Hmmmm....I want to rate this so high simply due to my love of Maid, but I just wasn't in love this time around. Stephanie grabbed our hearts in her first story about the struggles over overcoming so many obstacles to make a better life for her and her daughter. I LOVE what she was able to accomplish, portray to readers, and make happen in her life.

Class, while ultimately being intriguing, was a let down. As a mother to four I get that often we see the world through a very different lens. When our children are put into categories that feel unfair we want to pounce. I was just overall disappointed at how much judgement I felt both from me towards our author, and the judgement she also was issuing.

Overall, I did finish the read. Quite honestly I was looking for redemption. I only found a blah "I'm glad this is over" feeling. Not all books are for every reader. I appreciated reading this story and having the freedom to grant my own conclusions.
Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!

I loved Maid and it was so compelling and interesting to read more from Land, both related and different to what we've seen from her before. This made me look at and think about class in ways other books in the genre have not. I hope this gets the same praise and attention from readers because it deserves it.

I, like many other people, absolutely loved "Maid," and felt so deeply for the young woman who struggled to make ends meet and raise her daughter, so I dug into "Class" as soon as I was approved for it. And I was greatly disappointed by this book.

I don't know if it's that the woman writing it was in a different frame of mind when she put her thoughts on paper this time, but she came off as incredibly unrelatable and selfish. I spent the whole book trying not to judge her for her choices, but as a mother, I got to a point where I couldn't defend her anymore. Whether she was exaggerating her feelings for the sake of the narrative or whether it was all true, I just couldn't take her side this time.

Stephanie Land paints her heart-wrenching story of higher education while living below the poverty line as a single mom. Her writing style is so narrative that I couldn’t put it down and sometimes forgot it was a memoir. This book is so important for anyone studying higher ed, social work, therapy, or any helping profession to understand the difficulties navigating systems never meant for certain demographics.

No, the high education system is not built for people like us. But I can’t help but look at some of her own choices and wonder if they could have been handled better. Yes, a lot of it is me reflecting on my own similar experiences with professors, classmates, and finances, and feeling like I needed to blame myself. But she continuously talked about pushing friends away, but when any shared concern for her, she shut them down as being fake. She had so much insecurity and embarrassment that it limited her ability to ask for help. Sometimes she passed a lot of judgment onto others without knowing what they were really thinking. One thing I can’t stop thinking about: HOW did she do any of this without a therapist?? As a therapist, I noticed so much of this negative self-talk and speculations of others were cognitive distortions, and it could easily have been addressed in therapy. I live in an area with many social services, though, and I recognized Montana may not have had the resources for free adult therapy.

I appreciated her view on empowerment in terms of sex, birth control, raising a child, etc. But one thing that bothered me was that she never talked of using condoms. Being in your 30s and not using condoms feels… immature. You’re a college student. Condoms are free and all over campus — literally in fishbowls at the student health clinic counter. *Eye roll* The amount of times I screamed “MAKE BETTER CHOICES” at this book…

Look. I can’t say I experienced most of Land’s struggles, but I am also from a low-income family and struggled financially in college. The hardest was grad school, living off my student loans, struggling to afford toilet paper. Not being able to afford graduation fees and balking during my final semester as we all prepared for the licensing exam, something I could not afford. Because of this, Land’s memoir Class will be forever special to me. I need a follow up memoir! What happened after school? How did things turn out? She obvs got a book deal. But how did she get there?

This was such an intriguing look into a life that would be (and was) judged harshly. You wonder why motivations are what they are and Land has a great way of both explaining without excusing and acknowledging missteps. I tore through this in one sitting. I recommend for everyone......it's good to walk a mile in someone else's shoes, especially when it is so easy for our society to judge every decision and every issue.

I read this because I was so impacted by reading Maid. This isn't that book. Although I was interested in reading about how hard it was to live in poverty while in college with a child, I found myself bored at times because the writing seemed more like lists and dry recounting of daily life. I also found myself judging some of her choices (for which I give Land credit for being so brutally honest.) I think there's a more important book out there yet to be written (published?) about the struggles of being poor while trying to get a college degree.

This is the first book by this author that I've read, thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy. Land did a great job describing all of the difficulties of trying to get her degree while being a single mom: father of her child giving bare minimum assistance (and she struggled to get that!), the struggles to get financial aid from social services, child care help and then trying to juggle the money she did get to fill all of the spots that needed filling. She was living out the phrase "robbing Peter to pay Paul"!
I almost stopped reading this book several times though, because it was depressing and brought back my own memories of the financial struggles of getting through college/nursing school. Thank goodness my only struggles involved money and none of the other issues Stephanie dealt with.
The rest of my observations concerning her situation are in part, I think, a reflection of my age (70) and being a retired nurse.
I can't figure out if some of the choices she made: careless sex, no birth control which led to another child when most of the book dealt with the hardships she and her daughter lived through, never occurred to her. I just wonder where personal responsibility enters in. Are we supposed to learn it from our family of origin? She talks of the lack of support from her parents. I basically got no financial support from my parents and it was a given I would never ask them for any. Of course, back then it wasn't as easy to get mired in credit card debt as it is now.

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC of Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land in exchange for an honest review.

[book:Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive|39218350] by Stephanie Land was a book that opened my eyes to living in poverty in this country and Class had a similar effect. The author is a very talented writer and I found the book to be insightful and raw. I believe single mothers are a special kind of superhero and the fact that this woman put herself through college while living in poverty and still did the absolute best she could to take care of her little girl is really something. Telling this story is an act of bravery and is very well done.

The follow up book after Maid is a great and informative read. Author is down to earth and engages the reader right away.

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.