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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
it was great! at times, it felt like horror. but also too long in the middle.
3.5/5
An interesting premise that makes you reexamine how women, particularly women of color and/or single mothers, are judged as mothers by society. But at the end of it all I think this novel was just a tad too heavy-handed for me for the core of the story, then opted for a vague ending. Fascinating premise, but reading it felt so heavy for no reason. I felt like I was stuck in that training facility. And maybe that's part of the purpose of the oppressive writing style, which is totally valid, I just think it made the reading experience less pleasant for me (not that this book was ever going to be a "good time," but you know what I mean).
An interesting premise that makes you reexamine how women, particularly women of color and/or single mothers, are judged as mothers by society. But at the end of it all I think this novel was just a tad too heavy-handed for me for the core of the story, then opted for a vague ending. Fascinating premise, but reading it felt so heavy for no reason. I felt like I was stuck in that training facility. And maybe that's part of the purpose of the oppressive writing style, which is totally valid, I just think it made the reading experience less pleasant for me (not that this book was ever going to be a "good time," but you know what I mean).
If I could describe this book in one word I would say "infuriating." I became so invested in the characters and the story that every moment of injustice (and trust me, there was a lot) made me want to tear my hair out.
In short, single mother Frida Liu has one "very bad day," leaving her toddler unattended at home for 2 hours. Reported by a nosy neighbor, Frida is sent to a Big Brother-type reform program so she can learn to be a "good mother" and regain custody of her daughter. Slowly, the school reveals itself to be more and more disturbing as the women strive towards the unattainable goal of angelic motherhood.
"The School for Good Mothers" gives you so much to think about—I would really be interested to see what a book club or college seminar had to say about it. Chan sheds a lot of light on how we view motherhood compared to fatherhood, and what types of mothers we deem "acceptable." Most of the inmates are POC sent to reform school for microscopic offenses like letting their child walk home from school alone. The few white mothers are mostly there for violent crimes, like hitting or burning their children with cigarettes. Once the story reaches the merge with the school for bad fathers, it becomes VERY evident just how different the standards are for "bad mothering" versus "bad fathering." Essentially, if your child isn't your sole reason for living and breathing, you are a bad mother. I think this speaks a lot towards our societal ideology that mothers essentially lose their identities the moment they pop out a kid, whereas fathers doing the bare minimum is considered laudable. All of this considered, I think it's easy to understand Frida's desperate and crazed mental state towards the end of the book because wow... that ending was not what I expected. Chan did an excellent job fleshing out Frida's personhood and her declining mental state over the course of one long year in reform school.
However, I do wish there was a bit more of the story dedicated to world-building. While Frida's interiority is fascinating, it doesn't provide a whole lot of insight as to how society grew so dystopian so rapidly. I think if that was fleshed out a little better, it could've made the story more believable and hit closer to home. Although I was really invested in finding out the outcome of the story, at times, the pacing was a little slow and the plot lines repetitive. Not enough to deter me from reading, but enough that the story grew faintly dull at certain repetitive moments.
Basically, this story just affirmed my decision to never have kids. 4/5 stars.
In short, single mother Frida Liu has one "very bad day," leaving her toddler unattended at home for 2 hours. Reported by a nosy neighbor, Frida is sent to a Big Brother-type reform program so she can learn to be a "good mother" and regain custody of her daughter. Slowly, the school reveals itself to be more and more disturbing as the women strive towards the unattainable goal of angelic motherhood.
"The School for Good Mothers" gives you so much to think about—I would really be interested to see what a book club or college seminar had to say about it. Chan sheds a lot of light on how we view motherhood compared to fatherhood, and what types of mothers we deem "acceptable." Most of the inmates are POC sent to reform school for microscopic offenses like letting their child walk home from school alone. The few white mothers are mostly there for violent crimes, like hitting or burning their children with cigarettes. Once the story reaches the merge with the school for bad fathers, it becomes VERY evident just how different the standards are for "bad mothering" versus "bad fathering." Essentially, if your child isn't your sole reason for living and breathing, you are a bad mother. I think this speaks a lot towards our societal ideology that mothers essentially lose their identities the moment they pop out a kid, whereas fathers doing the bare minimum is considered laudable. All of this considered, I think it's easy to understand Frida's desperate and crazed mental state towards the end of the book because wow... that ending was not what I expected. Chan did an excellent job fleshing out Frida's personhood and her declining mental state over the course of one long year in reform school.
However, I do wish there was a bit more of the story dedicated to world-building. While Frida's interiority is fascinating, it doesn't provide a whole lot of insight as to how society grew so dystopian so rapidly. I think if that was fleshed out a little better, it could've made the story more believable and hit closer to home. Although I was really invested in finding out the outcome of the story, at times, the pacing was a little slow and the plot lines repetitive. Not enough to deter me from reading, but enough that the story grew faintly dull at certain repetitive moments.
Basically, this story just affirmed my decision to never have kids. 4/5 stars.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF. 52% but my kindle trial ended. I was enjoying the immigrant perspective and it started off super interesting (love a good dystopian) but it was honestly getting very repetitive and it wasn’t a book that I was rushing to read or excited to pick up.
Maybe it’s because of where I am in life- feeling the barrage of parenting do's and don'ts, never feeling like I am making the right mothering decisions- but I related to this book in a unique way. In this book, the main character makes a bad decision and is sent to "The School for Good Mothers" to try to reform her. While it is in a sci-fi world, to me the comment the author might have been making about what a "good mother" is, is not lost on me. Make all the right decisions, never allow your own feelings to get in the way, lose yourself for your child or you are a narcissist. Parenting advice in this generation can be very difficult, with constantly changing often conflicting messages. I thought it didn’t need to be as long as it was, some scenes could have been cut without losing the meaning, and I did not quite like the ending, but I’m not sure what I would have wanted in an end.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced