Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

28 reviews

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

yhteunice's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I just finished reading "The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan, her debut novel, and I am discombobulated about the book. 

This is a heavily plot-driven story about a mother, Frida Liu, who has a terrible day and made a mistake that led her to be separated from her child, later be part of a system the government made for bad mothers.  The main themes of the story is the struggle of motherhood and her "coming-to-be" of her Chinese roots.  The way society created a structured and constrictive system of the high standards and expectations of how mothers should be.  Creating an unjust perspective that mothers have to be a robot to their children.

It is frustrating to see the instances of it and reading it makes my blood boil (which means the book did a good job expressing the unethical & suffocating standards a mother should pursue).  However, the pacing of the book is unnecessarily long.  The point has been stated, and it keeps being repeated, making the growth seems rushed and difficult to understand.  The transitioning of one scenario to another is not smooth and does not give the reader (or me lol) time to take in a particular arc or chapter. 

Over all, the premise of the book and the theme are interesting and great for today's society.  It's just that the execution was confusing, and it does not sit right with me.  However, since it is the first book Ms. Chan has even written.  I give more understanding towards it. 

I rated this book 2.5/5 stars (2/5 stars since it's the only option lol). Would I recommend it to someone? Yes, /only/ if they'd want to understand the difficulties of motherhood.  And it is also great for group readings to have many discussions.  But other than that, this book does not give me the spark to necessarily recommend it directly. Do I think it could be written better?  Absolutely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

janienejulia's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Alcohol

islabjb's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and War

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Classism

amiegold's review against another edition

Sexual content

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing

ressicajicks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

laynemandros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

literarylion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I really liked this.

Pros:

• amazing speculation and world-building around a possible not-too-distant future; Frida's situation felt scary in a very real way
• incredible emotion and character establishment; I was invested from beginning to end
• strong examination of important social issues without feeling didactic or hitting the reader over the head with it
• Great tension-building pacing

Cons:

• I found the romance between Frida and Tucker a bit unnecessary to the story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Blood and Alcohol

eve_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

 Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The sci-fi, dystopian bits don't really develop until about 25% into the book. It will feel like a contemporary piece at first, but give it time and things get wild.

⁕ Chan peels back all the layers of motherhood and explores how it is impacted by not only one's identities (including sexual orientation, culture, race, etc.), but also systemic sexism and white supremacy.

⁕ Moments that I thought were emotionally important to the story were completely skipped over and explained after the fact, such as Frida's final court ruling. It was frustrating to miss out on those key plot points that had been built up to throughout the story.

⁕ There are SO many characters of different ages and genders in this book. Catherine Ho's narration distinguishes each of them without detracting from the overall story

To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

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