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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Haunting story that scrutinizes the power of CPS and their mistreatment of POCs. I was entirely disturbed throughout this book but I couldn't put it down. We read this for book club and I can't wait to talk about it!
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
Wow! Berührend und erschütternd, gut geschrieben, teils etwas langatmig
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.
There's a current trend in speculative fiction of creating a world very similar to ours where one aspect of our society's gone a little too far, and this fits right in with that. Needless to say, I loved this, and it's written in a very page-turning way. You're fighting for its characters, and it's frustrating to see them failed by a system that supposedly has their best interests in mind, regardless of if those are actually their best interests.
This feels like what Black Mirror wants to be instead of how too often it's just "what if phones but too much".
There's a current trend in speculative fiction of creating a world very similar to ours where one aspect of our society's gone a little too far, and this fits right in with that. Needless to say, I loved this, and it's written in a very page-turning way. You're fighting for its characters, and it's frustrating to see them failed by a system that supposedly has their best interests in mind, regardless of if those are actually their best interests.
This feels like what Black Mirror wants to be instead of how too often it's just "what if phones but too much".
dark
emotional
lighthearted
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
Not for the weak of heart. Frida Liu has had a very bad day, so bad that it lands the single mom in a pilot reform school for bad mothers where her parenting skills (with a lifelike doll robot) will be constantly surveilled and evaluated.
Full of commentary about racial and gender disparities regarding policing childrearing (there's a PoC mother who let her child walk home from school alone serving the same sentence as a White mother who put her six kids in a hole; the fathers at the analogous school for bad fathers never get their phone call privileges revoked), this book may be triggering or frustrating for some. I almost lost it when Frida has to recite an AA-esque mantra about being a narcissist and how tending to her own needs makes her a bad mother.
Sourced: ANHPI rec
Full of commentary about racial and gender disparities regarding policing childrearing (there's a PoC mother who let her child walk home from school alone serving the same sentence as a White mother who put her six kids in a hole; the fathers at the analogous school for bad fathers never get their phone call privileges revoked), this book may be triggering or frustrating for some. I almost lost it when Frida has to recite an AA-esque mantra about being a narcissist and how tending to her own needs makes her a bad mother.
Sourced: ANHPI rec
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
This was a difficult read, I found it a little long but I loved the writing & concept. The ending was heart wrenching
This book is about a woman named Frida who one day makes a mistake while looking after her toddler leading to her child being taken away and her being sent to a new school for bad mothers to be "re-educated". This book was so good. It is wonderfully written and the events of the story are disturbingly plausible. I did struggle a little with connecting to Frida emotionally at the start of the book but this did change somewhere about the middle of the story and I nearly cried at the ending. The conversations this book has about motherhood and what it means to be a "good" mother where also really touching and thought-provoking though I would have liked a little more on how the expectations of being a 'good parent' can differ across cultures as this was only touched on a few times. I will also say that this is a very depressing book and the main character contemplates suicide multiple times and a couple of side characters do actually commit suicide (not on page) so if that might be triggering to you I would recommend staying away from this book. Overall, I thought that this was a beautiful little book that deserves to be talked about for years to come.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes