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Title details for Hand to Mouth by Linda Tirado - Available

Hand to Mouth

Living in Bootstrap America

by Linda Tirado
Linda Tirado
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
From the author of the eye-opening and controversial essay on poverty that was read by millions comes the real-life Nickel and Dimed, as Linda Tirado explains what it’s like to be working poor in America, and why poor people make the decisions they do.
We in America have certain ideas of what it means to be poor. Linda Tirado, in her signature brutally honest yet personable voice, takes all of these preconceived notions and smashes them to bits. She articulates not only what it is to be working poor in America (yes, you can be poor and live in a house and have a job, even two), but what poverty is truly like—on all levels. 
In her thought-provoking voice, Tirado discusses how she went from lower-middle class, to sometimes middle class, to poor and everything in between, and in doing so reveals why “poor people don’t always behave the way middle-class America thinks they should.”

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 2, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780553544985
      • File size: 126905 KB
      • Duration: 04:24:23

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The title of this short audiobook refers to what it's like being part of the working poor in America. It's not fun. Other people avoid you, or they expect you to act in certain ways, and when you don't, they make unkind assumptions. Linda Tirado reads her own book, and her performance will require listeners to adjust their expectations. She begins by reading 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, zooming through her life which, we learn, is jam-packed and hurried. After a while, she settles into a manageable pace but zips past words and swallows others. Then her tone becomes preachy and angry. When all is said and done, her approach works, but, by the end of the book, the listener is as tired as she is. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 10, 2014
      In this gripping memoir, Tirado, author of the online essay "Why I Make Terrible Decisions, or, Poverty Thoughts," stands before us, her bad habits (swearing, smoking) and bad decisions fully on display, to say that even with the best-laid plans, poverty can happen to anyone. When red tape and a summer storm left her and her husband without a home and with nearly nothing to their names, the couple slid into the demoralizing treadmill that is poverty in America. With critical insight and palpable fury, Tirado tears down common assumptions and superior attitudes about the working poor, from entitlement issues to finance management, and rounds it out with some hard truths about the lack of opportunities for mobility, from the inability to survive an unpaid internship to the full-body impact of commuting an hour or more every day on foot. Articulate, insightful, and saturated with life experience, Tirado's story is not unlike millions of others in America, but her strong voice has the opportunity to bring that story to new ears.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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