I was thinking last night: I see many articles about how hard the pandemic has been on parents with kids at home--and it is, no question--but not much about people living alone who can't see their families and friends, people caring for aging relatives with little support, people who have cancer, and other chronic illnesses, etc.
Very true. People tend to focus on their own experiences - and most of the people writing about it are parents struggling with small children or teens. They aren't single living alone or folks dealing with chronic illness, etc. I think people tend to think their situation is the worst and can't quite see past it - when everyone's situation is different. And there's pros and cons in all of it. But it's hard, I think for people to see that - when they are knee deep in their own or their kids shit?
I read Nickle and Dimed and I don't remember any fat-shaming. In any case, that hardly invalidates the entire book, does it? People are so...something
From what I picked up from various reviews of it on Good Reads, the writer's tone was difficult for a lot of people to get past. And her methods, problematic. (She's basically an anthropology professor who went undercover in a lower-class or poor communities, or lived among the natives, and wrote up her findings. But she didn't really go all the way - she still had a safety net, still had a $2000 a month stipend, and a huge book advance. Also, while people try to be objective and non-judgemental, it's kind of impossible. Human nature, I suppose. The writer couldn't help but project her own experience and views onto her subjects, and for those who picked up on it - it really grated. None of this was apparently helped by the fact that from what I saw of the reviews? The writer lacked empathy or the ability to feel it? At any rate - the writer's word choice, writing style and tone really chaffed a lot of folks, which made it impossible for people to see her points.)
That said, there were people like yourself who didn't pick up on that at all. I saw a lot of five stars, many from working poor and people who were overweight. And there were people from my church that consider themselves overweight, that didn't have any issues with the book. While there are others both on Good Reads and Amazon that really did, the author royally pissed them off with her tone.
The member from my church is sensitive about her weight. She's struggled with her weight for ages. And clearly been fat-shamed. She's also a "lawyer" who works in legal aid and defense, rescues animals, and is taking care of a special needs son. And has struggled financially over the years. There's a lot going on there...I can see why she hated the book - you have a patronizing, somewhat arrogant anthropologist with a $60,000 advance, wandering about doing low-paying jobs and reporting on the working poor under-cover.
There's better written and more relevant books out there - I found a list of 95 books, Nickle and Dimed was ranked towards the bottom at 79.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2021-01-26 08:20 pm (UTC)I was thinking last night: I see many articles about how hard the pandemic has been on parents with kids at home--and it is, no question--but not much about people living alone who can't see their families and friends, people caring for aging relatives with little support, people who have cancer, and other chronic illnesses, etc.
Very true. People tend to focus on their own experiences - and most of the people writing about it are parents struggling with small children or teens. They aren't single living alone or folks dealing with chronic illness, etc. I think people tend to think their situation is the worst and can't quite see past it - when everyone's situation is different. And there's pros and cons in all of it. But it's hard, I think for people to see that - when they are knee deep in their own or their kids shit?
I read Nickle and Dimed and I don't remember any fat-shaming. In any case, that hardly invalidates the entire book, does it? People are so...something
From what I picked up from various reviews of it on Good Reads, the writer's tone was difficult for a lot of people to get past. And her methods, problematic. (She's basically an anthropology professor who went undercover in a lower-class or poor communities, or lived among the natives, and wrote up her findings. But she didn't really go all the way - she still had a safety net, still had a $2000 a month stipend, and a huge book advance. Also, while people try to be objective and non-judgemental, it's kind of impossible. Human nature, I suppose. The writer couldn't help but project her own experience and views onto her subjects, and for those who picked up on it - it really grated. None of this was apparently helped by the fact that from what I saw of the reviews? The writer lacked empathy or the ability to feel it? At any rate - the writer's word choice, writing style and tone really chaffed a lot of folks, which made it impossible for people to see her points.)
That said, there were people like yourself who didn't pick up on that at all. I saw a lot of five stars, many from working poor and people who were overweight. And there were people from my church that consider themselves overweight, that didn't have any issues with the book. While there are others both on Good Reads and Amazon that really did, the author royally pissed them off with her tone.
The member from my church is sensitive about her weight. She's struggled with her weight for ages. And clearly been fat-shamed. She's also a "lawyer" who works in legal aid and defense, rescues animals, and is taking care of a special needs son. And has struggled financially over the years. There's a lot going on there...I can see why she hated the book - you have a patronizing, somewhat arrogant anthropologist with a $60,000 advance, wandering about doing low-paying jobs and reporting on the working poor under-cover.
There's better written and more relevant books out there - I found a list of 95 books, Nickle and Dimed was ranked towards the bottom at 79.