Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive Paperback – January 21, 2020

This book is written in first person, the narrator being a newly single mother, and trying to go through the system of poverty, after realizing her last relationship was toxic. Netflix also has created a limited series (10 episode series) based on this book. The names and some of the situations have been changed. While I really enjoyed the show and its episodes, I enjoyed the book much more. This book tells the unfortunate story that so many have been through, domestic violence victims escaping, and having to start over because they relied on their previous partner for finances. It's not easy being poor, and it's definitely not easy being a single mother (I was a victim and then a single mother, but I earned the money, though he stole a lot of it.) Anyway, I didn't know if this book would be a trigger, but it wasn't. I think it is a must read for anyone, no matter who they are. This is the world of government assistance, WIC, SNAP benefits, and the search not just for housing but for a safe home, one that will not cause illness. This is such an inspiring story. She wrote the book well, and it brings to light some of the things that others may either not know about or want to know about. The After Show with McKensie Stewart & Amy Shannon is also doing a Write to Reel segment on this book and the limited series.

Plugged into a system of unrelenting poverty, domestic abuse and family dysfunction, she cleans her way to freedom and self respect.Life can derail dreams and send someone down a dark and depressing path. In the case of Stephanie Land, her aspirations to go to college and to become a writer were dashed because of an unplanned pregnancy after a summer fling. The father wanted her to terminate the pregnancy but that was not the choice she would make. At 28 years of age she soon became a single mother and took a job as a housekeeper, struggling to survive on meager wages. Soon her and her daughter were homeless.Despite the low wages and difficult conditions she continued her work as a maid and took interest in her clients lives and often wondered about their lifestyles and wrote about the people and their houses even though most were not present during her cleaning duties. She was just a "nameless ghost" going about her business of cleaning dirty toilets and scrubbing complete households. She wrote about her experiences with navigating government programs, which included food stamps and housing assistance. Land was shamed by government employees who were suppose to help her and she also faced the wrath of others in food stores who looked down on her as she desperately tried to keep herself and her child fed. She and her daughter were stigmatized as just another member of the working poor.It takes courage to write a memoir about situations and struggles that most would want to put behind them; however it's these life changing events that makes for an interesting and sobering story. I liked her writing style and the honesty about her choices in life. I applaud her accomplishments, especially her endeavors to become an accomplished writer. She made it to the top of the best seller lists!If you're looking for a memoir that brings with it inspiration and grit, this is it! I loved it!

My adult daughter suggested we form a book club of two and read this book together. She has seen the Netflix series and told me about it but her idea to read this together was a highlight in life for me and she couldn’t have chosen a better book! I literally felt every emotion of this mom. I saw so much of my mom in her and the struggles she endured. My mom had to do those things too. I had seen them from the child’s perspective firsthand but now I can see them from hers. I could totally identify with the mom and her desire to be a writer and her goal to be better than any generation before. I have a similar bond with my daughter and could appreciate every heart-tugging emotion she experienced. I haven’t walked in her shoes but my shoes have walked on many of the same paths as hers while leading me on a different journey. This book brings so much of her struggle to light allowing you to appreciate those in her position and maybe even shows us ways where we are failing people like her in our own lives. Perhaps an enlightened view of her life can lead to us as women collectively working to improve our laws, resources, and even our own mindsets so we change the world our future daughters, granddaughters, and nieces set out to conquer on their own one day soon. It is possible!

I couldn't put this book down, having lived a life so very similar to the author. She captures the shame of a relationship with her child's father in perfect detail, including the ways in which the courts expect things of single mothers that fathers are never required nor expected to do. If they are, it's rarely enforced, but don't ever make a mistake as a single mother! Her experience as a member of the poor, working class is spot-on as well. While being judged by people for using food stamps, none ever seem to realize that she, as a working, single parent is also a taxpayer, just a poor one. How dare people shame anyone for that! You never know where life may lead you, so don't judge. She also uses one of the mantras that got me through some of my most difficult times: It won't always be like this. Life is messy and it's hard at times, but our children make everything worth it, every day. The author survived, I survived, and lots of women survived. That's what we do. This book will make you laugh, cry, want to beat someone up, and just run the gamut of emotions. It's so worth all of them!