I read Nickled And Dimed in the last year and I thought Ehrenrich was pretty annoying. At the conclusion of each 'experiment' she'd pop up all jack-in-the-box on people and be like, "SURPRISE I'M NOT REALLY POOR! DID I FOOL YOU? GOOD LUCK AND ALL". I like that this book is more authentic. A single mom needs to pay bills and hustles, breaks her body and gives everything she has to take care of her kid. I like that it was set in the beautiful NW but also didn't sugarcoat the area too much, speaking about mold and chronic breathing problems in crappy housing. I found this author and her book showed grit and determination and I wasn't ever annoyed with the author the way I was with Ole Barb in the former. Her writing wasn't too simple, nor too flowery. A look at family and poverty.