Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

10 reviews

clo_l's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I really wanted to love this book but I don’t. I was expecting it to be more intense, mind-bending, and full of twists. It was so slow & boring. I don’t hate it, I just don’t particularly like it and I probably wouldn’t recommend it. As a young, new mother who struggles with postpartum depression & anxiety, I can relate to a good bit of things from this book. For that, I appreciate it but honestly, that’s all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

kelisabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mheiling's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

petit_lecteur's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

If I could give this 6 stars I would! This book broke me all the way , such a great debut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

lizmorr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I wanted to love this book but I didn’t. 
Think if the Handmaids Tale, 1984, and Klara and the Sun had a book child. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

aargot1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

leah_alexandra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This book was devastating. I flew through it. Unlike some dystopians, I only had to suspend disbelief a couple of times. So much of this felt like not a stretch at all — which made it all the more terrifying and better for it. The bad reviews genuinely baffle me. I thought this was so well written and got better as it went on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

dreamdoughnut's review against another edition

tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Death, Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

garlinds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

Based in a not-so-far-away future, Frida, a sleep-deprived single mother with post-partum depression and a poor support system, has a "bad day" and leaves her toddler home alone in an exersaucer for 2 hours. After a concerned neighbor calls and a welfare check happens, the child is taken into custody and Frida is determined unfit to be a mother and sent to a new government program called "The School for Good Mothers" so that she can learn the skills needed to be a worthy parent.

This book was hard to digest, it made me uncomfortable and I'll be gathering my thoughts for a while. The whole time I was reading all I could think about was the long-lasting emotional and physical trauma that each character was going through at the hands of the "system" and those in power. As someone who works with teens who have varying levels of CPS involvement in their home lives, it was heartbreaking to think of the impact this program would have on Harriet's future, as well as her mom's

Most prominently this book critiques the unrealistically perfect standards that we put on mothers. But it also examines both race and class disparities and the stressors that come along with them. At the end of the day, many of the mothers in the "school" would have benefitted from a stronger support system from the get-go rather than a fascist system that waits for them to make a mistake and uproots their whole entire lives.

At the end of the day, this was a great debut that could have used a little bit more development to make it more of a page-turner. The pacing of the book was slower and more repetitive than I thought it needed to be, I would have loved for it to have explored some of the relationships between the characters a bit deeper. That being said, this is an amazing book for discussions and I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC of The School for Good Mothers in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Infertility, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia