Reviews with content warning for Racism - The School for Good Mothers

I felt all the emotions reading this one but mainly anger and sadness. The way the mothers are treated is disgusting especially when we start to learn how the fathers are treated. Although this has been described as dystopian I would say it’s a light dystopian so don’t let that put you off. There are clear undertones of The Handmaids Tale throughout that suggest Atwood was a big inspiration on Chan.

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savvylit's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

The School for Good Mothers is an excellent piece of dystopian fiction set in the very near future. Frida lives in a world in which Child Protective Services has become powerfully invasive. Immediately after her mistake, officials install cameras in her home. Later, Frida is sentenced to the titular School for Good Mothers. At the prison-like school, she is forced to constantly repeat the phrase "I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good." In roleplaying exercises, Frida is punished for subjective actions like hugging or tone of voice.

If the above summary of this work doesn't already suggest it, this is a very dark novel. Jessamine Chan crafts an all-too-believable police state that dictates "proper" motherhood. And, as in real life, mothers of color are treated much more harshly by the system. Though I am not a mother myself, it's not hard to see that the extremes of this novel are an extension of the very real pressures that our society imposes upon mothers.

Overall, The School for Good Mothers was an incredibly captivating novel that made me think a lot about motherhood, societal norms, and judgement (both legal and cultural). At first, I thought that the School portions of this story dragged. Upon reflection, though, I think that may have been the point - readers start to yearn for graduation day right alongside Frida. (When will she finally be deemed good?) Additionally, I also initially thought that this book was too rooted in the gender binary; there is not a single mention of non-cis motherhood. However, I think that rooting this story in the male/female, mother/father gender binary is part of what made this book even more terrifying. All of the State's rules for motherhood were extremely patriarchal. Obsessing over puritanical ideas of femininity and motherhood is just one more way that the State controls and oppresses its parents.

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lesbianlis's review against another edition

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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

4.0

While I think this is a really good book there are some changes that I think could’ve made it a wee bit more compelling.

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daniellenelson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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stailysh1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This is a hard book to review because it is written well but it's also horrifying. Nothing good happens in this book and it put me in a funk while reading it. I considered not finishing it. That being said, I did want to know how it ended and where it was going. It criticizes how mothers are constantly shamed and criticized by society in the hyperbolic way a dystopian novel can. The characters were not lovable, but they're not supposed to be. The author succeeds in sending her message, although it did begin to get repetitive. The hopelessness in the book was fully captured and conveyed. The ending wasn't altogether a bad choice, but it wasn't satisfying either. I wish the author had spent more time building the world outside of the main character. The main character is consistently a doormat, and she is supposed to be, but I did not find it enjoyable to read from her perspective because she barely grows beyond it. In the end, it feels like the book has made a point but gone nowhere with it.

I plan to read something lighter after this because this is the kind of book that gives you a bad "book hangover".

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I stumbled across this book at Barnes & Noble, and the summary on the back really drew me in.
"The School for Good Mothers" is an exploration of motherhood through a near-futuristic, dystopian lens. Frida Liu is deeply struggling with her life. Being the daughter of Chinese immigrants has caused her to constantly feel like she is living in a shadow in which she is never good enough. After a particularly bad day, Frida leaves her toddler daughter alone at home while she runs to the office. But her quick errand turns into hours away, and when she returns home, she is met by police who are taking her daughter away from her. After a difficult trial, Frida decides to take a deal to attend a school for good mothers for one year, so she can learn how to be better and prove she will never leave her daughter again.
This book made me angry in all of the right ways. Motherhood is no easy task, and it seems like no matter what choice a mother makes, she receives endless criticism and feedback about how she can do better. Even the mothers who "do it all" are imperfect and need to do more. Frida obviously makes an unmistakably poor choice by leaving her toddler daughter alone, but what drove her to that point was equally infuriating. Frida does not have any support in her life, and she is tired, overworked, and desperately needs help. It is undeniable she should not have left her daughter alone, but I think it is equally important to see how much Frida immediately regretted it and did EVERYTHING within her power to make the situation right. Should one mistake forever mark Frida as a bad mother?
The inherit sexism that surrounds parenthood is explored exceptionally well in this book. Mothers are forever held to unattainable standards, but fathers are forever applauded for doing the bare minimum. The school for good mothers has a counterpart, a school for good fathers, and the reader learns that these schools are not created equally. The fathers have a much easier time with the curriculum and their crimes against their children are treated completely differently. Fathers are pretty much always encouraged to go back into their children's lives following graduation from the program, however the mothers seem to be set up to fail and lose their children forever.
I LOVED this book, and I look forward to reading more from Jessamine Chan in the future.

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clarabelitz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

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whatannikareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

i think the premise and some of the commentary made were interesting, but it was just soooooo long to get through. it gets a bit stagnant in the middle section; i think at least 20 pages could've been easily cut and in general it could've been edited down to make the thesis more poignant and succinct. when i did get into a good reading rhythm, it was enjoyable, but because it is essentially several small snippets within each chapter, it feels like you're taking so much time to make minimal progress, which i think distracted me from the overall plot! but there are some good ideas in here, and it does make one reflect on what it means to be a proper parent particular with a childcare system like that of the US's constantly waiting to tear "bad" moms in particular down.

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