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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune Eric Arnesen
The strengths of "Bait and Switch"--and they are considerable--lie less in Ehrenreich's prescriptions or formal analyses of economic problems than in her casual if usually astute observations and her caustic and thought-provoking critiques. [4 Sep 2005]
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Another unsealing message about an ugly America from a trustworthy herald [1 Jul 2005, p.717]
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Wesley Yang
Ehrenreich makes her experience an effective window into the corporate world by mixing in reportage of her fellow job seekers' often heart-rending predicaments and apt quotations from other books on the subject. But she never quite manages to arouse the vivid indignation of parts of "Nickel and Dimed." [4 Sep 2005, p.R5]
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Tom Gallagher
A good read.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Janet Maslin
As usual, Ms. Ehrenreich makes great, acerbic company for the reader and tells her story knowingly. But this book cannot match "Nickel and Dimed" for cathartic indignation.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Marcellus Andrews
A worthy companion to Nickel and Dimed.
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Favorable
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The Observer David Jays
Although in theory it occupies a higher rung on the employment food chain, Bait and Switch is the more disheartening book.
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Favorable
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The Guardian Polly Toynbee
Only Ehrenreich's acid wit and caustic political intelligence makes this an enjoyable as well as a horrible read.
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Mixed
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Christian Science Monitor Randy Dotinga
Ultimately... Ehrenreich's rich sense of humor saves "Bait and Switch" from being an annoying downer of a book.
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Mixed
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Village Voice Joy Press
The real pleasure of the book is its intimate depiction of the "transition" industry.
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Mixed
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The Nation Michael Kazin
There's something disturbing about how she regards the poor souls she met along the networking trail of tears. Like Mills in his classic study, White Collar, Ehrenreich has a hard time empathizing with such people.
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Mixed
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Salon Ira Boudway
It's a shame that the premise of "Bait and Switch" is rickety and the action dull when the analysis is mostly on target.
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
Ehrenreich can't deliver the promised story because she never managed to get employed in the "midlevel corporate world" she wanted to analyze. [11 Jul 2005, p.72]
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Mixed
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Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese
Sadly, this new critique lacks the biting, damning firsthand detail that made Dimed such a treat.
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Unfavorable
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The New Republic Alexander M. Belenky
The true bait and switch is the book itself, which promises insights into the work experience of corporate middle management but explores only the pathetic, exploited, compulsive, and self-deluded lives of job-seekers.
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Unfavorable
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Boston Globe E. J. Graff
Unfortunately, ''Bait and Switch" neither rings true nor delivers any real news.
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Unfavorable
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The New York Times Book Review Alexandra Jacobs
Much of "Bait and Switch" amounts to nothing more than annotated minutes of group networking sessions and job fairs, the kind that tend to take place in dismal, anodyne hotel conference chambers, with posturing attendees wearing plastic nametags and scrabbling for stale danishes along with gainful employment. Unsurprisingly, these events prove excruciating for Ehrenreich - and by extension, the reader.
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