Tirado provides a strong, clear depiction of what life in poverty is like for many people in the U.S. This is an important contribution to the discussion about inequality in this country, but it could have been more powerful with some better editing, or perhaps even as a series of essays as opposed to a book, which might have reached a larger audience. Still, I'm glad it's out there and I'm glad I read it. ( )

I'm laughing, crying, outraged, sad, amused, mentally shaking my angry fist in solidarity, and generally nodding along with the overall point. ( )

3.5 stars, if I could give half ratings. The end lost me a bit. The author started to meander and her argument seemed less cohesive. As a whole, though, Tirado's treatise on poverty in America felt honest and raw. I found myself nodding along with righteous indignation right from the start. Hand to Mouth could be taken as a call to arms. We (society as a whole) cannot be okay with the sort of stagnation and inherent inequalities that exist for an overwhelming segment of the population. Tirado shines light on many problems and offers her own personal opinion on said problems. She shares her real experiences "living in bootstrap America," but it is going to take a sea change to make anything better. She is very careful to point out that she is not making any grand claims to be the mouthpiece of a whole set of people. Yet, the author effectively blows the lid off of many nasty stereotypes of so-called lower class people. Tirado writes, "That poverty is not a 'culture' or a character defect; it is a shortage of money." If nothing else, that is the take home message from her work. ( )

Let's not "bury the lead." Tirado's message is a critically important one — especially in this era. People in every income strata would benefit from the author's pointed insights. But I have two fundamental problems with "Hand to Mouth." The first involves content. The second involves literary tone. Let's start with content. This enlightening and often entertaining book was born after the author posted an essay on a web forum that answered someone's question about why many impoverished people make "self-destructive" decisions. Her pithy post went viral. Publications picked it up. She ultimately decided to turn it into a book. Here's the problem: There's just not quite enough content to justify a book-length manuscript -- even a slim volume. A three-part series of 2,500-word essays? Absolutely. Perhaps even a four-parter? Maybe. But there's a lot of redundancy here — slightly different anecdotes or insights served up to illustrate the same points that were adequately hit in earlier sections (why low-income people smoke, why they can't save, etc.) The second issue is literary tone. I had the distinct feeling throughout the book that there was an undercurrent of hosility and bitterness. I get it. Although I was born in a lower-middle class environment, I'm now grateful to be a financially-stable middle class guy. I've never had to live hand-to-mouth. Still, many of us who are at decent income tiers aren't entitled, nasty, greedy, ungrateful oafs who look down on others. We're good tippers. We try to "connect" with folks in the service sector. We enthusiastically support safety nets. Maybe it's just me, but I sensed a persistent thread of hostility. Tirado admits that she's angry a lot of the time. I give her credit for honesty. But the underlying hostility didn't underscore the message for me. It undermined it. When it comes to writing, Tirado is a skilled storyteller. I just wish she hadn't decided to make the F-word a frequent visitor in the manuscript. Believe me, I'm no prude. I even occasionally use the word. But I think the repeated use diminishes the message. True, the author explained early on that this is how she talks. I'm sure it was included to heighten authenticity. But I stopped counting after the tenth F-bomb. She even ended the tome by thanking many people and then adding: "Four of you can go F*!# yourself." Really? Having said all this, I'm glad I read the book. It's a vivid reminder of the inequities that exist. ( )

Although it is already dated by the Draconian budget cuts made since 2017, this is still the best book I know that described what working poor people's lives are like. I haven't been poor for some time, but I haven't forgotten the desperate work schedules, the beat up car that is a necessity one prays will not die on the way to or from work and the tough decisions about what to spend my limited resources on. And I was a single male at the time, not a married mother of two. If you think poor people are responsible for their own problems, read this book and then read a more dispassionate economic treatise on why poverty affects so many Americans. And, as Tirado might have written, "and I'm a youngish white woman." Then imagine the predicament of a young black male. ( )