It's shameful how Michiganders all over the Great Lakes state do not have access to safe drinking water. Flint is the best known and worst to date tragedy, but it's not the only one. This book laid out the crisis from the birth of Flint to present day, and it helped me get a clear picture of what happened and how it was covered up. This isn't just a story about how prominent leaders and government failed Flint residents; it's a warning that Flint's crisis isn't an anomaly. All local, state and federal governments need to prioritize replacing old lead pipes so that citizens have access to clean water. Look to Madison and Lansing for examples of how that can be accomplished.

When a book alternates between the past and the present, I usually like the story taking place in the past better. That's no different for this book. I really liked the story taking place in the past and how the women's paths met, but I really disliked the story in the present. That dislike turned to disgust the more I read until the reveal of the spirit's identity when I just completely lost interest in the book. A two star rating is generous because I liked the story set in the past so much, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

I liked some of this and didn't like some of it. I thought it would be more focused on how hard it is to work a minimum wage job and support a family, never being able to climb out of poverty. Instead there was a lot of descriptions of the houses she cleaned. Detailed descriptions that I could have done without. I would have preferred less memoir and more research about living and surviving day to day in poverty.

I see a lot of people think the author is whiny, failing to own up to her own poor decisions. That's sad to me. Yes, she made some bad decisions, but she didn't have hardly any family support. Also, women in one abusive relationship often end up in another in an unending cycle. In Land's case, that started with her own parents and then with her continuous search for a partner and a family. It's also sad that people are down on her for being too ashamed to take advantage of food pantries and other support. It's my experience that people living in poverty are proud and often think there are people worse off that need that support more. People who harp on her for buying organic for her daughter (while she survives on coffee and ramen) or for not using her tax refund to magically fix her problems are the reason people are ashamed to use SNAP or other aid.

I wish this had focused more on how hard it is to survive on minimum wage. It does touch a lot on how hard it is to get and continue to receive government support. I'm not sure people fully understand how much valuable time it takes to keep qualifying for support when people could be working.

Overall, I'm sorry to see this wasn't written a little differently, and that instead of drawing sympathy and rallying people to push for legislation to improve the system that it instead feeds into stereotypes that people already believe.