Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

25 reviews

easta98's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

The School for Good Mothers is an excellent piece of dystopian fiction set in the very near future. Frida lives in a world in which Child Protective Services has become powerfully invasive. Immediately after her mistake, officials install cameras in her home. Later, Frida is sentenced to the titular School for Good Mothers. At the prison-like school, she is forced to constantly repeat the phrase "I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good." In roleplaying exercises, Frida is punished for subjective actions like hugging or tone of voice.

If the above summary of this work doesn't already suggest it, this is a very dark novel. Jessamine Chan crafts an all-too-believable police state that dictates "proper" motherhood. And, as in real life, mothers of color are treated much more harshly by the system. Though I am not a mother myself, it's not hard to see that the extremes of this novel are an extension of the very real pressures that our society imposes upon mothers.

Overall, The School for Good Mothers was an incredibly captivating novel that made me think a lot about motherhood, societal norms, and judgement (both legal and cultural). At first, I thought that the School portions of this story dragged. Upon reflection, though, I think that may have been the point - readers start to yearn for graduation day right alongside Frida. (When will she finally be deemed good?) Additionally, I also initially thought that this book was too rooted in the gender binary; there is not a single mention of non-cis motherhood. However, I think that rooting this story in the male/female, mother/father gender binary is part of what made this book even more terrifying. All of the State's rules for motherhood were extremely patriarchal. Obsessing over puritanical ideas of femininity and motherhood is just one more way that the State controls and oppresses its parents.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Xenophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Suicide

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

happyhippielinds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This was one of the most beautifully devastating books I have ever read.

Sure, there were a lot of turbo-horny Freaka moments and I've questioned my sanity several times while reading this, but it was hard not to root for Frida. I achieved levels of empathy I never thought possible - but I quickly found myself hoping Frida would earn back the right to the one thing that gave her life meaning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Blood

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

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

vulgarboy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

Frida's very bad day lead to one of the most brutally human stories I've read in a long time. Admittedly, I do not like children. I do not envy parents. The School for Good Mothers lead me down a path of pure instinct and need for survival. Frida is beautifully complex and flawed, her shortcomings real and painful. Her desperation to see her daughter again - not just keep custody of her- was an intense struggle to behold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Child death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Homophobia, Abandonment, Classism, Body shaming, Alcohol, and Sexism

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

apollinares's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

This book made me deeply uncomfortable, sad, furious, exhausted. It takes a lot of skill for an author to evoke that much in a reader all at once. I like how raw and honest the portrayal of Frida's ordeal was, and how processing grief and one's own mistakes is presented as a non-linear, messy process. 

Frida isn't a likeable character. She's convinced us of it on page one, and she's convinced herself of it long before. As someone whose mother made mistakes she deeply regrets, and as someone who has had many conversations with her about what those mistakes did to both of us, I genuinely feel for Frida. I've seen other reviews condemn her, and it's really interesting to me where a reader would draw the line on what they find unacceptable in a parent, and how much they're willing to dehumanise a mother/discredit her emotional needs, when they learn the mother has made a mistake that caused her child harm. I'm not trying to excuse abuse, it's just fascinating how quickly someone's empathy for a person, and their sense of nuance, disappears when the person in the wrong is a parent. I mean, people are rating the book lower because the protagonist has done something wrong and that makes the book supposedly bad. The point is right there, guys, come on...

The way blame is placed in the book is interesting to me, too - how the women are treated as irredeemable, and how the state would rather interfere once harm has been caused (and arguably proceed to traumatise the child even more) than offer parents mental health support before mistakes like this can occur. It's infuriating to experience and to process, and when the fathers were introduced, I became so much angrier knowing how much easier they supposedly have it. 

The ending is tragic and inevitable. I don't know else Chan could have ended this book. Frida's unravelling is addicting, and sad, and I couldn't look away the whole time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

notalwaysontime's review against another edition

dark 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

Moderate: Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Miscarriage