Reviews tagging Addiction

The School for Good Mothers, by Jessamine Chan

17 reviews

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

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I wanted to love this book but I didn’t. 
Think if the Handmaids Tale, 1984, and Klara and the Sun had a book child. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gaslighting, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Drug use, Infertility, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

lwl000's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

If the timing of reading this book had been different (i.e. if I wasn’t a new mother myself), perhaps my review would be different. But, woof, this book absolutely transfixed me and had me on a rollercoaster of anger, grief, sadness, and hope. I cannot stop thinking about this book; so, for that, 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide and Child abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying

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

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

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

sj_croft's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

It was an ok read. Unique concept, quite eerie but also explored very important and timely conversations around the obsession with the Westernised concept of motherhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Abortion, and Addiction

laurenkchung's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

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, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Infertility, Misogyny, Cursing, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

brynnbmn'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, and Misogyny