Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

15 reviews

rewatchrereadrewind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

jess_eliza's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Lesbophobia and Alcohol

sageysage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

Fascinating and well thought out premise/plot. The experiences the women in the book have to go through are insane and made my jaw literally drop and share passages with my partner. I wish more was revealed in the ending.

I struggled to understand if I was meant to want Frida to reunite with Harriet as her mother though. Despite her progress, I do think she was unfit to parent. However, the decision for her not to be able to visit Harriet at all felt cruel and obviously her treatment in the centre was inhumane and psychologically damaging. I really wish they revealed how the days following her kidnap of Harriet went, and if the details of the program ever leaked or if those responsible faced any consequences for their treatment of the mothers and artificial children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

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

honeymoonleo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Deportation

ohheytaylorrae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

pjwanders's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

superstar_y2k's review against another edition

when the adult main character describes herself during sex as “embarrassed by the limitations of her little girl body” and “built like a teenage girl” (pg 51) i’m no longer interested in the book.  
i feel like the book focuses a lot on Frida’s flaws and depression, but in a justification type of way as if she didn’t actually endanger her child.  the summary makes it’s seem like it’s a silly little accident that gets Frida into the “school for bad mothers” but no. it’s literal child neglect and endangerment.  i find it difficult to like any of the characters mentioned. 
there’s also a dub-con moment where Frida kisses a character (and completely reveals herself to him) despite him telling her he didn’t want to kiss (pg 37) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming and Child abuse

lastokes61's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

Frida Liu is an overworked,  exhausted, divorced Mom who has a very bad day. She leaves her 18 month old daughter alone for 2 hours, and gets caught. This reckless act causes her to lose custody of Harriett.  To regain custody Frida must attend a 12 month re-education program for mothers, where the mantra is " I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good."  The "reform school" has the mothers under constant surveillance.  Their trainers are mostly childless women and the mothers are forced to bond with robot children and care for them under every conceivable situation.  The issues of race, gender imbalance in parenting, mental health, isolation, and the state dictating "perfect" parenting styles are all at play here. This is a very Orwellian.  So much to discuss about in this book. This is an intense and capivatiing debut novel. Definitely worth a read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

taysbooktalk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

1.0

There are not words for this book, and not in a good way. I like to think if a book had me sobbing, nearly to a panic attack, and I will never forget- that it was an amazing book. It’s not. It’s intentionally meant to rip you apart and trigger you. It’s sold as a dystopian. It’s not. It’s weird and uncomfortable and gut wrenching. This not a Nicholas Sparks or Kristen Hannah book. This is not sad book that tells a story. This is not made to entertain you. It’s not made to make a difference or touch lives. This is made to hurt people. I don’t know that I will ever recover from this book. PLEASE DON’T READ THIS.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Alcohol