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The School for Good Mothers - Jessamine Chan

The School for Good Mothers

By Jessamine Chan

  • Release Date: 2022-01-04
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 3.5
3.5
From 554 Ratings

Description

Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize
Selected as One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022!

In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eye on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgement, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

An “intense” (Oprah Daily), “captivating” (Today) page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.

Reviews

  • Can’t finish it

    2
    By mrffy listens
    She is a talented writer but this is way too grim for too long for me. I am done
  • Ugggh

    1
    By cwhite2015
    Probably one of the worst books that I have read. The whole story could have been told in 6 chapters .
  • Sad but worth it

    5
    By _morenaza
    The tension and frustration is always there. Sad to think this could happen even worse to know it does.
  • Wish I could get the time back

    1
    By Cjcutiepie
    I started the book because it was on Barack Obama’s list. But I thought it was terrible! I kept waiting for it to get better, but it didn’t. I kept reading because I had already invested so much time. Then, I hoped that it would be neatly tied up and justified in the end. Instead, I actually wanted to scream! This book was ten hours of my life I wish I could get back.
  • Beautiful. Heartbreaking

    5
    By JS52022
    Wow. Shows how deeply society judges Mothers and demands perfection. This book made me sob, really thought provoking.
  • Wonderful book!

    5
    By onestar oscar
    Loved everything about this book. Unfortunately, I worried for Frida through much of it and even now when I have finished it, I find myself worried. I guess that’s the testament of an excellent book.
  • Depressing

    2
    By bemarb
    This was the most awful, unfulfilling, depressing book I've ever read. Psychologically abusive in its entirety and a complete waste of time and money. The only reason I gave it two stars is because the writing is decent.
  • Interesting Concepts

    4
    By Mego65
    Interesting concept. At first I wasn’t enjoying the story but I soon wanted to read more and more. It never grabbed me emotionally. I felt robotic at times.
  • A powerful read!

    5
    By Air Touch
    This novel is simultaneously eye opening and heart breaking. 😢 Frida is a convincing protagonist, as she learns to survive in a dystopian future (that shares many similar traits to our own present) where the government, with its own female enforcers and accomplices, continues to put the burden of innocence on mothers to prove themselves in every hardship. I felt like I was reading a Asimov novel with a contemporary take through a parents eye. 🔥🔥🔥
  • Could not connect

    2
    By Vampsrcool
    This book just made me…queasy. As a mom of 3 I could connect with feeling overwhelmed & the impossible expectations- self inflicted and external. Yet I could never connect with the the characters, and the lumping together of women who made mistakes and those who abused. I just really disliked this book. Personal opinion

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