Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

67 reviews

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

rei_reads's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Confinement, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, Racism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Pregnancy

afrenette's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Minor: Kidnapping and Sexual assault

natspat98's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Classism, Racism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Confinement, Violence, and Toxic relationship

therecoveringbookworm's review

dark medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, and Racism

Minor: Abandonment, Rape, and Pedophilia

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

sageysage's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Fascinating and well thought out premise/plot. The experiences the women in the book have to go through are insane and made my jaw literally drop and share passages with my partner. I wish more was revealed in the ending.

I struggled to understand if I was meant to want Frida to reunite with Harriet as her mother though. Despite her progress, I do think she was unfit to parent. However, the decision for her not to be able to visit Harriet at all felt cruel and obviously her treatment in the centre was inhumane and psychologically damaging. I really wish they revealed how the days following her kidnap of Harriet went, and if the details of the program ever leaked or if those responsible faced any consequences for their treatment of the mothers and artificial children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Rape, Police brutality, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Suicide, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Mental illness, Racism, and Miscarriage

clovetra's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

4.0

oh i want to be shot
fully i was reading this getting ready to give this 3 stars. literally the last chapter alone made this 4 stars.
im rarely a book crier but GOD the ending got me
this was so sad and for what
ngl i kind of didn't like frida? idk if i was supposed to like her or not. but by the end i defo was more. neutral. like she kind of was girlbossing too hard for me to hate her ngl
i'll be honest, it took a bit too long to get to the school part of this story. like we all know going into this book that she's going to the school. i get that it was necessary, but maybe pacing it with flashbacks would've been better? i don't know. it felt like a bit of a slog because i knew all efforts were in vain
also frida is so dumb my god. girlie really was trying to not get harriet back in that god damn school
i really enjoyed the commentary of expectations of motherhood vs fatherhood. it felt very relevant and was handled nicely.
all the characters were a bit insufferable, but i will say i did become interested in them. meryl had me in a chokehold by the end. 
this book was quite depressing, don't read this if you're a mother my god. if i had a kid and read this i would actually want to be like margaret.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Racism, Pedophilia, Child death, and Misogyny

Minor: Vomit

laurenlee2158's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Suicide attempt