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cgessner 's review for:
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
by Stephanie Land
After reading Ms. Land’s debut novel “Maid”, I was really looking forward to this next book. To be honest, I was expecting more of the same: how socio-economics comes into play and makes life difficult for those who are on the bottom wrung trying to get through life each day on limited dollars.
Did I get that? Sort of. What I did get was a lot of whining early in the book about Ms. Land’s life after her divorce from her first husband. While as a reader I’m only getting one side of the story, it’s clear that there is no love lost between the two and that this guy is a loser. This plays out throughout the course of this book.
After that, I assumed I would eventually get the details about how life works against those who are hurting and not making a living wage. Instead, I got very detailed sexual exploits from a woman who goes onto blame everyone about her misfortunes. Let’s be fair, there are times in the book when Ms. Land makes some compelling arguments, mainly about food stamps and how the system doesn’t seem to work for those who are looking to go to college to make their life better. Having to show that you have a full-time job (when clearly she doesn’t) doesn’t seem to help her situation. This was the part of the book I wanted, which was: how is the system broken? How can it be fixed to provide services more adequately for people that desperately need them? But I barely got that in this book. There was barely anything in this book that highlights how the “system” works against her. She whines about it, sure; but she doesn’t go into detail too often.
Instead, I got more personal setbacks which were mainly caused by Ms. Land herself, which she doesn’t take responsibility for. At the end of the day, this book was about Land trying to get her college degree as quickly as possible in order to make her life better. While I respect that she wanted to do better for herself, everyone else pays a price along the way and “the others” are painted in a negative light for not assisting her as much as they should. To be honest, I’m kind of shocked she got as much assistance as she did based on her behavior.
The book is well written, but if you’re looking for books that highlight the injustices of the poor, I would point to Ms. Land’s first book “Maid” as a better example , or Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed”. Both are much better. This one? Not so much.
Did I get that? Sort of. What I did get was a lot of whining early in the book about Ms. Land’s life after her divorce from her first husband. While as a reader I’m only getting one side of the story, it’s clear that there is no love lost between the two and that this guy is a loser. This plays out throughout the course of this book.
After that, I assumed I would eventually get the details about how life works against those who are hurting and not making a living wage. Instead, I got very detailed sexual exploits from a woman who goes onto blame everyone about her misfortunes. Let’s be fair, there are times in the book when Ms. Land makes some compelling arguments, mainly about food stamps and how the system doesn’t seem to work for those who are looking to go to college to make their life better. Having to show that you have a full-time job (when clearly she doesn’t) doesn’t seem to help her situation. This was the part of the book I wanted, which was: how is the system broken? How can it be fixed to provide services more adequately for people that desperately need them? But I barely got that in this book. There was barely anything in this book that highlights how the “system” works against her. She whines about it, sure; but she doesn’t go into detail too often.
Instead, I got more personal setbacks which were mainly caused by Ms. Land herself, which she doesn’t take responsibility for. At the end of the day, this book was about Land trying to get her college degree as quickly as possible in order to make her life better. While I respect that she wanted to do better for herself, everyone else pays a price along the way and “the others” are painted in a negative light for not assisting her as much as they should. To be honest, I’m kind of shocked she got as much assistance as she did based on her behavior.
The book is well written, but if you’re looking for books that highlight the injustices of the poor, I would point to Ms. Land’s first book “Maid” as a better example , or Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed”. Both are much better. This one? Not so much.