Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

116 reviews

ezismythical's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a REALLY rough read. It is definitely worth it, but hard as hell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

camille_r95's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Suicide and Abandonment

therapywithjess's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Really enjoyed this book. Finished it over 3 days. It didn’t feel like ‘the kind of book you can’t out down’ but it exceeded my expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Sexism

phillippa123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Abandonment

liabl_28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i think it does a pretty good job getting across the point, i did cry but sometimes i think it's repetitive and it gets weird around some descriptions.
the way it made me so furious that i had to stop reading, i really liked it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization

cartermon4's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was so frustrated throughout the book, but it definitely hints at real world inequalities and insane expectations for mothers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Car accident

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jesus fucking christ

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

dc32's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book had a really good, interesting, incredibly prescient, and tragic idea to explore: how parents, especially parents of color, are criminalized by the state. The book delves into really interesting conceptions of how the state views motherhood v. fatherhood, how mothers are criminalized, how the state kinda wants moms to become a docile, selfless, unfeeling in the right ways, feeling the right ways robot. I thought that the school's ridiculous curriculum had a lot of depth to explore that didn't get explored. I almost wish we had a syllabus or written materials in the book. This book was very tell, not show. While the concepts were nuanced and dystopic in an important mirror-to-our-world way, the writing glossed over a lot of opportunities to delve into those concepts. In that sense, it read to me like a draft of an adapted short story. I wish that Chan spent more time exploring the world building and the eerie, surveillance-state society that we are placed into, and less time on the perseverations and internal monologue of our main character. For this reason, the middle of the book kinda dragged and felt repetitive. And, there was a lot of depth that was left on the table, unexplored. I think this is a good book for folks who don't know much about the US child welfare system and an important book out there, just wish that it had more narrative depth!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

I was having a browse through some reviews of this one when I finished it and saw somebody comment that it would make a great limited TV series, and that immediately made me realise why it didn’t resonate with me as much as I thought it would. It has that almost-cinematic feel, where it sometimes seems like the author is writing specifically to see a scene played out on TV. The random forbidden romance thrown in, the draggy middle section, the coolly evil instructors, a lot of it feels written with a TV show in mind. And don’t get me wrong, it’d be a bloody compelling TV show!

Frida makes a huge mistake while looking after her daughter one day, but instead of a slap on the wrist, the state makes her participate in a newly rolled out programme to rehabilitate bad mothers. Separated from their children for a year, the mothers are sent to a defunct university campus to undergo 12 months’ of brutal training to become the best mothers they can be.

I enjoyed the commentary around issues like racism and misogyny, and obviously the sheer volume of responsibilities heaped on a mother’s shoulders (dads get more lenient punishments). But the middle of this book dragged so much. Chan obviously had a very clear idea of the school’s syllabus, but honestly I feel like the amount of description lessened the impact.

Frustrating and eerie, but not as powerful as I anticipated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Frida's one very bad day results in her being sent to a one-year program to become a "better mother". 

The premise is a commentary on the very real control our patriarchal government has over our lives. The book was incredibly disturbing; I felt very uncomfortable and angry throughout the story. I had to take many breaks while listening. The author successfully illustrates the pressures put on mothers to be perfect and the unrealistic expectations society expects them to meet. It also sheds light on the racial prejudices towards mothers of colour as they endure even harsher punishments. 

Frida is a single mom struggling to find balance. She is overworked, stressed, and probably dealing with post-partum depression. On her worst day she makes the choice to leave her daughter home alone for two hours, which is reported by the neighbours. That day her daughter is taken from her and Frida ends up being sent to a Big Brother type institution. Here, the mothers endure harsh and strict rules and while being pushed to achieve unrealisticly high standards of perfection. 

My main issue with the book is our main character. She is not a sympathetic or likable character. She made a terrible choice that put her daughter in danger. If we really look at her, her concern is not for her child's welfare, it's for her own and her "need" to be with her baby. I was really waiting for that "ah-ha" moment when she realizes that her behaviour truly put her daughter at risk, but there wasn't. There was so much focus on her whining and lamenting her situation, which I get. Her daughter was taken from her, her husband left her for another woman, and the school is awful, BUT there is little to no growth in her character. Her pride stands in her way at every step.

Also, the plot is very, very slow. Since this was a dystop an society, I wanted more world building. Does society truly not know about these schools? How is this abuse allowed to occur? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment