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Stephanie Land shares her experiences living below the poverty line, with a young child, cleaning houses. As you might expect, it's a grim life, living paycheck to paycheck, with all the niceties that many of us take for granted.
I'm sure I am going to sound hard-hearted but there were many things about this story that bothered me. I was sad Land didn't focus on the things she did have during her short time in poverty. She received child support. She received free college tuition. She received f ...more
I'm sure I am going to sound hard-hearted but there were many things about this story that bothered me. I was sad Land didn't focus on the things she did have during her short time in poverty. She received child support. She received free college tuition. She received f ...more

The author has an interesting story and she told it well but I kept having the feeling she left out parts of it that would have made her less sympathtic. That isn't to say that I thought she didn't deserve any of the public assistance she got. What I liked best about the book was how well it demonstrated how hard it is to get by in the U.S. even if you have a job. In the richest country in the world, a working mother can barely feed herself and her child on her wages plus food stamps. It's an ea
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