Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The School for Good Mothers, by Jessamine Chan

22 reviews

petit_lecteur's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

If I could give this 6 stars I would! This book broke me all the way , such a great debut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Self harm, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

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

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

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

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

ynotlime's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Bullying, Body shaming, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Injury/injury detail, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny

nonfictionfeminist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Grief, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Injury/injury detail and Abandonment

krissysbooked's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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 love myself some dystopian feminist fiction, so when this debut started popping up on my social feeds I just knew I had to read it. Low and behold the lovely peeps over at the Bit Crack Book Club decided to read it (I got sick so had to miss the buddy read!) and it came up on Netgalley so I was lucky enough to get to read it for free!

Let me set the scene. We are introduced to Frida: a recently separated single mother to a child who is under 2, trying to keep it all together. She is trying to work, trying to raise her child, contending with the emotional turmoil of being left for another woman (whilst postpartum!), and clearly fending off depression. Frida is isolated, her family live far away and she doesn’t really have a friends network. Then comes her bad day… she leaves her child alone after hours of screaming and she gets reported to the police.

In this not so distant future the issues can’t simply be rectified by time out, a break, cooperation between co-parents to work out a better system. No, Frida is monitored for months and then sent to a ‘school’ to relearn how to be a good mother by being taught by women who have never been mothers themselves.

Through the lessons and tests and relationships, this book really explored the pressures out on mothers todays to be perfect and the further pressure put on parents of different ethnicities, ages, and social classes. I think it also really highlighted the performative nature of parenting via social media today where perfect influencers make many feel ashamed and like they’re not good enough. In reality we know that almost no one really knows what they’re doing and everyone makes mistakes along the way. The biggest stand out for me was that those with lack of support and community are derided as bad parents whereas those with all the resources are hailed as the best when really they’re parenting for a place of extreme privilege. 

Overall I found the story quite slowly paced, and although interesting I didn’t feel there was anything driving me to get to the end. I also felt that there were a lot of unexplored avenues for the story including perspective switching that could of improved the pace and the feeling of jeopardy.

That being said it’s a really good debut, and a concept I could imagine being adapted as a series or movie. I’m looking forward to seeing the development of Chan’s storytelling in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, Bullying, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Drug use, Outing, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Injury/injury detail, and Kidnapping

emilycecilia's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

alisonvh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

This book is rough, but so well written, and it does a great job of discussing the impossible expectations our society has of mothers. Can’t wait to discuss it with my book club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Blood, Eating disorder, Suicide, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Rape, and Vomit