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Stephanie Land’s first memoir, Maid, became a bestseller and was made into a Netflix series. I haven’t read that one, though I’m sure it would be just as illuminating as this second memoir.
The single mother of a young daughter, Land had fled an emotionally abusive partner and squeaked by (if that) taking care of them as a maid. In this book, she writes about the year she was a full-time student in Montana, just as she was about to graduate.
In short, Class explores just how difficult it is for a single mother to get by, let alone move up in society. And going to college, lauded ad nauseam as the way for anyone to get a decent job, was Land’s dream. She aimed to find a good career that would allow her to do more than merely survive. But even college was looked at as an extravagance for a woman with a child, she writes. For instance, a judge in a family court hearing ruled to give her less child support from her horrid ex because she thought she should be working full-time rather than going to college full-time and working just part-time. The various government assistant programs treated her as if she were planning to defraud them. Most created hoops that took days and days to navigate, time she could have spent earning at least some money.
Land writes often about the judgment she faced from all quarters. It’s painful to read about how she was treated by so many people. But it rightly forces readers to ask themselves what judgments they would normally decide on when faced with someone in Land’s circumstances. I admit I had some judgments come to mind (one I am still struggling with, to be honest). But that’s the beauty of the book: it lays bare what one woman, who’s not at all atypical, experienced in her life and the barriers that stopped her in so many places. And it portrays a lot of reactions from others who could have helped rather than hindered her. Each reader has to ponder which “characters” in the book would reflect their reactions, prejudices and judgments.
Land came out all right, thanks to her persistence and talent. Maid brought her welcome attention and, most important, income, and raised her up into a higher class of living. But what about the rest of the women in her circumstances who don’t have an unusual boost like she did?
Readers get to sit with that. Land, for her part, has become an advocate for them.
Class is a book that will make you think, if you choose to wade through a lot of profanity and some detailed sexual content.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 75 uses of strong language, 35 instances of moderate profanity, 5 uses of mild language, and 20 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content is high, with a lot of talk about sex, lots of casual hookups, and a couple of detailed sex scenes. A woman has an abortion. There are references to emotional abuse and rapes. Squeamish readers may have to skip the birth scene, where there is a lot of blood and plenty of description of the process.
