Take a photo of a barcode or cover
myreaderacct 's review for:
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
by Stephanie Land
medium-paced
I'm going back and forth between trying to figure out if I have a lot of unresolved, unconscious classism, or if Stephanie Land just. . .isn't a very good person. I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Yes, absolutely, the US welfare system is completely inadequate and fails the people it serves. But also, Land repeatedly makes decisions that are head scratching, to say the least. I think the itch at the back of my mind that Stephanie is a more. . .complicated person than her book portrays is her description of her friendships throughout the book: she mentions that she will never be able to reciprocate support in her friendship, and cuts off people at the slightest perceived fault even as they ferry her across the state. She just doesn't seem to allow for anyone else to have hardships, complex lives, or responsibilities of their own while expecting everyone to give her grace. See also: while struggling to feed her kid, working/going to school full time, and repeatedly stressing how she has no bandwidth or free time, she. . .adopts a dog? That she quickly admits isn't house trained. What is she feeding the dog? How is she paying for vet bills for things like rabies shots? She also mentions that her kid starts wetting the bed, a classic sign of abuse, after coming back from her abusive fathers, and there is absolutely no follow up on this. Nor is there any follow up on why the kid told the mom she should expect a call from the principle. Also, she goes around telling people that the Matt (Mark?) guy might be the father of her child, but never actually reaches out to him to let him know he might have a kid. People make mistakes, but there's hardly any self reflection.
Her writing is solid, though repetitive in parts (did Carhartt pants sponsor this book?) and meandering in others. Land narrates her audio book, which in my opinion is a mistake, as she's a very flat, non-engaging narrator. I guess I don't regret reading the book, given that I finished it, and it does highlight the deficiencies of US social services in between what stories about villains her professors are or how she absolutely needs an MFA to find a job. If I had to sum up this book in one word, it would be: frustrating. Both about the realities of the US social system and the author herself.
Her writing is solid, though repetitive in parts (did Carhartt pants sponsor this book?) and meandering in others. Land narrates her audio book, which in my opinion is a mistake, as she's a very flat, non-engaging narrator. I guess I don't regret reading the book, given that I finished it, and it does highlight the deficiencies of US social services in between what stories about villains her professors are or how she absolutely needs an MFA to find a job. If I had to sum up this book in one word, it would be: frustrating. Both about the realities of the US social system and the author herself.