Nonfiction: Maid by Stephanie Land

The decision to read Stephanie Land's Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive was mostly made due to the book being available at the UTSA library. I was not quite willing to believe the description on Goodreads that compared it to Evicted by Matthew Desmond (which is a fantastic book by the way); however, I was interested to see in what direction the book would go and how Land's experience would translate to the page.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a nonfiction book, more appropriately categorized as a memoir, that begins before Land became pregnant with her daughter Mia, and ends after Mia is about five years old, though most of the narrative explores the years when the girl is between 2-4 years old. Opening when Mia is taking her first steps in a homeless shelter, Land describes her struggles to secure adequate housing, keep herself and her daughter fed, and of course, secure enough work to stay above water. At one point, Land speaks in detail about the seven different agencies she must make use of simply for her and her daughter to survive. As if being poor and almost constantly near-homeless was not enough, it was incredibly difficult for Land to hold onto/make effective use of the few small benefits she could get, such as the grant for Mia's childcare. Eventually, she would find work as a maid, at first cleaning for companies, but also finding clients on her own. With most of the chapters given titles from the nicknames she gave some of the houses she cleaned, Land talks about each one - what made it a difficult or disgusting job - as well as the people who lived in them. Some she came to know well, others she never met at all, but was able to gather a few clues by what she saw. The book is framed around the experiences she had cleaning these houses, but it is the frustrating red tape that helps keep poor people in poverty that is a constant theme in this book, as well as how other people view them and treat them. 

My Verdict: This book is going to be a problem for a lot of readers. When I first saw the book, I imagined an unflinching view of someone who works as a maid in the hotel industry in the U.S, and the struggles they endure to survive and make a life for themselves and their family. With its comparison to Evicted, I was hoping for the same type of personal investigation and research into what it is like to be a maid in this country and clean up after people, while also holding your own life together. Instead, Maid is more of an account of a singular, though relevant, experience. Writer Roxanne Gay said it best: "This is a tightly-focused, well-written memoir, a good book, but it is not a deeply researched book about poverty. This is a book about temporary poverty and it is part of a canon where the goal is to reach the middle-class." Gay also mentions something that many readers will take issue with, and that is the lack of acknowledgement of the white privilege that allows Land to have some of the advantages she does have. There is some mention of the struggles of immigrants and people of color who are in similar situations, but honestly, those are the stories I would rather read. 

Favorite Moment: I appreciated any moment when one of Stephanie's clients made an attempt, even a small one, to connect with her and treat her as more than a cleaning service. 

Recommended Reading: I recommend Desmond's Evicted, an incredibly, almost painstakingly researched look at how evictions have become big money for some landlords in the U.S, and the people they effect and exploit the most.