I personally did not enjoy this book. I felt it lacked any hook or singular narrative that I think strong nonfiction needs. This seemed like a serious of short essays milled together into one long book; I tried to give it a shot, but after 50 pages there wasn't anything that had grabbed my attention enough to warrant continuing it. I personally greatly enjoy nonfiction books; but felt like this was poor story telling. Every sentence had to stress how poor everyone in the book was, there was no room for reader to learn anything or come to their own conclusions. All in all, I did not enjoy this book.

why isn't this book more popular? kath weston writes beautiful, poetic sentences about riding the greyhound--not as a middle-class anthropologist intent on delivering stories of how "the other half lives" to folks shivering in their expensive armchairs, but rather as someone who's been there, who rides the bus out of necessity. everything is layered with history, humor, pathos, class rage. a fucking gem. i would have DIED for this book when i was an 18-year-old queer greyhound nomad. i can't wait to read everything else this person has ever written!

This book is similar to Nickel and Dimed, but I found the subject matter and presentation a little more interesting. Weston ties anecdotes and stories she hears from fellow riders on Greyhound buses with what could be dry academic material about poverty in America. However, the way intertwines the narrative and the background information is compelling. She paints a heart-wrenching story that reminds me just how close so many people (myself included) are to poverty in the country.