This story was raw and real and relatable. Well written and held my interest. A great follow up to Maid. Highlights the struggles of being a single, working parent attending college. Motivational and inspiring

In Class, Stephanie Land shares what it was like to be in college in her mid-30s pursuing her need and desire to write while raising her 6 year old daughter, essentially as a single mother.

It's amazing that even now as society progresses we are still backward in our judgements of those with less opportunities than so many others; most especially women. Stephanie left her mentally abusive relationship to attend college in Missoula, Montana. The father of her child pays her a miniscule amount of child support, and there are many times when she is hungry and terrified of where the rent money will come from. Mounting incredible student loan debt and working part time at odd jobs she barely squeaks by. She is judged by peers and teachers alike, and the father of her child continues to gaslight her from a distance. She maneuvers the help system, but finds herself continually challenged and subverted by systems in place which are supposed to help.

While I am glad her tenacity helped her to rise to success, her road was not easy, and it was difficult to read her story. It shed some light onto the plight of others in her situation, and it is heart wrenching to consider all she went through.

The follow up to her smash book Maid finds Land in her final year of college, struggling financially, and also pregnant.
Land is unapologetic and blunt with her life. She is harsh toward the system that sustained her yet sensitive to criticism about her choices.
While I personally did not understand some of the choices she made, it’s not my story to tell.
Land persevered and rose above her diminished circumstances.
Since the book is set almost 10 years ago no doubt another installment will be forthcoming.
I’ll be sure to read that one as well.

I remember reading Maid - it reminded me so much of Nickle and Dimed. And I always wondered what happened next in her life. Where did she end up? Reading this and getting to see the next chapter was intriguing. It was heartbreaking to hear her going hungry as a pregnant mom, and struggling with governmental assistance, because, like she said, every government program assumes you're trying to scam them. This sheds so much light on the poverty problem and the reason people can't always just 'rise above their circumstances.' A beautiful, poignant portrait of a mother and daughter wading through poverty to find a beautiful life together.

I eagerly grabbed this book once an ARC was available as I read Maid years ago and found that to be interesting and enlightening. I was hoping for a continuation of that same revelatory experience, especially as it relates to higher education in the US. I think perhaps my expectations were too high on this one and for me it didn't exactly deliver.

What I did enjoy: you do get a look at the struggles of a single mother trying to complete a bachelor's degree. Struggling with food insecurity, child support, child care, etc. Having to bring her child to class at times. All of that was a learning experience for me -- not being my experience it showed how many hurdles there can be for people.

What I didn't enjoy: I found myself confused often with the minor characters in the book. They were mentioned so briefly and often without context I couldn't remember if we had heard this name before. The author doesn't really portray deep relationships with others, but all the friend and partner names that are brought up kept confusing me. The other thing that was a bit off-putting was a bit of blaming and pointing fingers in the book. Certain professors and people were named and blamed for her not getting an opportunity or for mistreatment or a friendship breaking up, and the calling people out sort of rubbed me the wrong way? (Maybe would be better with pseudonyms/anonymously?)

I found this book didn't bring out the empathy that I found myself feeling in Maid. I think it was easier to come at this with a bit of judgement about the author's choices, whereas on one breath she's talking about not having any money for food, but then on the other hand talking about optional lifestyle decisions she has made which cost money (adopting a dog, drinking and smoking). This is probably something more for me to reflect on (why did the way she portrayed her struggles garner less empathy and more judgement from me), but I thought it was interesting that it felt quite different from Maid.

I do have to say, you finish the book and do feel pride for all she has accomplished and the challenges she has overcome -- so in that case, mission accomplished. I just think the disjointed plot line, lack of depth in other characters, and some of the blaming just didn't resonate with me, and in the end I preferred her debut novel versus this one.

Since I enjoyed Maid, I was excited to receive an ARC of Class, which follows Land in the next stage of her life. She has moved to Montana, away from her abusive ex-husband and ready to start anew with her daughter and plans to complete her English degree. The book sets out how she navigates the system and her struggles to support her daughter while going to school and staying at or below the poverty line. It shows how difficult the family court system is, and co-parenting with an emotionally abusive partner.

I felt that the story on its own just wasn’t a full novel; there wasn’t a ton there and it seemed a bit repetitious at times. I did enjoy her writing and appreciated the challenges that she had to endure. I have gone onto Land’s social media because I was curious to see where she was in life presently and I wish she had written a bit about some of her more recent life (which I assume she will in a third book). I understand we were supposed to go on a journey with her while she obtains her degree against some very serious odds (e.g., food insecurity, usurious student loans, day care), but I felt that the book was a bit like Maid 2.0 but not as engaging.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for this ARC to review

The follow up to Land's debut book, "Maid", "Class" looks at what happened next. This memoir tells the story of Land's college journey as a single parent struggling to make ends meet while lifting herself out of poverty through education. While she did make a lot of bad decisions in her personal life, you could see her determination to do better for her child.

This is the book I wanted when I was reading Maid (also very worthwhile!). It was clear while reading Maid that Land had "made it" - gotten her college education and achieved an existence less precarious than the one she described in that first book. I was so eager to learn how. Well here it is! I particularly appreciated her honesty, especially when her choices don't look good in retrospect. The best memoir is like that, in my opinion- so brave and raw and self revealing. Bravo, Stephanie Land, can't wait to see what you do next!

Class by Stephanie Land is the follow up to her wildly popular memorize, Maid. It follows her through the journey of motherhood and college and all of the systems that challenge her journey. After devouring Maid, this book didn’t connect as quickly and powerfully for me. Maybe it was the timing in my own life and needing a lighter topic. I think it could be a wonderful read for a bookclub, opening up opportunities for digging into the topics and having rich discussion.

In the follow up novel to Maid, Class examines Land’s life in college and raising her daughter. My biggest issue with this book was that if felt the timeline jumped frequently without note, making the timeline difficult to follow.

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 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. 

This book asks us : 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.

I was super excited to get an ARC of Stephanie Land’s new book Class. As I think about it upon finishing the book, I find it hard to review.

Class is a continuation of Land’s life after moving to Montana with her daughter. As she completes her senior year of college and works to get into a MFA graduate program at her school, she talks about the hardships she endured, from raising a six year old on her own, food insecurity, her frustrations in the higher education world and a few other unexpected surprises along the way.

I’ve seen a lot of reviewers talk about how many bad choices she made and how she doesn’t deserve our empathy because of that. I just don’t feel like I can judge Land in this way. They are the decisions she made at that point in her life when she was desperate to stay afloat. I feel the best way to talk about this book is to focus more on the writing itself and how the story is told. What I’ve always appreciated about Land’s writing is the realness of it. She’s been through it between dealing with domestic abuse from her ex (and how he uses it to manipulate their daughter into thinking her mother is a bad person) and the way she’s been treated by the system. I don’t feel like Land sugarcoats it at all. She tells us the good and the bad, showing us the real ups and downs of life.

Did I need the numerous graphic sex scene descriptions? No. Did the story always flow well? No, not always. Did I feel for her though when the decision on whether she deserves food stamps, or just her daughter does? Yes. Did I feel for her when the decision on if she would get into the MFA grad program came down? Yes. The heartwarming moments were wonderful and the tough ones did make my heart ache a bit. I did find myself a bit teary by the end.

Like Maid, there are parts of this book that are tough to read. I ultimately am glad though that Land is sharing this story with us though. Living below the poverty line is no joke and I hope that her story will help someone who needs to hear they’re not alone in a fight like this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are two sides of my review: the side of how much I enjoyed the story and the side of how much I enjoyed the author.

The story itself was very interesting, a year in Land's life taught me (someone that she would see as a privileged white collar white female, never mind that I'm a first generation immigrant child of a Holocaust survivor but I digress) a hell of a lot about being a single mom in America living squarely in the heart of poverty. Land's writing is easy to follow, easy to identify with and profoundly educational and evocative, if her intent was for the reader to get a taste of that life and come out with distaste for the welfare system, she met it,

However, I couldn't stand Land herself, her choices made zero sense to me given her situation and her existing child, and perhaps as someone she'd like see as privileged and write off as judgmental, I don't get a vote and that's fine, it's her life, she can do with it as she pleases. But as her reader, i honestly didn't understand why someone so financially and emotionally strapped would choose to add a baby to a life puzzle she herself called almost unsolvable. I don't know understand why she'd write friends off as being not friends without giving more context to individual situations.

So the story gets five stars and the rest 1 star, so call it a three.

I was a HUGE fan of MAID so was super excited to receive this ARC. I guess I was confused where the author was during this book. I thought that she had ended her last chapter of her life in better circumstances but it seems like she was still struggling just as much here-though I did read later in the book that this was all before MAID became a hit so that would make sense. It is still as sad as MAID, watching her struggling for the smallest things like food and housing and trying to raise a child. I don't think she always makes the best choices but she did what she could with what she had. Interesting story but I did feel like it ended so abruptly. I was thinking things were going to be more resolved or tied up. Will read more of her story if she writes another book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I read Maid quite a few years ago and did really enjoy it. This book promised this in the description: “ 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”
I work in higher Ed, often teaching students under the poverty line. I was HERE for this. Tell me how I can better support these students!
That is not what I got. This was a story of a woman (a fully grown adult woman) making extremely questionable choices and then being angry at everyone else about them.

All but one of her professors that she spoke of, and most of her classmates, friends and roommates were EXTREMELY accommodating.. like above and beyond. But it never seemed to be enough for her.

She makes the mind boggling decision to continue a pregnancy in her final year of college as a single mother while wanting to continue on to grad school. Look, I can’t put myself in someone else’s shoes when it comes to that type of choice, but it didn’t make things easier on her.

Class: A Memoir of Motherhood Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land.
The author of the bestselling MAID and the subsequent Netflix series based on the book, describes the endless sacrifices and fears involved in cleaning houses, caring for her young daughter, and going to college to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer. Her fights for child support, food stamps, and subsidized childcare with a system that doesn’t believe she deserves to go to school make the reader feel her hunger for food and learning and her wishes for her daughter to have moments of joy. The prejudice shown her as not deserving of being in college ring true. Her stories should awaken readers to the realities of poverty. Land is a talented chronicler of hardship and determination. It’s a magnificent book that is impossible to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley as well as Ms Land for the opportunity to read and review “Class” in exchange for my honest feedback.

While I applaud Ms Land, for the courageous and tedious task of crafting a second novel, it really was just a continuation of “Maid” that was honestly quite boring and repetitive. In many ways it seemed like the writing was rushed and jumbled together. To be brutally, honest, I feel like a deadline was approaching that was continually extended and this was the end result.

This novel would be an interesting book club selection in addition to “Maid” as !s Land’s story is poignant, but “Class” could be summed up into a second edition of “Maid” with an updated epilogue.

Class by Stephanie Land has a publishing date of November 7, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy.

Class is a sequel to Maid, a book made into a popular Netflix show by the same name. Class is a memoir, which begins with Stephanie struggling to complete an undergraduate degree and raise a child with limited wages and no support. The book would have been shorter if the redundancy of never enough money was not on never ending repeat. It is not that I don’t have empathy but some expenditures seemed unnecessary such as $10 for Netflix, when she had no idea how to buy the next meal for her child. Toward the end, Stephanie was debating on having a second child, when there was no steady and reliable income and she was trying to complete an MFA.

The book does a good job of describing systemic failure to provide women and children healthcare, childcare, contraception, and accommodating jobs for single parents. But to be honest, there were some poor decisions made on the authors part. I finished the book but was not a fan as I was for the author’s initial memoir, The Maid.

The writing was excellent, but I felt so much of the book was a repeat of The Maid. 3/5 stars.

Class
Stephanie Land
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
Atria 0ne signal
* memoir
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I enjoyed Maid, so when I saw Land wrote a memoir I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me, monotonous and self serving. The writing was good. The content wasn’t,
3 stars

I didn’t read Stephanie Land’s previous memoir so I can’t compare them, but I got bored reading this. The writing was good but I just didn’t see why she had a need to write a second memoir. It just didn’t really hold my attention or offer anything different.