I decided to read MAID because Obama recommended it to me. Unfortunately he didn’t personally ring me up to say “hey Isabel, you should read this great book”, I just saw on Amazon that it was his “Summer Reading Pick of 2019” and bought it on Kindle.
And I am SO glad I metaphorically picked it up: it was a seriously wonderful read, and you should read it too (buy here!). Stephanie reveals the shortcomings of America in her truthful and heart-breaking story.
Synopsis:
MAID is Stephanie Land’s memoir. It is not fiction, it is not a social science textbook.
It is the true story of a woman struggling to keep herself and her baby, Mia, alive, trying to do better for her daughter. As a single mum, Stephanie works as a maid, juggling work, her baby, her abusive ex, and her broken family. Her memoir explores what it is like to be poor in America: what it is like to be invisible.
Stephanie exposes the inadequacies of the American system, and her own shame of relying on that system. Her story-telling is empathetic, touching your heart. You feel her pain during the hard times, and her happiness and contentment during the (few) good.
MAID is the story of a single woman, but it represents the stories of millions more women, and exposes all kinds of systematic issues.
On her website, Stephanie herself says (link here):
“Even though MAID is just my story, I hope that readers will start seeing the estimated 60 million Americans who are working so hard just to make ends meet.”
Stephanie Land
My thoughts:
Stephanie exposes the vast disparity between middle-class America and working poor America, the lack of motivation to earn more money, and the importance of governmental support systems. Stephanie writes candidly and precisely about her income and expenditures over the years. This vulnerability opens her story up for criticism.
And indeed, many reviewers have harshly criticised her, questioning any self-indulgent spending, the number of hours she worked, and her relationship with her ex. As a starting point, these criticisms are cruel, does she not deserve nice things because she is poor? Can she not make mistakes because she is poor? They also demonstrate a failure to understand the actual point of Stephanie’s story: being poor is really, really hard, and getting out of poverty is harder than staying in it.
“Earning $50 extra could make my co-pay at day care go up by the same amount. Sometimes it meant losing my childcare grant altogether. There was no incentive or opportunity to save money. The system kept me locked down, scraping the bottom of the barrel, and without a plan to climb out of it.”
Stephanie Land, MAID
The worst part is that Stephanie is aware, during her memoir, during her life, that people criticise her without even knowing her. They make negative assumptions about her character based on a snapshot of her life. She is constantly self-conscious, hyper-aware of how other’s might react to her actions. It makes one wonder how she, now the memoir is published, responds privately to these hateful reactions – it must be difficult to know that despite your best efforts, some people can never be convinced of the innocence of poor people.
Stephanie’s eventual success is painted as luck, to some extent. Luck that she gets extra money when she wasn’t expecting it, luck that someone lends her a car when she needs it, luck that certain people offer her advice when she needs it the most. Should any of these things not happened to Stephanie, her path would have been completely different.
To me, Stephanie’s story is saddening. Being poor isn’t a choice, it can’t be resolved by simply working harder, however nice it would be to believe in that fantasy. At the end of the day, climbing out of poverty requires luck alongside that determination.
Favourite or forgettable?
This is a definite favourite on my part. I’ve described in detail the significance of the story Stephanie tells, and I would really recommend you read it to discover the details for yourself.
Her writing style is wonderful also. Sometimes I read a memoir with an amazing message, but the writing knocks it off my favourites list – but not in this case! Stephanie narrates her story simply, and with detailed description, which really engages the reader.
If you loved this, read this:
I don’t often read memoirs, so these are recommended to you based on the fact I’ve heard they’re good! Personally, I am looking forward to read Educated next.
- Heartland by Sarah Smarsh [memoir on poverty] (click to purchase!)
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond [stories of poverty] (click to purchase!)
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich [memoir on poverty] (click to purchase!)
- Educated by Tara Westover [memoir on freedom and education] (click to purchase!)
Note the amazon purchase links in this post are affiliate links. This means that, should you purchase the books through my link, I earn a very small commission! You don’t pay any extra!