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

Written by Stephanie Land and Barbara Ehrenreich

Narrated by Stephanie Land

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES, HAILED BY ROLLING STONE AS "A GREAT ONE."
   "A single mother's personal, unflinching look at America's class divide, a description of the tightrope many families walk just to get by, and a reminder of the dignity of all work."

-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, Obama's Summer Reading List


At 28, Stephanie Land's dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she found herself a single mother, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet.

Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent in service to upper middle class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets. Driven to carve out a better life for her family, she cleaned by day and took online classes by night, writing relentlessly as she worked toward earning a college degree. She wrote of the true stories that weren't being told: of living on food stamps and WIC coupons, of government programs that barely provided housing, of aloof government employees who shamed her for receiving what little assistance she did. Above all else, she wrote about pursuing the myth of the American Dream from the poverty line, all the while slashing through deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.

Maid is Stephanie's story, but it's not hers alone. It is an inspiring testament to the courage, determination, and ultimate strength of the human spirit.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Jan 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781478971603

Stephanie Land

Stephanie Land is the author of Class and the New York Times bestseller Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive, which inspired the Netflix series Maid and was called “a testimony…worth listening to” by The New York Times. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and many other outlets. Her writing focuses on social and economic justice and parenting under the poverty line. She is a frequent speaker at colleges and national advocacy organizations. Find out more at @Stepville or Stepville.com.

Reviews for Maid

[thanesh_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read the book after watching the Netflix series which is not my normal sequence of doing things but turned out well in this case. It is an interesting book with some very difficult and hard to read parts. The story is not without flaws, and I agreed with the other reviewers here that this is not really representative of most poverty-stricken individuals who do not look like the writer and would enjoy the benefits that come with that. So, the link between poverty and racism could have been better covered. I have seen that the author has subsequently learned about and realized this opportunity and is working to improve the welfare situation which is admirable. However, both the book and the series were enjoyable, and some of the themes covered are universal such as dealing with loneliness, challenges of being a parent or a single parent, studying while working and being a parent and dealing with aging parents.

[hccpsk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Stephanie Land’s first memoir, Maid, recounts her years as a struggling single mother in the Pacific Northwest. Somewhat reminiscent of Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, Land delves into the economic impossibility of living on minimum wage, but Maid remains a much more personal work. Land exposes all of her family problems, her own weaknesses, and the emotional toll her situation takes on her.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author details a challenging period in her life, as a single mother of a toddler, mired in poverty and barely surviving on her housecleaning wages, while also taking classes. She gets to know the houses she regularly cleans and although she rarely meets the homeowners, she gleans life lessons and observations from their environments. This is a revealing and hard look at the realities of poverty that hopefully changes how readers think of the poor.

[booklover1801 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Maid" is a candid and heartrending memoir by a single parent who did her best to make ends meet while raising her daughter, Mia. Stephanie Land kept her head above water by cleaning houses, bartering her landscaping services for rent, and applying for public assistance. Her back ached from scrubbing bathrooms, removing grime from kitchen stoves, and weeding gardens, but she always performed her tasks conscientiously. Mia spent time with her father, but Stephanie was the custodial parent. Land knew that her dream of earning a college degree and becoming a writer would have to be put on hold.

Stephanie Land conveys the loneliness and despair of those difficult years: "My face had an ashen hue from lack of sun, dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep." When she was starving, she drank coffee to relieve her hunger pangs. How did she endure "the physical wear and tear that goes along with lifting, vacuuming, and scrubbing six-to-eight hours a day"? Land took large doses of over-the counter pain medication to relieve her aching back. "It felt impossible to climb out of this hole," she says. Some people harbor an irrational prejudice against men and women who perform manual labor for a paltry sum and supplement their income with various forms of government aid. Land's story helps to debunk the myth that everyone in her situation is indolent and out to game the system. In Stephanie's case, her top priorities were her child's happiness and having enough money to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

To many of Land's clients, she was invisible, a ghost who quietly slipped into their residences and left everything looking immaculate. "I was starved for kindness. I was hungry for people to notice me." Desperate for an outlet, she recorded her thoughts and feelings in an online journal. "Maid" provides a window into Stephanie's bleak world; she relates her experiences matter-of-factly, realistically, and eloquently. Land is a strong and resolute woman who persevered until she fulfilled her ambition to complete her education. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the classic "Nickel and Dimed," says that women like Stephanie "are out there in the millions, each heroic in her own way, waiting for us to listen."

[brittany76 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I started this book, I thought that I already knew the ending from the start. I felt like instead of being immersed in the time period of her telling the story, she was telling it through the lens of hurt and pain and suffering and awareness from the future and it bothered me at first. I was (and still am) annoyed at the social justice spin that was interwoven through the pages. By the time I was halfway through, I was rooting for her (even in the midst of some of my annoyances for her choices, but I try not to judge too harshly). She truly persevered and worked hard to support her daughter and her (in that order). I was proud of her pushing through the hardships that she was dealt and I felt honored to be able to celebrate the ending with her. I did wish the ending brought more closure to how she was helping repair herself and her daughter emotionally after all the emotional turmoil they endured. How did she heal emotionally? Did she learn how to help her daughter cope and find better ways to express her anger? I would have also liked an addition of what she did end up doing to help this "systemic poverty" that she describes throughout the book. She voiced in the book that becoming some sort of lawyer to help others going through poverty stricken times was a goal of hers - did she end up pursuing that after being a writer? I'm left with questions.


These are some of my favorite quotes from the book. I'm sure there are more, but these stood out to me:

"Maybe the stress of keeping up a two-story house, a bad marriage, and maintaining the illusion of grandeur overwhelmed their systems in similar ways to how poverty did mine."

"Our space was a home because we loved each other in it"

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephanie Land's MAID (2019), a gift from my daughter, was, I've learned, a monster bestseller five years ago, now translated into several languages, and soon to be a Netflix film. I guess I missed all that hoopla somehow, but I'm very happy for the author, because the book itself, a memoir, is one of the saddest damn stories I've read in a long time. It chronicles her hardscrabble years of extreme poverty and barely scraping by as a single mom who cleaned houses for a living and lived in a tiny, mold-infested studio apartment with her toddler daughter, who was often sick from their substandard living conditions. There is much here too about the red tape of welfare and government programs for the poor - and it's not very flattering - as well as the less than sympathetic attitudes of people who are better off. Land is an excellent writer and never gives in to mawkish self-pity, but instead just tells it like it was, including how she sometimes had to just weep at the hopelessness of her situation. I winced my way through the whole thing, hoping against hope that things would improve for her. Did they? Read the book. It's a good one. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Recommended reading for everyone who has ever said (or thought about saying) "you're welcome" to a shopper using an EBT grocery card.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this is quite an eye-opener. To read Stephanie Land's story of how her hard work to achieve her dream of attending college and become a writer is an inspiring story of perseverance. When she became pregnant, she made the decision to have her daughter, Mia, although her boyfriend was not very supportive. He, in fact, worked to undermine Stephanie's relationship with Mia, but Stephanie continued to do her best.
The navigation of the system, in order to get benefits, medical care, and food for her child was heartbreaking. It was interesting to read about her various clients and the concern some had, and how others were indifferent. The conditions she worked in and lived in were concerning.
So glad to have read this, and thankful that she was able to achieve her dream.

[kalliegrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really don't know how conservatives can hear a story like this, that is just like so many other stories, and think, you know what, f*** my neighbor, anyone on government assistance is the problem with this country.
This is like Poverty, by America but from the first person point of view. There is just no working your way out of poverty. Those in poverty are by far harder workers than those with any amount of means. Constantly doing the math to see if you can afford the gas, living in pain because you for sure can't afford the doctor, praying the childcare your government assistance can be used at will actually care for your child well. Earning just a little bit more because you put in extra hours so your government assistance goes down the same amount so what was the point. This just broke my heart. What is society even for if not to lift up the downtrodden and struggling. I'm so glad they had a happy ending, but that's rare, and the ones who can't get a happy ending still deserve food, shelter, medical care, and dignity.

[mykl8s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I knew that cleaning was a hard kind of job with little pay, but after reading Land's book I realize even more just how very, very hard it can be.

[davisfamily-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read. Very factual, frustrating and depressing. I learned how isolated people feel when you are just grinding everyday, something I had never considered.

[m0vingon · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I see that a lot of people are over the moon for this book. I’m pretty lukewarm about it, myself.

I appreciated the exploration into the struggles of the working poor. I have also been a single mom of two who struggled in some ways that were very similar to Stephanie. At points, the story was a little too relatable.

However, larger scope, the story is very superficial. I found it confusing at times because there is a lack of consistency in the storytelling and the focus. The author shares so little of what is happening in her personal life beyond financial instability and cleaning other people’s homes that it seems she is completely isolated. Until she suddenly references people and situations that haven’t been mentioned before. I suppose this means that I found the writing disorganized and the focus too limited which became jarring.

Ultimately, I thought it was a fine read. It’s a short, easy read that is worth checking out if you’re interested in social issues and the struggles of being a single parent.

[mrstreme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After watching MAID on Netflix, I began to follow author Stephanie Land on Twitter. I love her vulnerability about being her anxiety, writing life, raising children, being married, and having a dog, so when her local bookstore offered signed copied of MAID, I snatched one up immediately.

The book MAID is different than the Netflix series, but both showcase two major themes: the dangers of emotional abuse and how hard it is for an American woman (and maybe any American) to break free from the poverty cycle. Emotional abuse is destructive and life-altering, but many people don't consider it domestic violence because there are no physical scars or marks. As for Stephanie's poverty story, I wanted to simultaneously punch the wall (because the hurdles she had to jump were crazy) and cry (again, because of the hurdles...). Dignity is not part of our American social services for the poor.

This was a fast read; I constantly thought about Stephanie when I wasn't reading MAID (even though I *know* she's okay!). I look forward to more works from this author. She is an amazing storyteller with a knack for pulling you into the scene. Highly recommended!

[Cris ¿Qué libro leo? · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am filled with mixed feelings after reading this beautiful story; there were moments when I felt incredibly sad and others when I was completely angry with the situation. I wanted things to go better for her in life; I wanted to be able to do something for her, and not being able to made me feel extremely frustrated. This book was an emotional rollercoaster throughout the entire plot. And the truth is that I enjoyed it a lot. (Translated from Spanish)

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Maid by Stephanie Land opened my eyes to the levels of poverty in America. Many of the aspects of the story amazed me. But other revelations repulsed me such as the tattoos when money is so dear and the insistence of organic milk that is so much more expensive. Yes, Miss Land was trying to give her daughter the most nutritious meal, but sometimes that is too difficult. The dirtiness of the houses that she cleaned leaves wonderment that each week the same problems of cleaning exist. Yes, in America, there is still many opportunities to leave the gutter and find a better way of life. The levels of homelessness disturb me with the many regulations. And are we just creating a greater problem with all the federal and state agencies to aid people? What is the solution?

[jonez-6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.25

As someone who has done hard jobs for little pay, laid my head under the most rotten of roofs because the rent was right, sold plasma for food, struggled to put food on the table (hell...to own a table that I didn't find on garbage night) and who grew up listening to the exasperated sighs, backhanded thank you's, and pointed commentary of those privileged enough to not have to pay for food with an EBT card, this book really hit home for me. It was a relatable read, and at times a difficult read, but one I would recommend for anyone struggling and anyone that needs to understand the true struggle in the shadow of the American Dream. Praise to Land for putting this on paper in such a succinct yet heartfelt manner.

[bookchickdi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The first sentence in Stephanie Land’s memoir, Maid, is a memorable one: “My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.” Land ended up there after her relationship with Mia’s father turned violent and she had to leave for their safety.



She and Mia moved in with her father and stepmother, only to find that her father couldn’t cope, and became violent as well. With nowhere else to go, Stephanie was forced to move into a homeless shelter with Mia.

Stephanie gets a job as a part-time landscaper with her friend’s husband, and ends up working as a maid for a cleaning company. She takes us through the maze of government services that gave them a way to survive, but also tried to make her feel like she was lazy and shiftless.

She writes of an encounter with a horrible man in a grocery store. She is checking out using her benefits card when the man behind her in line follows her out of the store, screaming at her, “You’re welcome,” as if he personally paid for her groceries.

Land describes the backbreaking work as a maid, the sheer exhaustion and physicality of the job that left her in constant pain. She has to make every penny she earns count, and when she is in a car accident, you can feel her terror as she realizes her only means of getting to work is gone, but her daughter is safe.

Maid gives the reader a deeper understanding of the lives that many people in this country lead, people for whom every day is a struggle that leaves them emotionally as well as physically drained. I hope Land’s story will encourage people to be kinder and more empathetic to those who work at jobs most of us will never have to do.

Maid belongs on a reading list with Evicted and Nickel and Dimed, two other classic books about life for struggling Americans.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I am aware of a limitation in myself. There is an arc to my empathy when listening to someone else's woes. It rises gently from sympathy to compassion but then peaks and starts to steeply drop down toward annoyance as the list seems to become first a litany and then just endless whining. I peaked somewhere in the middle of this book, but I was able to scrape along to the end.

In the acknowledgments, there was this thank you to the editor, "This book surely would have been a rambling jumble of 'and then this happened' without your careful, thoughtful, and gloriously intensive edits." I'm not so sure they made it around that particular bend actually. Unless the editor was responsible for the numerous randomly inserted short little digressions throughout that went nowhere, an attempt perhaps to cover the seams left from cobbling together the essays and blog entries from which this book originated.

p.s. Did Carhartt pay for the product placement? So many mentions of their pants!

[slevyr26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good book! Didn’t love it, didn’t dislike it. The author has a very readable, likeable way of writing that made the book very easy to flow through and enjoy.

[streamsong_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Stephanie Land found herself and her baby daughter in an abusive situation, the only thing possible for her was to leave.

After it became clear that she was not able to ask her family for help, she started out in a homeless shelter. The only job she could find was cleaning other people’s houses – and she cleaned the worst of them.

Slowly, along with her work, she was able to put together a complex net of government programs – as many as five separate programs at a time as she struggled with her child’s health care, housing and daycare assistance.

And while even her friends looked askance at her when she confessed the number of programs it took to keep her afloat, she not only survived but began taking a few online classes. And then she began to dream about Missoula, a town she had never been, and the University of Montana.

This really shines a spotlight on the plight of the working poor and how government programs can be a hand up to productive life instead of just a handout.

Highly recommended (and the over the top enthusiasm for Missoula is fun, too)

[schmootc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed Nickel and Dimed when I read it many years ago and thought this would be similar. The focus was just a little too much on the author's personal life, which didn't interest me much. And I felt myself being exasperated with some of the choices she made. I tried to root for her, but it was not easy.

[theloislevel · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Being a maid stinks, there's no way around it, but I just don't think the author went deep enough.

[carolfoisset · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This should be required reading for every person that has the opinion that only lazy people use government aid and social programs. Audio is read by the author which I enjoyed.

[emscape · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stephanie Land recounts her experiences as a cleaning lady and single mother. She works hard, but never seems to get ahead. She feels mostly invisible to the clients whose homes she tidies, though there are a few who are nice. The industry takes advantage of her and she's nearly powerless to protect herself from business owners who care more about the bottom line than the health and safety of their employees.
Anyone who has engaged the services of a housecleaning company should read this book....actually, everyone who has never actually been a member of this profession themselves should read it. It's important to be aware and cognizant of the struggles of people in difficult and low-paying positions. However, I can't help but feel that Stephanie's own choices are to blame for the difficulty of her life. Birth control and abortion were both options open to her, and her daughter's dad was a mess of red flags from the beginning of their relationship, as was her next boyfriend. She's a great mom to her daughter, though, spending quality time with her and coming up with inventive, low-cost ways to do so. I read this with my book club, and most of them agreed with my take on the book.

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This would be a great book club read! Stephanie Land tells a great, real story of life for those in 'service jobs'.

[citizenjoyce · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is quite a book. The two things Stephanie Land had going for her were a strong work ethic and hope. When I read Lena Dunham’s book, I was kind of disgusted at her lack of work ethic. If she was working on a project she liked, she was all gung ho, but when she worked at something she considered beneath her, she was a terrible employee. Land never thought she’d end up homeless working at physically exhausting house cleaning jobs to support her and her child, but that’s what happened, and when she cleaned, she cleaned. The work made her physically ill, the environment made her daughter physically ill, but she gave it her all. And the reason she was able to do so was that, even at her lowest, she had hope for better things - for a better place to live, for more education, for a happy childhood for her daughter and for fulfilling work for herself. One of the reasons that she could maintain that hope was that she had all kinds of government assistance - even though the process of getting and maintaining it was demoralizing. She also, as an extrovert, was able to make friends who helped her. As alone as she felt, someone always came around to offer a little help. She was also assertive enough and intelligent enough to find resources she needed. So many people in poverty lack much of what she had - they don’t have the guidance so they don’t have the hope. Without it, you can’t get out from under because the slightest misfortune can turn what little progress you have made into disaster. I see why Obama recommended this one

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Land writes beautifully about being trapped in low-wage jobs and the residue of an abusive relationship, with not a penny to spare or a day to give to, say, a child’s illness without a further spiral. She’s a sharp observer of the houses she cleans and the miseries and happinesses of the wealthy or at least not-desperate people who paid her (or her employer) to clean. Her story is only as happy as it is (which is to say, it ends on an upwards trajectory) because she was actually able to access government benefits like subsidized housing, food stamps, and college assistance, and because she had friends—some made online—who could occasionally chip in, rather than themselves being just as desperate.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephanie Land's memoir Maid has been on dozens of book lists, so you may have heard of or read it already. All the hype? Absolutely deserved - it was a powerful, eye opening read.

But, if you haven't heard of it, the publisher's blurb is a pretty concise descriptor:

"Evicted meets Nickel and Dimed in Stephanie Land’s memoir about working as a maid, a beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in America."

Having read both of those books, I knew this was one I wanted to read. Star studded tell-alls are of no interest to me. Instead I find myself invariably drawn to memoirs of everyday people. The struggles and the triumphs- real life.

Land finds herself pregnant just as she is about to apply to university to follow her dream of becoming a writer. That dream is sidetracked and Land ends up working as a maid to support her daughter.

Her struggles - financially, medically, mentally and physically - are captured in brutally honest prose. The reader is alongside as she navigates 'the system', her relationships and the anonymity of cleaning houses. But, just as affecting is the love she has for her daughter and her desire to follow her dream of becoming a writer.

Land's work made for addictive reading and is a testament to her tenacity. While she may have made choices that I would not have, I'm not here to judge. There is no way to 'rate' someone's life, but if pressed, I would give Maid is a five star read for Land's honesty is sharing her life story so far.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How do we begin to make the picture Stephanie so perfectly describes, better! It's a challenge for all. Stephanie may be unusual with her ability to write but her experiences and her dedication to "her job(s)" is evident nearly everywhere with men and women in their efforts -- just trying to get by---but why does it have to be made so difficult---by the government, by their employers, their customers?? Expect the worst and that's what you'll get. Why not treat people with the basic respect they deserve and treat them as, yes, equals. We all inhabit the same earth. Stephanie Land's book should be everyone---employers, employees, as well as those who are in a position of providing a service or using one.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Land wrote this book in the vein of [author:Barbara Ehrenreich|1257]'s [book:Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America|1869]Nickle and Dimed. The difference being that this book chronicles several years in Land's real life: as a single mom with a difficult ex, a small child, and very little family support. She survived by cobbling together housecleaning and landscaping jobs, utilizing what public assistance she could get, and occasional favors of acquaintances and her clients and bosses. To keep her daughter healthy she had coffee for dinner, tried moving in with a boyfriend, and finally found a studio with poor climate control that made them both sick.

This book illustrates how frustrating and difficult it is to be poor--the waiting in lines to prove you are poor, the fear of unexpected expenses, the fear of going to the doctor and car problems. Time taken off work, mediocre housing and mediocre childcare. The hard physical labor required to earn money, and the long drives that eat up gas and money.

Land also shows how easy it is for someone can fall into the trap of having no hope. If you earn a little more money, you lose your childcare credit--but can't pay for childcare without it. The constant battle to access services, to save up any money before it is required for car repairs or medical bills. The fear that the world is keeping you from escaping. As her daughter began approaching kindergarten age, Land began having hope--to go to school in Missoula as she had planned before she became pregnant. She was able to afford a good apartment by bartering her services, and she began feeling hopeful. A specialized domestic violence social worker helped with applications for scholarships. She could get out.

Land is clear that having had a fairly middle class childhood herself, she knew what was possible--the resignation she sees on others' faces (adults and kids) at the various social service offices she goes to make it clear to her that many don't know what might be possible. They have always lived this way, and have no hope and no reason to hope.

I found this book interesting, but found the descriptions of the houses she cleaned to be a little too voyeuristic for my taste. Assuming these are the real houses of real clients (because this IS a memoir), I wondered more if they read this book and saw themselves. Especially the hoarder house (or was it a depression house?), where the mom refers to the home as "her secret". Not any more. And so many of the chapters are about these houses. I preferred the chapters discussing how hard to was to survive with a cranky toddler, long work hours, limited heating, and things to do that cost no money.

—————

Thanks to Hachette and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.