My Review — Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, And a Mother’s Will to Survive By Stephanie Land

by Brenna K

Thank goodness Netflix brought Maid back to my attention. In 2019, President Obama’s Summer Reading listed Stephanie Land’s memoir on motherhood and poverty. Me being a memoir lover with my own experiences on such topics, I was sold on the recommendation. And as quickly as I was sold, I was distracted by parental fragmentation. Fast forward to 2022, and I’m finally caught up.

Land’s book conceptualizes the lived experiences of parenting in poverty, eyewitness reporting for the voyeur and sympathetic soul alike. Or for me, the relief of experiences finally being put to words that anyone with an iota of humanity can understand.

You know you’re in for a ride when the first line is as strong as Land’s, “My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.” Showing the marks of a true writer, Land weaves the striking psychology of hypervigilance and trying to maintain a sense of self-worth with personable objectivity.

Stephanie Land’s hard work has raised her out of poverty, but the question of how many similar stories aren’t being told remains.

(As far as the Netflix limited series, yes, it’s worth a watch. It’s fictionalized and not a true adaptation. The book’s stronger sociopolitcal insights need to be inferred slightly, but its progress is more than the average binge watcher will get from other options out there.)