Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

18 reviews

cryfest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

ottercorg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

A heavy read with a slow first half, I did enjoy this one. An interesting premise full of antagonists that made me want to pull my hair out for their ignorance, but not enough to make me want to stop reading. 

I appreciated Chan's writing style and characters, and for once also appreciated the open ending. 

Spoiler

I think a true happy ending wouldn't have been appropriate, but a true sad/negative ending would've been overkill or too much to take.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Suicide

kelseyysaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Mental illness

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

alexsadventuresintheatreland's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Racism, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcoholism

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: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

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

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

sadiaa's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The concept of the story intrigued me. I enjoyed the way the author wrote, accessible and emotive. Immediately the author made us feel for Frida and all the other mother's in their situation, I liked the way that she highlighted that some of the mother's were in the school for trivial things whilst others were there for more serious actions. I was hooked and couldn't stop reading, always wanting to know how else the instructors would torture Frida in the name of being a better mother. 
I think this is a story that would resonate with anyone, it's interesting how she included many different issues not only racism and sexism, but also the treatment of father's and how there is a double standard when it comes to parenting and the punishments they are given.
All in all I would recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Racism, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Hate crime

mpop's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I kept hoping there would be some lightness or hope in this book, but it started sad and kept being sad all the way through. The premise hooked me - but the story itself bogged me down. 

Most of it was set in the school, where the mothers are assigned tasks with impossible standards by cruel instructors, then fail the tasks - over and over and over. While the tasks varied, this part of the book felt repetitive. I didn't feel like there was much character development for anyone, other than Frida internalizing the message that she's a bad mother. She does take agency at the very end by

Spoiler

kidnapping Harriet in an ill-conceived plot,

but that's about it. 

There are huge differences between how the fathers and mothers are treated in their schools, but there's no real explanation for this - I understand that it's to magnify the different expectations that society has for fathers and mothers, but there wasn't an internal logic for it in the book-world (other than fathers always getting phone privileges because it's important for fathers to be in their children's lives), so rather than highlighting society's flaws, it felt like more arbitrary cruelty. This example illustrates how I felt about the book generally - not quite explained enough, but sad. 

I enjoyed the parts where Frida discusses her Chinese-American identity, relationships with her parents, and the experiences she had as a Chinese-American girl/woman the most. That resonated and made her seem more like a real person, with complex experiences and feelings, rather than the flat "bad mother" who's just berated over and over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Kidnapping, Self harm, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Eating disorder

alliecrosson203's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment and Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug use

isleoflinds'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Racism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexism, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Outing, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Abandonment, Addiction, Biphobia, Child death, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Confinement, and Domestic abuse