Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

24 reviews

cartermon4's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was so frustrated throughout the book, but it definitely hints at real world inequalities and insane expectations for mothers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Grief, Addiction, Sexism, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Animal death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Stalking, Racism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Xenophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Car accident

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jesus fucking christ

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Confinement, Child abuse, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Suicide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Rape, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Car accident

crystalsparkles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Highly recommend checking out the trigger warnings first and only read if you can truly handle them.  This book is soooo good.  The story had me raging, and bawling, frustrated by injustice and hopeful… It is devastating. There were times when I didn’t know if I could finish the story, because it almost hits too hard. Especially in the global political climate, who’s to say this is too far of a stretch for North America sometime in the nearish future.  It will surely make you question your own parenting.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Racism, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Classism, Alcoholism, Violence, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Alcohol, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, and Blood

Minor: Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Cancer

bookdragonkatie's review

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Infuriating. An extremely well-written and well-crafted novel, but absolutely infuriating and heart-wrenching. Check TW/CW before picking this one up; it is not a book I would recommend to just anyone, but I do think those who enjoy dystopian novels, particularly those novels that feel real or that they *could* see happening in the near future, will enjoy this read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Bullying

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Addiction, Cursing, Self harm, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Confinement, Racism, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Pregnancy, and Violence

junglejelly's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I couldn't put this book down at times. It's so immersive and gripping.

The characters aren't loveable but they're incredibly relatable. They're not prefect but make a great comparison to how high expectations are held for mothers in this world.

I found the plot gripping but predictable in the way that I wasn't surprised at what came next. I've read a few reviews saying the events are not believable but I found them to be a little too believable (e.g.

the constant contradictory behaviour of the instructors and expectations of the school and the lower expectations for the fathers

).

As someone who is not a parent, I still felt the devastation come from the characters. It was hard not to relate to them all (yes even Gus and Susanna) under such awful circumstances.

Overall a very good but sad book with contrasting features making it a compelling read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Grief, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Self harm

msbarnesela's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is speculative fiction…for now. It’s a brutal representation of the ways that society expects motherhood to look, the ways that we add expectations and judgments but never real supports. The inequality of expectation and blame for mothers when compared to fathers. The way that a system that says it’s trying to do what’s best for children but so often doesn’t. There’s also some AI ethics issues in the background—surveillance, tech-driven diagnosis of human emotions, and the cruelty of creating robots with real human feelings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Self harm, Pregnancy, Suicide, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, and Infidelity

cryfest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

ottercorg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A heavy read with a slow first half, I did enjoy this one. An interesting premise full of antagonists that made me want to pull my hair out for their ignorance, but not enough to make me want to stop reading. 

I appreciated Chan's writing style and characters, and for once also appreciated the open ending. 

I think a true happy ending wouldn't have been appropriate, but a true sad/negative ending would've been overkill or too much to take.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Suicide

kelseyysaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

taysbooktalk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

There are not words for this book, and not in a good way. I like to think if a book had me sobbing, nearly to a panic attack, and I will never forget- that it was an amazing book. It’s not. It’s intentionally meant to rip you apart and trigger you. It’s sold as a dystopian. It’s not. It’s weird and uncomfortable and gut wrenching. This not a Nicholas Sparks or Kristen Hannah book. This is not sad book that tells a story. This is not made to entertain you. It’s not made to make a difference or touch lives. This is made to hurt people. I don’t know that I will ever recover from this book. PLEASE DON’T READ THIS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Body shaming, Car accident, Eating disorder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Grief, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Vomit