Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive Jan 22, 2019 by Stephanie Land and Barbara Ehrenreich

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

by Stephanie Land and Barbara Ehrenreich

Release Date: Jan 22.2019

I wanted to love this book. It had so much promise. I think the expectations I went in with were too high and I ultimately disappointed my reading experience before I dug my heels into it. I don't feel that Stephanie Lands experience was unique or any more difficult than anyone else's in similar situations. Poverty is a struggle and real. The book felt rushed and the story felt as though it was being told by someone else and not the individual who experienced the hardships. 

 Land shows through her writings and experiences how society judges those who are poverty stricken, how many in society take advantage of the poor (example: The wages she is paid as maid through the company she works for) and how something such as in illness or car accident can make a situation dire for someone who is poor rather than inconvenient for those who experience such circumstances. Land's book chronicle's how poverty cycles through generations and how difficult it is to break. 

Stephanie Land is a young single mother who finds herself in a failing domestic relationships that results in abuse and the only way to save herself and her daughter is to be homeless and rely on the government for help. She no real skills or experience resulting  in low wage jobs that make it impossible to beat the odds and get ahead in life (she luckily finds a way out of this). Her experiences working as a maid caused me to cringe on several occasions by the actions of those she worked for and her own. 

 I encourage those of you who read this to take the time to place yourself or someone you love in Stephanie's situation before you make judgments and think twice before you condemn someone for being less fortunate than you. 

I don't want to spoil the ending for you but I will say Stephanie Land has beat the odds!