Review 15: Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've read a few of these type of books, I was or am poor and this is my story. So I didn't expect much from this one, figured another in that vein. Yes, that's what this book is --one woman's story about struggling, being poor, and trying to find a way to make it work for her and her daughter.

There was only a brief amount of information before she got pregnant, then the decision to move away from her boyfriend's trailer after having their baby. He was becoming increasingly volatile and emotionally abusive. Imminently after her boyfriend's she went to live with her Dad and Step-Mom, but they were struggling too, Stephanie had to do it on her own.

Already on government assistance she took what work she could, yard work and cleaning houses. Most of the book is about cleaning houses. There's also the little details of how she got through day by day, especially when something major happened, like her car being totaled by a teenage driver.

This is a book about being poor and struggling to get beyond it, trying to not just survive, but find a way out. There were a few poignant lines about how being poor too often looks like it is a crime "the crime being a lack of means to survive". There is assumption if you are poor you do drugs, or used to and don't know how to stay off them, and you must keep bad company.

One thing Land was also struggling with was lack of affection and connection to someone besides her young daughter. Her friends were in a different phase and didn't understand her poverty, they disappeared out of her life. She ached for companionship.

This was a well written book. I did wish for a little more about her background, something a little more broad. Also the ending seemed rushed, and not fully explained. It is a book about just a few years of her life and well, it felt like it needed just a little more.