Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

375 reviews

theemptybox's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Emotionally wrecked from this book. As a mixed Asian-American, a lot of these lines hit HARD and a lot of the scenarios were very familiar. As someone with little to no maternal instincts, a lot of this book was teeth grinding and wanting to yell at the background characters. 

There is no wrong or right way to raise a child but there are some universal ways that should be included for every child. This book is thought provoking in ways I never would have guessed. Along with the question of what makes a good mother, this book challenges racial, sexual, and gender questions. It's a psychological horror and I loved it. 

I loved how quickly it moves while also layering back sometimes to provide context. I was on the edge of my seat for a good chunk of it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Physical abuse, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

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

kezharri's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Really enjoyed the concept but feel the ending was confusing and a little anti climatic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Self harm, Violence, Sexual content, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

_nem_'s review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

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

alex_heald's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Suicide

dc32's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book had a really good, interesting, incredibly prescient, and tragic idea to explore: how parents, especially parents of color, are criminalized by the state. The book delves into really interesting conceptions of how the state views motherhood v. fatherhood, how mothers are criminalized, how the state kinda wants moms to become a docile, selfless, unfeeling in the right ways, feeling the right ways robot. I thought that the school's ridiculous curriculum had a lot of depth to explore that didn't get explored. I almost wish we had a syllabus or written materials in the book. This book was very tell, not show. While the concepts were nuanced and dystopic in an important mirror-to-our-world way, the writing glossed over a lot of opportunities to delve into those concepts. In that sense, it read to me like a draft of an adapted short story. I wish that Chan spent more time exploring the world building and the eerie, surveillance-state society that we are placed into, and less time on the perseverations and internal monologue of our main character. For this reason, the middle of the book kinda dragged and felt repetitive. And, there was a lot of depth that was left on the table, unexplored. I think this is a good book for folks who don't know much about the US child welfare system and an important book out there, just wish that it had more narrative depth!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

cheskams's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

4.75

A bit of a difficult read, filled with raw emotion. The world is very cleverly and well built. The language is creative and poignant. I was uncomfortable for much of my time reading, but in the way that I was so deeply immersed in Frida's story and the school. Truly brilliant.

My only criticism is how slow the beginning of the story is. I felt it took up too large of a chunk of the entire story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide and Child death

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

I was having a browse through some reviews of this one when I finished it and saw somebody comment that it would make a great limited TV series, and that immediately made me realise why it didn’t resonate with me as much as I thought it would. It has that almost-cinematic feel, where it sometimes seems like the author is writing specifically to see a scene played out on TV. The random forbidden romance thrown in, the draggy middle section, the coolly evil instructors, a lot of it feels written with a TV show in mind. And don’t get me wrong, it’d be a bloody compelling TV show!

Frida makes a huge mistake while looking after her daughter one day, but instead of a slap on the wrist, the state makes her participate in a newly rolled out programme to rehabilitate bad mothers. Separated from their children for a year, the mothers are sent to a defunct university campus to undergo 12 months’ of brutal training to become the best mothers they can be.

I enjoyed the commentary around issues like racism and misogyny, and obviously the sheer volume of responsibilities heaped on a mother’s shoulders (dads get more lenient punishments). But the middle of this book dragged so much. Chan obviously had a very clear idea of the school’s syllabus, but honestly I feel like the amount of description lessened the impact.

Frustrating and eerie, but not as powerful as I anticipated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Suicide, and Confinement