Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

32 reviews

daniellenelson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Racism, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Vomit, Suicide, Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

kiwichill's review

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

3.5

Sad story, it was a struggle to read.  It's confronting and gloomy storyline was hard to finish.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Grief, Sexism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Bullying

heatherjustine1224'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

4.0

This book is very eye-opening and can resonate with readers regardless of whether you have children (at the time of this review I currently have no children, but I am a happy dog mom). It really makes you think about the many facets of the definition of 'motherhood' while addressing the unfair stress that fathers do not seem to face nearly as much as mothers do, the harsh punishment that mothers of color face as opposed to white mothers, and scratching the surface of the beginnings of childhood trauma from multiple perspectives. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because of its bleakness, and as someone who is hoping to experience motherhood soon there are a lot of parts that a disheartening when there is no such thing as a 'perfect parent.' 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Bullying

Minor: Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

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

jacs63'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

** spoiler alert ** OMG...what a read. 
It's a brilliantly written, sad and frightening book, that is actually so scary, I couldn't sleep for a bit after finishing reading it late last night. 
With the whole mess that the USA has become over the years, E.G. You can't get an abortion in some states, even if you are a 10 year old rape victim; You can shoot someone without asking any questions, if they come onto your property; Police killing people instead of just arresting them; You can have a gun in Florida, without having to be trained or have any checks done on you or your mental health; Mass shootings; etc etc etc, what this book talks about could happen. Very easily in some States.
It has a dystopian feel but it could be set today. 
Any writer that make me ugly cry when someone is saying goodbye to a AI doll has got to be some kind of writing genius. 
The ending was what you would expect the main character to do. 
It's a heart-breaking novel that looks at misogyny; racism; the outlandish expectations of parenting etc. I didn't love Frida, but I got her.
Probably not everyones 'cup of tea' but it was definitely mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Death, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, Miscarriage, Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

elsebeok's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicide, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content

brianna_moye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment

Moderate: Violence, Pregnancy, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror and Kidnapping

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, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Infidelity

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

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

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

timetotalkbeauty's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Child death, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts