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jenny_sundevil 's review for:
The School for Good Mothers
by Jessamine Chan
I couldn’t put down “The School for Good Mothers” by Jessamine Chan. It was riveting.
Frida says it was a bad day. She left her 18 month old daughter, Harriet, home alone to grab a coffee and get something at work. This bad choice has stunning repercussions. In an attempt to reform bad mothers, the state has created a school for them to attend for an entire year. It’s not a prison, but it’s a prison. If, at the end of the year, Frida is deemed a “good” mother she can get her parental rights back, if not she has to sign them away. Will Frida pass? What makes a good mother? How does an institution teach mothering? Is there a school for bad fathers?
This book raises so many interesting questions and themes. As we meet the mothers who have to go to the school, we see that their transgressions range from letting their 2 year old play in the backyard unattended to burning a child with a cigarette. Clearly one is criminal and one is not. Who decides what is worthy of the authorities attention? How does race and socioeconomics play into mothering? How does a father help or hurt the situation? The biggest frustration to me was that Frida’s ex husband’s life choices played a big role in her predicament and yet he was considered the good parent. It was infuriating!
It seems motherhood is always being scrutinized. If you want to see what that’s like to the nth degree, this story is for you.
Frida says it was a bad day. She left her 18 month old daughter, Harriet, home alone to grab a coffee and get something at work. This bad choice has stunning repercussions. In an attempt to reform bad mothers, the state has created a school for them to attend for an entire year. It’s not a prison, but it’s a prison. If, at the end of the year, Frida is deemed a “good” mother she can get her parental rights back, if not she has to sign them away. Will Frida pass? What makes a good mother? How does an institution teach mothering? Is there a school for bad fathers?
This book raises so many interesting questions and themes. As we meet the mothers who have to go to the school, we see that their transgressions range from letting their 2 year old play in the backyard unattended to burning a child with a cigarette. Clearly one is criminal and one is not. Who decides what is worthy of the authorities attention? How does race and socioeconomics play into mothering? How does a father help or hurt the situation? The biggest frustration to me was that Frida’s ex husband’s life choices played a big role in her predicament and yet he was considered the good parent. It was infuriating!
It seems motherhood is always being scrutinized. If you want to see what that’s like to the nth degree, this story is for you.