Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land

32 reviews

byashleylamar's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

kasmorgan's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Gaslighting

avvamapia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This was a good memoir. I think the time line of somethings confused me (like her saying she lived in Alaska? Maybe I missed it but that piece of information came out of nowhere for me) and while it didn't detract from the message and the sympathy I felt for her struggle I was just confused by it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

katie0528's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

Stephanie tells of life as a single mother. After deciding not to attend college after getting pregnant early in a new relationship, she winds up in a series of bad relationships, becomes homeless, and has to navigate endless government red tape in order to keep her infant daughter from starving. By taking on a series of cleaning jobs and gaining support from coworkers, clients, and case workers, Stephanie grasps a modecum of comfort time and time again only to have it snatched away again. While it is a seemingly realistic portrayal of life in poverty, including the restrictions on government aid, the social stigma in using it, and the lack of quality for what aid can even be used for, this book does feel a little inspiration porn-y. Strephanie was able to break the cyle of poverty, attend University of Montana, and publish her book. The second half of the book, Land constantly brings up how she will one day escape, and then

all of a sudden she gets a scholarship to support her move, her abusive ex quite literally disappears from her life

and everything magically falls together, with Land quite literally walking into the sunset at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Poverty

rachelflom's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

A compelling and inspiring story about a mother determined to improve her and her daughter's life circumstances. It was incredibly relatable and motivating, though some parts of the book were slightly triggering to those who have experienced financial difficulties, poverty, single parenting, or domestic violence. Overall, a great story and I can't wait to read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse

crybabybea's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.75

A good reminder that you never know the extent of what someone is going through, or the reason behind the decisions they make, and to have a little more empathy. 

I appreciated the look inside the complicated nature of navigating extreme poverty and homelessness, and single motherhood. I especially found it eye-opening to see the unnecessarily judgmental and harsh standards placed on those seeking help either via social services or homeless/domestic violence shelters. 

I found it hard to get through the middle portion of the book as the author spent a lot of time detailing the different homes she cleaned while working as a maid. Though I recognize the purpose of these scenes and think they did a great job juxtaposing the author's struggle to live with the privilege of those she worked for.

I think someone who doesn't know a lot about poverty or the experience of being poor would gain more knowledge from this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, and Classism

parcoeur's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Mental illness and Medical trauma

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

3.5

For the past few weeks, my Tiktok has been FULL of clips from the Netflix adaptation of this book, which was enough to make me curious about it. The book itself was ok (though clearly Netflix added a lot of their own content to it - almost nothing I've seen of the series is actually from the book). I understand other reviewers' surprise that Stephanie was 28 when the events of the book began, but I will also take a moment to acknowledge that while I'm currently 28, I have a huge amount of privileges that she has not and comparing where I am at 28 to where Land was is not useful.

While I was definitely frustrated with Land's decisions at times, I'll also say that I'm really not someone who can judge, having never been in her position. I will say that my critique of the book is a bit more to do with how things were sometimes laid out (some things got rushed through while others felt dragged out), but the book was solid and Land told her story in a really interesting way. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

God was this good and impactful. Just a really clear look at how poverty looks in this godforsaken country, and how you can't "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" if the system is set up to make sure that you can't move forward. And Ms. Land didn't even have systemic racism working against her! Just. incredible and so important.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

juliarenae's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.0

showed the reality, raw, and honest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Classism