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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This book. This book is everything. Going into it, I didn't appreciate the writing style. That changed once I got into the story. I started tabbing it because it reminded me a lot of the mild dystopians we read in high school. I was right to do so. It blew my mind. This is a longer review, because I am writing this after just finishing it. My emotions are raw and livid. I mention a small spoiler but I mark the paragraph (
Wow. This was infuriating to consume. I had to stop the audio like 6 times for breaks. Very thought provoking and completely upsetting social commentary.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
So far fetched and cringey. Hard to feel bad for her but her husband was also a complete jerk.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Frida Liu slips out of the house in South Philly leaving her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet, behind. She will be gone shortly to stop at the coffee shop and to pick up a file from work...and maybe read a few e-mails. Two hours later, she returns home only to find herself in trouble. One of the neighbors called the police when they heard her baby crying.
She is now accused of being a bad mother at 39 years old and taken to a locked-up placed much like a prison for women. Social workers are there to help her become a good mother. While she's there, she is taught lessons by role playing with a doll which she named Emmanuelle. The doll looks similar to her daughter and is helping her learn to be patient, helpful, aware and all the good parenting stuff.
Before that, her 42-year-old husband, Gust, asked her to leave their Brooklyn home which she loved when he got a new job in Philly. She had to establish herself again with a job and friends and then discovered she was pregnant. Two months later, her not-so-trusting husband fell in love with a red-headed 28-year-old dancer with a trust fund. He decides to divorce Frida and gives her $500 a month for child care with shared custody. Gust ends up enjoying the good life. He now has Harriet full time with his new girlfriend while his x-wife has been sent away - seriously depressed.
The first couple of chapters were interesting. The rest...not so much. The plot keeps going and going with a predictable ending. But I could see this becoming a Netflix series someday as it's filled with unpretentious drama.
She is now accused of being a bad mother at 39 years old and taken to a locked-up placed much like a prison for women. Social workers are there to help her become a good mother. While she's there, she is taught lessons by role playing with a doll which she named Emmanuelle. The doll looks similar to her daughter and is helping her learn to be patient, helpful, aware and all the good parenting stuff.
Before that, her 42-year-old husband, Gust, asked her to leave their Brooklyn home which she loved when he got a new job in Philly. She had to establish herself again with a job and friends and then discovered she was pregnant. Two months later, her not-so-trusting husband fell in love with a red-headed 28-year-old dancer with a trust fund. He decides to divorce Frida and gives her $500 a month for child care with shared custody. Gust ends up enjoying the good life. He now has Harriet full time with his new girlfriend while his x-wife has been sent away - seriously depressed.
The first couple of chapters were interesting. The rest...not so much. The plot keeps going and going with a predictable ending. But I could see this becoming a Netflix series someday as it's filled with unpretentious drama.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I just finished this book. I HATED IT. I will collect my thoughts and post a longer review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood
The protagonist is not worth your time or empathy. The author seems to love thinking up torture. Don't read this.
I really liked what this book was trying to say at least i think i did because the way it decided to tell it was very weird. I think it was trying to say that mothers should be held to such a high standard and that they can make bad decisions but that doesn't necessarily make them a bad mother. I agree with all those things but!
This book was too long. I didn't like the writing style. The relationship between Frida and the ai robot child seemed so shallow. Because most of the time she's treating the child as an assignment but then somehow she loves it? Now i would get this if it was written well but it wasn't. I also really wish the author focused even more on Firdas childhood and her emotions (in general and during her childhood).
The ending got me so confused bc it was so rushed and bc it felt like the author didn't know how to end the story so she just said fuck it.
This book was too long. I didn't like the writing style. The relationship between Frida and the ai robot child seemed so shallow. Because most of the time she's treating the child as an assignment but then somehow she loves it? Now i would get this if it was written well but it wasn't. I also really wish the author focused even more on Firdas childhood and her emotions (in general and during her childhood).
The ending got me so confused bc it was so rushed and bc it felt like the author didn't know how to end the story so she just said fuck it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes