I was very interested in this book when it came out, so was glad when one of my book club members chose it as our reading selection this month. I thought it was a great choice because there were certainly a lot of things to talk about it, even if what we talked about were issues and values more than plot and character development.
As a book I liked the construction of this–a readable story, supported by informational footnotes full of statistics and factoids. Curiously, one of my friends wanted more of the stats and the other wanted more of the story, but I thought it was a good blend and probably helped account for its massive popularity. I also liked it that was broken up into each of the jobs she held, followed by an overall evaluation.
I couldn’t help but feel an awkward blend of guilt, good luck, and comfort knowing as I read this that I am in the fortunate position of holding a master’s degree, employable, and yet having the choice for the past two years to not work. When my husband and I discuss whether or not we can afford something, it’s not groceries or a car repair, it’s whether or not we can each get a new laptop, or if we should just get one. (We each did and we love them.) It seems awful to me that there is such a disparity between the rich and the poor (and I wouldn’t call us rich, even) in our country and, while I didn’t need to read this to know it, I find myself feeling more frustrated that there’s probably nothing I, as an individual, can do about it. (except vote, people! Always vote!!) Continue reading
