Class is Stephanie Land’s follow up to her debut memoir, Maid. Stephanie is a single mother that has just moved to Missoula, Montana in the hopes of completing her BA and getting into an MFA program at the same school.

Like her last book, Stephanie continues to detail the tedious beauracracy of the court system and assistance programs. She explains the many hurdles in trying to further her education and improve her circumstances with piecemeal support from those around her.

The personal choices Land makes may be hard for some to reconcile, but it’s not for those with more privilege and resources to judge. I liked her honesty and how it made me confront my own initial feelings.

This is a straightforward, thought-provoking work filled with one woman’s love for her family and her craft.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Having been deeply affected by Maid, Land's first memoir, I eagerly anticipated this one. It was a comfort to be back with Land to make sure she is succeeding in a world intent on pushing back. Class takes us through Land's senior year of college (which she is in her mid-thirties) and the tribulations of uncaring adjudicators, dismissive profs, nasty ex's, unexpected developments and as always, little support. When a very minor but unexpected cash windfall means Land and her daughter can go to the grocery store to get whatever they want, Land's daughter's wish is for strawberries - a stark reminder that something as simple and necessary as fresh fruit remains out of reach for many hard working North Americans. Land's second memoir is raw, honest and important. Thanks to Atria /One Signal Publishers and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

Excellent follow up to Maid! Land’s detailing of the systems in the US that keep the poor poor while shaming them for it is something everyone needs to be aware of.

I was so excited to receive an advanced copy of Class. Although I hadn't had a chance to read her previous memoir, Maid, I had watched Stephanie Land's story play out in the Netflix series.

I typically don't rate or review memoirs because it's someone's life story. If I do, I'll usually speak to the writing or execution of their story and avoid the actual content. Although the writing was strong, which is good considering she studies writing, I had a hard time with the actual content of the book. Land had many factors working against her and I cannot deny that she had some major challenges to overcome. Still, I struggled to empathize with her decision-making, whether it was her relationships with men, or leaving her child with people she barely knew, it was hard to root for her.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for an ARC of Class in exchange for my honest review.

Writing a review of a memoir always feels strange to me because no matter which way you spin it, you are essentially writing a review of someone's life. So I will tread carefully here! Another disclaimer -- I have not read or watched "Maid." I know, I know.

The good: Land's writing style is fantastic. I love her conversational, but still structured tone. "Class" was paced perfectly and it held my attention the whole way through. Land frequently talks about the word and concept of being relentless, and she certainly proves herself as that - and then some! The word I kept coming back to though was tenacious. I admire her ability to turn her story into something tangible and real, something marketable and profitable. I also deeply admire her total tenacity to just be. a. writer. If we could all be so brave!

The reason for the 4 and not 5 star review: again, it feels just plain icky to review memoirs sometimes, but I frequently found myself struggling to understand some of Land's decisions, and therefore the story fell a little flat for me. Some of the chapters (essays?) felt repetitive, consistently going through the arc of, "this sucks, everything is unfair, this is my life so I just have to get over it" rinse and repeat. But if that's her life and story...see "the good" above.

All in all, I enjoyed this and it certainly gave me a lot of food for thought about my own privilege.

Remember Maid? A great Netflix show, and a great book (picked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019),
In Class, Stephanie continues the story of herself - the housecleaner where she last left off, on her way to college.

A very hard and intense read, Class includes a chronology of Stephanie's experiences as well as provides
insight and critique on the treatment of the under-resourced in the United States

At times, it's hard to reconcile with her choices romantically, but you cannot help but root for Stephanie as she raised her daughter, navigates the bureaucracy and tries to complete her college degree against all the odds.
This is a great story to share with others, discuss in book groups and I certainly look forward to see it on Netflix!
#Atria #Class #StephanieLand

I have a strong suspicion that many readers who loved MAID will have a much harder time with CLASS. Whereas in her first memoir, Land presents herself as someone working at all hours to scrape enough cash together to live, in CLASS, Land is fed up with the myth of resilience: instead, she prioritizes her own edification and her own pleasure, while providing for her daughter. I suspect that for a certain brand of reader, Land's likability takes a hit in this second memoir: she swears, she has sex, and she wants desperately to be able to receive the education she deserves. ('Deserves' might rankle those same readers...) Here, Land is defiant and dares to assert that she is entitled to pursuing her dreams and that it's, frankly, bullshit to say that she only deserves assistance if she's working herself ragged and making herself and her family as small and needless as possible. I respect the hell out of Land for her choices in structuring this memoir, and I wonder how much of what she chose to include here was a reaction to years of touring bookstores and libraries, presenting her story to the same sort of women who would've wrinkled their noses at her when she was a single mom looking for work.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

OMG, can Stephanie write or what?!! Another beautifully- written, heart string tugging memoir by the same author that gave us "Maids". Her writing is so captivating and touching, my heart was aching after I read this book.

Stephanie, you've really found your calling, you're born to be an author, and please don't stop sharing your story. I cannot wait to read what's in the next chapters of your life.

To begin, I feel the need to say that it feels a bit wrong to review something so personal. I loved "Maid." I re-read it before diving into it's sequel.

The author's voice felt different, and there's a lot of repeated background or anecdotes re-told in each chapter. It makes this feel more like a collection of essays all telling the same story. There wasn't a strong plot like "Maid." It was also never explained how Mia began to be called Emilia.

Many of these anecdotes are Land trying to justify bad decisions. I don't want to delver further into judging them, so I'll just leave it at that.

All that being said, Land definitely has a strong writing style. I'm interested in seeing if she ever publishes any fiction in the future.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

I haven’t read or seen Maid. I know the gist of what it’s about but my mom told me it reminded her of her past traumas so I thought I’d sit that one out. Also, the whole poor, single mom thing with very limited support? Relive my childhood? No thanks.

Well, here I am reading Class. And yep, lots of reminders of my early life. Her history with men reminds me a lot of people I know’s histories with men. Terrible, abusive relationships with trash dumpster fire men.

This is also a close up look of how our social “support” system fails single moms/women in general. Land goes into great detail of how she navigated the system and exactly how much money she received. I’m a person who appreciates knowing these details so I liked that. She doesn’t sugarcoat that she simply needed food stamps and that was that. She goes into how she got them, what she could and could not spend them on, how much she received, and how to renew them. She doesn’t go into the politics around it even though I think her experience can surely help people understand the inadequacies of the system.

Overall, this took me a while to read because it dug up a lot of pain from being poor earlier in my life and how hard I worked to be less poor. I had to put this down a lot because of the stress and pain I felt reading about her struggle. I didn’t have the exact same level of poverty but I felt her pain and could definitely relate. Her experience was powerful and energized a part of me I had long forgotten. Thank you for that.

I watched the film of Land’s first book Maid and really liked it. This book, however, I have mixed feelings about. Land is still cleaning houses but now she is attending college in Montana with hopes of getting an MFA. Out of necessity she shares an apartment with a revolving door of roommates who help babysit her daughter Emilia who is six. Land describes the problems she has with meeting expenses while attending school. Land’s abusive ex, Emilia’s father, sends some support but his role in his daughter’s life is inconsistent at best. While I respect the author’s efforts to better herself, I found her stream of boyfriends disturbing. Her need for someone in her bed is like someone else’s need for food. She is fine with uncommitted relationships. When she finds herself pregnant for a third time, she isn’t totally sure who the father is. Apart from that, she takes risks and, though money for food is sometimes hard to come, by she seems to have plenty for bar drinks and cigarettes. Her descriptions of somewhat risky behavior took away from my ability to feel sympathy for her situation. She redeems herself by the end of the story but I still found parts of this disturbing. 3.5 stars for me. I thank Atria books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The sequel to Maid, Land outlines her battles with social services and the men she chose as fathers to her girls.

A much anticipated sequel to the House Maid. Class did not disappoint. I loved getting to follow stephanie through college and getting to read more about Emilia as she got older. My only complaint is I feel the story is a little all over the place. I feel as though the first book was better organized. Stephanie portrays the immense love she has for her child and the struggle of trying to get a degree and better herself while fighting against poverty. She shows the true struggle as a single mom. Overall a great read and definitely recommend to those who love memoirs!

I’ve been torn by my reaction to this book and thinking how I want to review it. I thought MAID was so well done and I felt a tremendous amount of empathy for the author and the struggles she faced. Reading CLASS, I find it hard to muster up that same level of empathy. Especially because I think she endured a whole heck of a lot of struggle that maybe wasn’t necessary because she’s already a talented writer and didn’t need a class on Shakespeare to hone her voice. It’s tough to be a single mom. And higher learning does seem more out of reach to some than it should. But I found myself numerous times reading this book and thinking there were instances where she made things tougher for herself and her child than was necessary.

She’s a talented writer so it’s not a bad book. But it evoked some conflicting thoughts for me!

I received this book as an ARC and the opinions are my own.

TW: Language, abortion, classism, graphic sex scenes, child abandonment, abuse, toxic parent relationship, gaslighting, cheating

<b><big>*****SPOILERS*****</b></big>
<b>About the book:</b>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.
<b>Release Date:</b> November 7th, 2023
<b>Genre:</b> Memoir
<b>Pages:</b> 288
<b>Rating:</b> ⭐

<b>What I Liked:</b>
1. The beginning

<b>What I Didn't Like:</b>
1. Graphic sex scene(s)
2. The book from page 50 and on
3. She's acting like the victim

<b>Overall Thoughts:</b>
I <b>loved</b> Maid and it was a 5 - star for me. I related to the story and devoured it.

Ah this book stated off so good. I was tabbing and underlining everything. The author had so much to say and she made me remember how hard life was to deal when going through all of this. Sadly what lost me was around page 48 where the author time and time again mentions how she'll leave her daughter with pretty much anyone that talks to her. She buys underage people beer as payment for watching her kid. She puts her daughter in these questionable circumstances and it made me mad. The book almost turns into this conquest of how many men can the author mention that she is sleeping with. She's very obtuse to the whole thing. I'd be questioning why all these men would want to watch my daughter.

As you continue to read on you pretty quickly lose the essence of what this book was going for, instead giving us a tell all about man after man that that the author is chasing next. At one point her ex is staying with her and she's off with another man who is seeing someone else. I lost all feelings of relatability with the author and my tabbing/highlighting got less and less. It all becames <i>relentless</i> - find random person to babysit, meet a man, ditch daughter - rinse and repeat.

Author writes in a tone where you almost forget we are reading about a woman that is in her mid 30s. I understand that being a single parent is stressful but her ex is a bum so she is stuck picking up the pieces, but there were times when it read like she didn't even want her daughter.

I am perplexed as to how the author says she struggled to even get food. She's going drinking at bars, concerts, and just hanging out doing whatever. I thought she was working all the time. When I read Maid that's how the author made it sound. I am really thinking that the person in that book is not the person in this one.

Timeline was confusing. In one section she mentions Kelly moving back and paying rent for that month, then another section Seth is picking up her daughter, so is Seth still living there when Kelly is?

The she gets mad at her friend for talking to her about the pregnancy. She's worried she can't do it. Author decides she doesn't need that negativity, which just sounded like someone was concerned. Not only that but everyone else is watching her daughter and I'd be worried to if someone pawned two kids off on me. As far as I'm concerned her friend is helping her in so many ways so she should have a say in things.

The author would say things that made me seriously question if she was old enough to understand the world - at 35. There's a part where they've taken away her food stamps and she says;
<blockquote>"My value, it seemed, was entirely based on whether or not I worked at a job that could be verified with a real pay stub." </blockquote>
Well, yeah! How else would they know how much to give you?? People could just lie about how much they make and take from people that need the assistance.

The author is so delusional. She acts like she is the victim of everything and everyone is picking on her. She gets mad at her daughter's teacher because she cares that she isn't in school or is late. The author goes on to say;
<blockquote>"Tardiness three times in one month didn’t seem like a big deal for a new kindergartner and her parent trying to get everyone used to a new routine."</blockquote>
I find it ironic that the author would make a huge deal out how important her own education is while pretty much not giving a shit about her own daughter's - saying what does it matter if she's late or misses days - I'm more important because I want to sleep or can't take the time to care about her.

Everything the author does for her kid just feels like the bare minimum. There are so many times she could get a real part time job that pays more so her and her daughter will have a little more stability but time and time again she would rather her daughter wear clothing that's too small and not even eat properly. There are SO many times where she should swallow her pride and try for her daughter. There's a part where she wants to go to the food bank but in the end says she doesn't deserve to go. What a weird thing to think; if it were for my kid I'd do anything if it meant they got food. Author just sounds like she's always just out to help herself and cares only about herself.

Author spends more time trying to get money off of her ex than actually getting a job that pays. She already get child support but she wants more money. I find it funny that on page 16 this happens;
<blockquote>"“Does he pay child support ?” she asked, and I nodded. “Well, if he has less visitation, then he owes more in support. It’s that simple.” </blockquote>
And then on page 221;
<blockquote>"Emilia had never been to a therapist before, and part of the reason I felt it was so important now was to document what I suspected was emotional abuse that my daughter experienced. Though difficult, I knew the therapy sessions would be necessary if I wanted to modify our parenting plan.">
Its funny because NOW she needs counseling after her child support is lowered and she wanted more - NOW her daughter needs to stop seeing her father and they need proof that the judge would side with. This woman will stop at nothing to get more money and do the less amount possible. Just because you are in college does not mean that other people - your childs parent should pay for you to do that. She also acts like she isn't playing the system working for cash because she knows they'll take her money out of her checks and she wouldn't get things from the government. I'm sure her daughter doesn't need counseling because her mom is always ditching her and leaving her with random people. Author even says her daughter acts out and I have to question if her daughter acts out because she always comes last.

Poor Sylvie is told she is a bad friend because she can't be one of the people on the list to help the author. Well, that's understandable because Sylvie has 4 kids - she can't just drop everything to help the author. That's the problem with the author. She expects everyone to understand her experiences but then when someone else can't do something they are branded a bad friend. The author is the bad friend. No matter what happen do for her she just expects it. She's always needing something. She now has 9 people on that list of people to help but she stops being friends with someone like a child because they can't do it. There is no way this author is 35.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
This book started off good. I was enthralled but that died off pretty quickly. Memoirs are always a tricky thing because you either come out loving the person or hating them. While I don't hate

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/One Signal Publishers for this ARC of Class by Stephanie Land.

This is the follow-up to the popular Maid by the author, and I enjoyed continuing on Land’s journey to rise from poverty and dependence to success and independence.

Land consistently has a, “You made your bed now lie in it” reprimand running through her head, the “bed” being efforts to accomplish things that would constitute ambition and self-improvement. Going to college for a Bachelor’s degree and striving for an MBA as a financially-dependent single mother form Land’s central internal struggles.

I did not find the author to seem self-victimized. It is true that in our society the poor are not judged to be as deserving socially and economically as the solvent. For this I felt sympathy for Land. That she was a single mother who decides to have a second child (a right of any young woman regardless of station in life) brings even more challenge and judgment. Social, political, and familial boundaries consistently challenge Land’s plan to do what financially-secure people do everyday to build and life and are taken for granted. For economically poor Land, she is made to feel selfish and foolish for trying to obtain an education while in her insolvent state.

I resonated with many of Land’s circumstance due to my own younger life as a struggling college student, and so I felt great empathy while reading this book.

Stephanie Land leaves out no detail of her shame and struggle while tirelessly trying to build a better life for her and her children’s future. I do not relate to single motherhood but Land’s experience is sympathetic - as a human being.

Initially I was unsure about inclusion of her sexual experiences. I suppose those were included to show that Land had - and again, deserved- the same human experiences as anyone else, wise or not.

Overall I admire the author for her relentless courage and strength to persevere toward her goals despite the many social, familial, political, and personal obstacles she faced as a self-employed, poor, full-time student and single mother.

Four stars.

Since I already read and fell in love with Maid I clearly had to read her next book. Honestly, I feel like people do not give Stephanie enough credit. This is a memoir about her life as a single mother while going to school and her struggles. I loved this book just as much as the first one because in the end SHE MADE IT. She is a New York Times Bestselling Author and is doing a kick butt job at it!

Another great book by Stephanie Land. She tells the story just like it is. Sh never holds back. This book opened my eyes to see how people can be treated despite their class. She shows us what it is like to have no money, home , or food. She digs deep and keeps going to get her degree. We need more people like her with grit and determination. A must read for all ages.

Following Maid, the events of this memoir follow Lands life of motherhood, dreams, and education while fighting to overcome poverty and beg the question who deserves the right to art, education, and what kind of work is valued in our culture as individuals and as mothers.

I was thrilled to see what was next for Land! I had such high hopes after reading Maid (highly recommend). I won’t criticize the story specifically as they are the authors real life events and decisions and I don’t feel it’s right for me to say she should have made different decisions. I couldn’t help but be frustrated as I read as Land spends much time speaking on the trials of motherhood while setting herself as a victim of circumstance. The writing is excellent. It’s compelling and thought provoking. It evoked frustration, anger, compassion, sadness, and hope. All things you would hope to get from a memoir. Her perseverance is admirable in the entirety.

Stephanie Land is no stranger to sharing her story. In the book Maid, Land talked about her experience of over coming domestic violence and moving her family of two to Missoula to follow her dreams of being a writer. Class tells the stories of the challenges she faces as a single mom while juggling cleaning job and a pending bachelors degree. Readers may identify with her struggles, but if not, Stephanie’s stories will make you empathetic. The judgment single mothers face is disgusting and this book is yet another story of flawed government systems that need work. Overall, I very much enjoyed Class. Land’s style of story telling will make you laugh or make your stomach hurt. Class is a raw tale of single motherhood and the challenges they face.