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A review by bookedupandbusy
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
3.0
One lapse in judgement lands a mother in a government reform program which she must complete to regain the custody of her child.
‘Every mother has a bad day’.
Imagine the State fitting cameras into your home to watch how you parent, Big Brother style. I love books on motherhood but being a mother myself, I found this book extremely triggering. The crimes the mothers were accused of were some of the things I do on a daily basis, however it worked well for the premise of the story, especially because it is a dystopian novel. The story is very dark and quite disturbing in places.
Frida has separated from her husband, she is not the ‘perfect’ daughter of her Chinese immigrant parents (failure in marriage, not having a great job) and she is struggling to raise her daughter. I think the author wanted the reader to dislike the protagonist, if so, great writing because I did not find Frida likeable, I wanted her to be stronger and defend herself more.
The first half of the book poses many questions, questions I had to really consider myself. It is fast paced and highly engaging, however I found the second half dragged and the story could have been much shorter. The idea behind this book will make an AMAZING TV adaptation.
Strong themes of judgement, control, neglect and good/bad parenting.
‘Every mother has a bad day’.
Imagine the State fitting cameras into your home to watch how you parent, Big Brother style. I love books on motherhood but being a mother myself, I found this book extremely triggering. The crimes the mothers were accused of were some of the things I do on a daily basis, however it worked well for the premise of the story, especially because it is a dystopian novel. The story is very dark and quite disturbing in places.
Frida has separated from her husband, she is not the ‘perfect’ daughter of her Chinese immigrant parents (failure in marriage, not having a great job) and she is struggling to raise her daughter. I think the author wanted the reader to dislike the protagonist, if so, great writing because I did not find Frida likeable, I wanted her to be stronger and defend herself more.
The first half of the book poses many questions, questions I had to really consider myself. It is fast paced and highly engaging, however I found the second half dragged and the story could have been much shorter. The idea behind this book will make an AMAZING TV adaptation.
Strong themes of judgement, control, neglect and good/bad parenting.