Linda Tirado

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.… (more)