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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gaslighting
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide
Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping
I honestly do not remember another book that created so much anxiety for me. This alternate (but is it too alternate?) universe where mothers are legally judged for all behavior and sent to a correction facility (complete with AI robot children) to fix their parenting - and of course the men’s facility has different rules and expectations.
I was disturbed. This book disrupted my sleep. It was a Handmaid’s Tale-like level of scary. Maybe it says more about me, but I don’t think so. This story will stay with me….
I was disturbed. This book disrupted my sleep. It was a Handmaid’s Tale-like level of scary. Maybe it says more about me, but I don’t think so. This story will stay with me….
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
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:
No
Audiobook review disclaimer:
I process sound less clearly than text (trauma brain things), so my audiobook reviews tend to be shorter and more surface-level than my usual ones. I don’t take notes while listening, and I often come away with impressions rather than detailed analysis. Still, I’m committed to reviewing every single book I read, even when the format changes how I engage. This is my way of honoring the listening experience—with softness, presence, and care. Thanks for reading!
Review:
I listened to this in almost one sitting! Very propulsive and interesting. I liked the anti-surveillance vibes and resonated with a lot of what Chan was critiquing re: our concepts of motherhood. I could've gone without the emphasis on Frida's romance and sex life, though. I get it - mothers should also be allowed to have desires and act on them, even if it's messy. I just don't think it resonated super well with the rest of the book and, as a queer woman, I definitely could've gone without the description of the massive dong. All in all, though, I enjoyed this! Chelsea Bieker fans will find a lot to like here.
Review:
I listened to this in almost one sitting! Very propulsive and interesting. I liked the anti-surveillance vibes and resonated with a lot of what Chan was critiquing re: our concepts of motherhood. I could've gone without the emphasis on Frida's romance and sex life, though. I get it - mothers should also be allowed to have desires and act on them, even if it's messy. I just don't think it resonated super well with the rest of the book and, as a queer woman, I definitely could've gone without the description of the massive dong. All in all, though, I enjoyed this! Chelsea Bieker fans will find a lot to like here.
Honestly a little conflicted how to rate this. For me, this book reminded me a lot of a Handmaid’s Tale, but also Never Let You Go, but ultimately didn’t feel as complete or profound as either of those novels. To me, The School for Good Mothers raises a lot of interesting discussion points, but doesn’t discuss those things in the novel itself.
From the onset, it was hard for me to start reading this as a new mom. While the idea of needing a break from a needy child is absolutely relatable, it was really hard for me to be sympathetic to Frida and how she left her daughter to go get a cup of coffee (questionable, but understandable), but then also literally drive away to also go to work and then forget to come back. Even as the novel progresses, I felt disturbed that despite being remorseful and working to be a “good mother”, she still doesn’t really own up to this being a genuine act of neglect and abandonment, only ever referring to it as a “Very Bad Day”. However, I do want to be clear - I still don’t think this is means to judge her or her parenting (fictional though it is). If the novel touches on anything, it’s that motherhood/parenthood changes people in very different ways, and that can manifest itself in different parenting decisions. What was probably the real emotional heart of the novel for me is that despite this “Bad Day”, it’s so obviously clear that Frida, despite not being a textbook “good mother”, very clearly loves her daughter. And it’s abundantly clear that her mothering instincts allow her to care for and love her artificial daughter, Emmanuelle, despite the school continuing to tell her that she lacks empathy and is a narcissist.
But to me, there had to be a little too much suspension of disbelief for the good mother/bad mother idea. There’s definitely a lot of truth to the societal expectations of good mothering, but I think the ultimate point of the novel is that anyone could be a bad mother - we’re all capable of a “bad decision” that would render us a “bad parent”, like letting your child accidentally injure themselves, or walking home from school. But this point seemed a little muddled at the School for Good Mothers because there were so many varying degrees of bad mothering that were all grouped together, like burning your child or putting your children into a hole, versus letting your child walk four blocks home or fall out of a tree. If you make a mistake and your child is taken away from you, wouldn’t someone else also make that mistake? And then what?
But what makes the book the hardest for me to rate is that there are so many interesting discussion points that I didn’t feel were actually discussed fully in the book. An incomplete list of things that continued to bother me:
-while Frida talks about her Asian identity often and what it means to be a child of immigrant parents with non-Western parenting, I felt like her Asian identity is never really discussed in comparison to other WOC (especially as a typical model minority, or being the sole Asian woman in the School). She talks a little about her atypical sexual history, but doesn’t really discuss her tendency to find comfort in male attention or largely from white partners. She alludes to Harriet’s mixed identity, but doesn’t really talk about how she wants to make Harriet aware of her heritage until it’s threatened by Susanna’s mothering.
-the race and socioeconomic dynamics at the school, despite her explicitly talking about how people grouped by race quickly, and alluding to whiteness as being preferential
-the woman-vs-woman dynamic in motherhood, especially between Frida (as the scorned woman) and Susanna. There’s some interesting tension in this particular relationship because of the anti-vax/woo beliefs that Susanna has, but it didn’t really feel fully explored (also the idea that Susanna comes from money vs. Frida coming from immigrant parents, despite Frida being able to rely on her parents financially if needed)
-the difference between men and women in the “good/bad parent” system, which felt muddied because the difference was largely highlighted by Frida’s love interest and how he later wins back his son but she loses her daughter
-the dynamic and tension between being your own person and also being someone’s parent/source of care
-the moral ambiguity of using emotional dolls as stand-in children, and literally describing some of their treatment as abuse and rape in place of inflicting harm on “real” children!! This was the most interesting part for me, and I wish this sci-fi aspect of the book was better explored
Overall, it was an interesting read that I think was fine because it was a fairly quick read. But I’m not sure I would wholeheartedly recommend it, and I especially didn’t feel I could fully recommend it in good faith to my group of fellow new moms.
From the onset, it was hard for me to start reading this as a new mom. While the idea of needing a break from a needy child is absolutely relatable, it was really hard for me to be sympathetic to Frida and how she left her daughter to go get a cup of coffee (questionable, but understandable), but then also literally drive away to also go to work and then forget to come back. Even as the novel progresses, I felt disturbed that despite being remorseful and working to be a “good mother”, she still doesn’t really own up to this being a genuine act of neglect and abandonment, only ever referring to it as a “Very Bad Day”. However, I do want to be clear - I still don’t think this is means to judge her or her parenting (fictional though it is). If the novel touches on anything, it’s that motherhood/parenthood changes people in very different ways, and that can manifest itself in different parenting decisions. What was probably the real emotional heart of the novel for me is that despite this “Bad Day”, it’s so obviously clear that Frida, despite not being a textbook “good mother”, very clearly loves her daughter. And it’s abundantly clear that her mothering instincts allow her to care for and love her artificial daughter, Emmanuelle, despite the school continuing to tell her that she lacks empathy and is a narcissist.
But to me, there had to be a little too much suspension of disbelief for the good mother/bad mother idea. There’s definitely a lot of truth to the societal expectations of good mothering, but I think the ultimate point of the novel is that anyone could be a bad mother - we’re all capable of a “bad decision” that would render us a “bad parent”, like letting your child accidentally injure themselves, or walking home from school. But this point seemed a little muddled at the School for Good Mothers because there were so many varying degrees of bad mothering that were all grouped together, like burning your child or putting your children into a hole, versus letting your child walk four blocks home or fall out of a tree. If you make a mistake and your child is taken away from you, wouldn’t someone else also make that mistake? And then what?
But what makes the book the hardest for me to rate is that there are so many interesting discussion points that I didn’t feel were actually discussed fully in the book. An incomplete list of things that continued to bother me:
-while Frida talks about her Asian identity often and what it means to be a child of immigrant parents with non-Western parenting, I felt like her Asian identity is never really discussed in comparison to other WOC (especially as a typical model minority, or being the sole Asian woman in the School). She talks a little about her atypical sexual history, but doesn’t really discuss her tendency to find comfort in male attention or largely from white partners. She alludes to Harriet’s mixed identity, but doesn’t really talk about how she wants to make Harriet aware of her heritage until it’s threatened by Susanna’s mothering.
-the race and socioeconomic dynamics at the school, despite her explicitly talking about how people grouped by race quickly, and alluding to whiteness as being preferential
-the woman-vs-woman dynamic in motherhood, especially between Frida (as the scorned woman) and Susanna. There’s some interesting tension in this particular relationship because of the anti-vax/woo beliefs that Susanna has, but it didn’t really feel fully explored (also the idea that Susanna comes from money vs. Frida coming from immigrant parents, despite Frida being able to rely on her parents financially if needed)
-the difference between men and women in the “good/bad parent” system, which felt muddied because the difference was largely highlighted by Frida’s love interest and how he later wins back his son but she loses her daughter
-the dynamic and tension between being your own person and also being someone’s parent/source of care
-the moral ambiguity of using emotional dolls as stand-in children, and literally describing some of their treatment as abuse and rape in place of inflicting harm on “real” children!! This was the most interesting part for me, and I wish this sci-fi aspect of the book was better explored
Overall, it was an interesting read that I think was fine because it was a fairly quick read. But I’m not sure I would wholeheartedly recommend it, and I especially didn’t feel I could fully recommend it in good faith to my group of fellow new moms.