Maid by Stephanie Land

Our November book selection for Sizzlers and I am feeling unsettled as to my feelings about "Maid".  As with any non-fiction "biography", entering the lives of real people creates conflicts in my mind about the values I was raised with versus the values and choices made by the author.  Though this book was similar to Educated and Hillbilly Elegy, I resonated more with those because the tone did not seem so "whiny" and because each of those authors seem to have "dug out" of their difficult situations.  Of course, I really don't know that it truly happened and perhaps they are still walking through repercussions because of their former lives; but having checked into Land's current situation, I found that she had a second child out of wedlock, married and divorced another abusive man, then married again this year and moved from her "promised land" of Missoula to Asheville.  She mentioned several times throughout the book that she dreamed of an ideal home, but discarded it as she realized she and Mia together were "home".  Reading about more devastating choices somehow makes me think she never lost that illusion of the "perfect home".  It makes me wonder about the statistics of Americans who can end the cycle of poverty by making better decisions....then I wonder if I am totally lacking compassion.

So many of her details regarding jumping through hoops to get assistance were troubling, similar to Vets getting help, or immigrants trying to get citizenship.  The government does not make it easy so it must be so difficult to keep on going....I heard real truth in her words about that.

Land's actual organization of the book was also hard for me to follow.  It felt like she jumped from one period of time to another.  There would be some good thoughts on the clients she worked for as she compared their lives with hers (many in nice homes with troubling situations), but it seemed very scattered...I needed a clearer outline.  And finally, I wanted her to voice her gratefulness more about the people in her life who gave her breaks, who offered her grace, who stepped in to help just when she needed it....Pam, Lonnie,Wendy, the lady who stopped at the accident, her grandpa, Miss Judy, Henry, Kurt.  I wanted her to acknowledge that they also sacrificed for her....but to her, the sacrifices she made were always more sacrificial.