rich. But I FELT SO RICH reading this book. This book will help any person to really freshly appreciate what they do have. I HIGHLY recommend it to EVERYONE.
    34 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Harry Polman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stuivers en dubbeltjes van Barbara Ehrenreich
    Reviewed in Germany on November 1, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    De auteur, Barbara Ehrenreich, duikt in de Amerikaanse economie onder daar waar de uurlonen minimaal zijn. Zij probeert uit te vinden of het mogelijk is met dit soort uurloon bij een 40-uursbaan zelfstandig te kunnen leven zonder in geldnood te komen. Tijdens haar onderduik spreekt ze met tijdelijke collega's en managers. Regelmatig loopt zij tegen een muur op wanneer het einde van de maand in zicht komt. huren zijn hoog en een eigen huis is hebben is te duur. Velen zijn dus veroordeeld tot het wonen in motels en pensions waar het leven geen pretje is. Zeker als je ook nog kinderen hebt. Het boek is met vaart geschreven en geeft een goede inkijk in de omstandigheden van de laagst betaalden.
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  • Dennis
    5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening without being alarmist
    Reviewed in Canada on August 11, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Too often writers of political/social commentary expect their readers to accept anecdotal evidence as though it were a series objectively quantified observations. In my opinion, Ehrenreich avoids this trap nicely. She blends both personal experience and research, with an inside look at what it means to be a member of the working poor in America. Her personal views are apparent but she does not attempt hide them.

    She walks the reader through days in life of everyone from a maid to a wal-mart greeter. In every case, the reader is a brief glimpse into the incredible struggle that many hardworking individuals face when trying to lift themselves off the bottom rung of society's ladder.

    For anyone interested in learning more about the incredible struggles of hardworking, low-wage members of our society Nickel and Dimed is a must read.
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  • Amrita Suresh
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Salute!
    Reviewed in India on September 6, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I very rarely write a review, the minute I finish reading a book, yet this particular master piece simply took my breath away! I want to thank the authoress for actually going under cover as a low wage worker in the US, just to show to the world just how difficult it is for the blue collar hardworking souls to survive! It's truly changed my perspective for life! A must read, indeed!
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  • Esther García
    5.0 out of 5 stars Como siempre, un libro indispensable de su autora
    Reviewed in Spain on July 30, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Un estudio de la vida dura de las camareras y limpiadoras realizado por una magnífica escritora que fue capaz de vivir como ellas y con ellas
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  • Charles
    5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing But Importand Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 19, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Both England and America have a phenomena know as the working poor, these are people that work one or more jobs yet still cannot make ends meet.

    This book was written by a journalist investigating what's it like to be a low pay worker in America.

    The author took various low paying jobs and tried to survive on the wages and had a very tough time.
    Jobs such as cleaning turn out to be very demanding physically leaving the workers with permanent damage to their bodys. The cleaning company charged $25 per person hour but only pays the worker $6.65 per hour.

    The high cost of housing and low pay means workers cannot just give up their current job and look for another as they will not be able to pay their rent while looking for a job.

    Other low pay workers cannot afford health care to fix heath problems, the health problems then cause them to lose their jobs and get even poorer.

    Poor public transport in many parts of America means if you cannot afford a car you choice of jobs is limited to your local area only making the choice of work for the poor worse.

    It comes obvious that been poor in America actually traps people when vital needs such as health care and transportation are only for people that can afford it. No wonder social mobility in America is so bad and the poor have decreased in wealth in the last 30 years while the rich have gotten even richer.
    2 people found this helpful
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