I committed the cardinal sin of bookworms by watching the TV adaptation of this book before actually reading it. But it didn’t really matter – they were both very good. This is the story of a particular life’s path, unique and yet also familiar to thousands (or more) of young people who spend their lives working as hard as they can to barely scrape by, and who do so in service to others.
Land’s story begins when a summer fling ends in marriage and parenthood, scuppering her plans to go to college and earn a degree. Instead, she ends up in an abusive relationship (and then out of it), scrounging a living as best she can. Her journey is a rocky one. She and her young daughter are bounced between temporary and subsidized housing. She has to undergo a crash course in navigating a broken system full of paperwork and ridiculous rules (for example she can’t live on the aid money she’s given, but if she works even a little bit to earn enough to buy real food, her money will be cut, landing her right back where she started). She must learn quickly how to make money stretch until breaking point, how to cut all costs, how to live in uninhabitable housing, and more than that, how to do without.
Land’s story is tragically common. So many people – particularly those who are vulnerable in one way or another – are stuck in the same trap she finds herself in. Unable to support herself entirely without help, but unable to build a life and a way out of it without encountering one obstacle after another. And yet, against all these odds, Land does. She works hard and then spends her spare time studying until she completes a degree. She writes and writes in any spare moment she has, until she writes her way to independence. Her story is remarkable in this – that she manages to retain her hope and determination in circumstances that defeat so many.
This isn’t the easiest book to read, but I think it’s yet another important one (I say that a lot in my reviews these days!). As you know, I’m all about finding perspectives and experiences that are either rarely encountered or that are marginalized or suppressed and not often found on bookshelves. This is one such story – and it’s one that needs to be told more often. Unfortunately the people who live these stories rarely have the ability, time, motivation or energy to tell their stories. Which makes this book great on its own, but also makes it one that represents the voices of so many who have not had the opportunity to tell their stories, or to be heard. It highlights the unnecessary complexity and inscrutability of the benefit system that is supposed to help those who are the most desperate, but often leaves them – quite literally – out in the cold.
I highly recommend this book, in case you haven’t picked that up already. I also recommend watching the TV show based on it, which is very well done (it doesn’t stick exactly to the book – there’s more drama and shock value added, but it still captures the experience). Bonus for anyone who lives in this part of the world – it was partially shot in Swartz Bay and on the Gulf Islands!
If you’ve read or watched this, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. It left me with a lot going on in my mind, and that feeling lasted quite some time! I don’t know anyone who has read or watched it yet, so I have no one to chat about it with!
At 28, Stephanie Land’s plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly.
Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it’s like to be in service to them. “I’d become a nameless ghost,” Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients’ lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path.
Her writing as a journalist gives voice to the “servant” worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line. Maid is Stephanie’s story, but it’s not her alone.. – Goodreads
Book Title: Maid
Author: Stephanie Land
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audiobook
Published By: Hachette Books
Released: January 22, 2019
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Poverty, Motherhood, Abuse
Pages: 272
Date Read: November 3-4, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.81/5 (61,955 ratings)