Class, by Stephanie Land

A memoir of motherhood, hunger, and higher education.

Welcome back !

I’ve been having a rough time these past two years, school-wise, and haven’t had the energy to update this blog as much as I would have wanted to. I’ve been pretty consistently reading and reviewing ARCs on NetGalley, and my library books never stop, but writing longer posts and updating my Goodreads account has been difficult. I’ve only just started to feel on top of things again – with school, work, volunteering, and my home life – and I finally feel ready to get back to more long-form reviews.

So, in the spirit of renewal, here’s today’s review : Class, Stephanie Land’s latest memoir !

When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Handpicked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019, it was called “an eye-opening journey into the lives of the working poor” (People). Later it was adapted into the hit Netflix series Maid, which was viewed by 67 million households and was Netflix’s fourth most-watched show in 2021, garnering three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Stephanie’s escape out of poverty and abuse in search of a better life inspired millions.

Maid was a story about a housecleaner, but it was also a story about a woman with a dream. In Class, Land takes us with her as she finishes college and pursues her writing career. Facing barriers at every turn including a byzantine loan system, not having enough money for food, navigating the judgments of professors and fellow students who didn’t understand the demands of attending college while under the poverty line—Land finds a way to survive once again, finally graduating in her mid-thirties.

This is a book I was looking forward to, and I was so excited to receive an eARC of it earlier this month! It was, as was the first one, a relatively quick read – I devoured it during my morning and afternoon commute, and was done in two days.

After reading it, though, I made the terrible mistake of going online to see what other reviewers were thinking – naively believing that most of us would have interpreted it in a similar way. I was sorely disappointed, when instead of five-star reviews – which this one is, by the way – I found quite a lot of negative comments, complaining, mostly, about the “graphic” sex scenes and Land’s “bad decision-making” skills.

Let’s talk about it

Let me just start with the first point : the sex scenes. Honestly ? You’ve probably seen worse in your latest favorite TV show. Land doesn’t write very detailed, graphic sex scenes, no matter what some reviewers seem to have read (did we get the same eARC ? Were pages missing in mine?).

Yes, this is a book destined for an adult audience. Yes, it will talk about things that matter in an adult woman’s life – including, but not limited to, her relationships with others. Just because it’s a woman writing about it doesn’t make it inherently vulgar or useless in a story. 

Secondly, on the topic of “bad” decision-making… Who are you to judge ? 

Land’s difficulties with the world of academia are real, and show us the barriers between poor citizens and higher education. Those that would judge her for trying to achieve something bigger than what she originally had – trying to get into the MFA program, for example – seem to have no comprehension of the intrinsic dilemma of higher education for low-income individuals : in order to try and grab our “chance at a better life” through a college or university diploma, we must make unsound financial decisions, like getting an insurmountable amount of student loans, or quitting a full-time job to try and get some classes part-time in a semester.

Yet, if we do not try our very best and aim to change our situation by getting a post-secondary degree, we are seen as lazy, unwilling to work for better living conditions, and, ultimately, deserving of our situation. 

Overall impressions

This book asks us the questions : Who has the right to go to college? Who has the right to have dreams and hopes for the future? Who has the right to want things for themselves?

Unfortunately, it seems some readers’ answers to those questions are, “not you. Not the way you’re doing it. Not those choices.”. 

Land’s memoir shows us the reality of what she had to go through to get to where she is now, in all its complicated details and heartbreaking turns. Yes, she may have made choices you personally don’t agree with, or that don’t seem to make sense to you, and it might make you uncomfortable – that’s the point of reading this book. Don’t let your discomfort prevent you from feeling empathy. 

This is a beautiful book that I believe will be eye-opening for a lot of people, and I wish it just as much success as the first one. It deserves it. 

Class comes out on November 7, 2023. If you live in Canada, you can pre-order it here (not an affiliate link).

Until next time,

Maude.