Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

29 reviews

eve_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

 Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The sci-fi, dystopian bits don't really develop until about 25% into the book. It will feel like a contemporary piece at first, but give it time and things get wild.

⁕ Chan peels back all the layers of motherhood and explores how it is impacted by not only one's identities (including sexual orientation, culture, race, etc.), but also systemic sexism and white supremacy.

⁕ Moments that I thought were emotionally important to the story were completely skipped over and explained after the fact, such as Frida's final court ruling. It was frustrating to miss out on those key plot points that had been built up to throughout the story.

⁕ There are SO many characters of different ages and genders in this book. Catherine Ho's narration distinguishes each of them without detracting from the overall story

To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Self harm, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Abandonment, Grief, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual content

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

A dystopian nightmare focused on parents and parental rights.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

claries's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

for the love of GOD can a book just have a flushed out ending i am begging

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Fatphobia, Miscarriage, and Homophobia

ladykatka's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.0

I am not sure how to feel about this book. It is heart wrenching and I would not recommend it to new mothers or mother's to be as it would be very hard to read as it is a harsh look at the unrealistic expectations that we have for mother's in our society and no matter whY you do or how hard you try you will never be good enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Biphobia, Child death, Racism, Homophobia, and Suicide attempt

sarahd0825's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book and thought the idea behind it was great, but the execution was not. :/ I did like exploring the topic of what it would look like if the aunts from the handmaid's tale met modern-day CPS. However, I never developed any opinions on any of the characters and found them all a bit 2-dimensional... Frida was supposed to have a morally gray character arc, but I never really saw her character change throughout the story. Perhaps this was intentional but was just not my cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Torture, Self harm, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Death, Classism, and Alcohol

allthebooks36's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Bullying, and Homophobia

aguattery's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

The first quarter was tough to get through. It took me a while to adjust to the present tense writing style. There was good representation but it did feel a little over the top at times throughout the book, not adding anything to the story.  

After the first quarter I really enjoyed it and there were a few moments that actually made me emotional. Overall I think it's a well done dystopian novel that made me feel angry and frustrated in a good way. I think the ending was actually a little clever - providing closure but not in the way you would expect. I like that it wasn't about a fight against the system but rather a look at how people who are part of a system often can't escape it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Body shaming, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Car accident, Confinement, and Miscarriage

carolynlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Dysphoria, Classism, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Racial slurs

Minor: Infidelity, Child abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

garlinds's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

Based in a not-so-far-away future, Frida, a sleep-deprived single mother with post-partum depression and a poor support system, has a "bad day" and leaves her toddler home alone in an exersaucer for 2 hours. After a concerned neighbor calls and a welfare check happens, the child is taken into custody and Frida is determined unfit to be a mother and sent to a new government program called "The School for Good Mothers" so that she can learn the skills needed to be a worthy parent.

This book was hard to digest, it made me uncomfortable and I'll be gathering my thoughts for a while. The whole time I was reading all I could think about was the long-lasting emotional and physical trauma that each character was going through at the hands of the "system" and those in power. As someone who works with teens who have varying levels of CPS involvement in their home lives, it was heartbreaking to think of the impact this program would have on Harriet's future, as well as her mom's

Most prominently this book critiques the unrealistically perfect standards that we put on mothers. But it also examines both race and class disparities and the stressors that come along with them. At the end of the day, many of the mothers in the "school" would have benefitted from a stronger support system from the get-go rather than a fascist system that waits for them to make a mistake and uproots their whole entire lives.

At the end of the day, this was a great debut that could have used a little bit more development to make it more of a page-turner. The pacing of the book was slower and more repetitive than I thought it needed to be, I would have loved for it to have explored some of the relationships between the characters a bit deeper. That being said, this is an amazing book for discussions and I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC of The School for Good Mothers in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Pedophilia, and Sexual content