Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

14 reviews

jess_eliza's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Abandonment, Suicide, Cursing, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Racism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Alcohol and Lesbophobia

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

clo_l's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

I really wanted to love this book but I don’t. I was expecting it to be more intense, mind-bending, and full of twists. It was so slow & boring. I don’t hate it, I just don’t particularly like it and I probably wouldn’t recommend it. As a young, new mother who struggles with postpartum depression & anxiety, I can relate to a good bit of things from this book. For that, I appreciate it but honestly, that’s all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment

Minor: Self harm, Rape, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Cancer, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Bullying, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Infertility, Cursing, Child abuse, Car accident, and Blood

honeymoonleo's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Confinement, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Homophobia, Suicide, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Deportation

ohheytaylorrae's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

pjwanders's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Addiction, Gaslighting, and Medical trauma

superstar_y2k's review

when the adult main character describes herself during sex as “embarrassed by the limitations of her little girl body” and “built like a teenage girl” (pg 51) i’m no longer interested in the book.  
i feel like the book focuses a lot on Frida’s flaws and depression, but in a justification type of way as if she didn’t actually endanger her child.  the summary makes it’s seem like it’s a silly little accident that gets Frida into the “school for bad mothers” but no. it’s literal child neglect and endangerment.  i find it difficult to like any of the characters mentioned. 
there’s also a dub-con moment where Frida kisses a character (and completely reveals herself to him) despite him telling her he didn’t want to kiss (pg 37) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Body shaming

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse and Body shaming

lastokes61's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Frida Liu is an overworked,  exhausted, divorced Mom who has a very bad day. She leaves her 18 month old daughter alone for 2 hours, and gets caught. This reckless act causes her to lose custody of Harriett.  To regain custody Frida must attend a 12 month re-education program for mothers, where the mantra is " I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good."  The "reform school" has the mothers under constant surveillance.  Their trainers are mostly childless women and the mothers are forced to bond with robot children and care for them under every conceivable situation.  The issues of race, gender imbalance in parenting, mental health, isolation, and the state dictating "perfect" parenting styles are all at play here. This is a very Orwellian.  So much to discuss about in this book. This is an intense and capivatiing debut novel. Definitely worth a read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Outing, Classism, Vomit, Self harm, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

taysbooktalk's review

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

apollinares's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

This book made me deeply uncomfortable, sad, furious, exhausted. It takes a lot of skill for an author to evoke that much in a reader all at once. I like how raw and honest the portrayal of Frida's ordeal was, and how processing grief and one's own mistakes is presented as a non-linear, messy process. 

Frida isn't a likeable character. She's convinced us of it on page one, and she's convinced herself of it long before. As someone whose mother made mistakes she deeply regrets, and as someone who has had many conversations with her about what those mistakes did to both of us, I genuinely feel for Frida. I've seen other reviews condemn her, and it's really interesting to me where a reader would draw the line on what they find unacceptable in a parent, and how much they're willing to dehumanise a mother/discredit her emotional needs, when they learn the mother has made a mistake that caused her child harm. I'm not trying to excuse abuse, it's just fascinating how quickly someone's empathy for a person, and their sense of nuance, disappears when the person in the wrong is a parent. I mean, people are rating the book lower because the protagonist has done something wrong and that makes the book supposedly bad. The point is right there, guys, come on...

The way blame is placed in the book is interesting to me, too - how the women are treated as irredeemable, and how the state would rather interfere once harm has been caused (and arguably proceed to traumatise the child even more) than offer parents mental health support before mistakes like this can occur. It's infuriating to experience and to process, and when the fathers were introduced, I became so much angrier knowing how much easier they supposedly have it. 

The ending is tragic and inevitable. I don't know how else Chan could have ended this book. Frida's unravelling is addicting, and sad, and I couldn't look away the whole time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Bullying, Medical content, Mental illness, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit