Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

16 reviews

menacebibliotheque's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

This book was very hard to get through, and I mean that in the best way, if you'll bear with me. I went into the book thinking it was a fun little dystopian sci-fi story, and it was absolutely not that at all. What this book is is a commentary on the trials of parenthood--particularly motherhood--as well as the deep flaws in the child welfare system in the United States. The dystopian horrors that the main character and her fellows are subjected to are frighteningly plausible, and it's in this plausibility and the rawness of events that make this book so hard to stomach while also being deeply moving.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Child abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Racism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Medical content

ressicajicks's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Sexual content, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

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/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads 

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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

aargot1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Suicide, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Outing, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Torture, Confinement, Bullying, and Self harm

itsbumley's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Child death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

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