While beautifully written, I found this book too hard to read because of the subject matter. Leaving a baby alone for hours is really inexcusable. I would recommend this book only to people who know what it's about.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Jessamine Chan for the Arc of The School for Good Mothers in return for my honest opinion.

I was really looking forward to reading this book and was happy that it was a recent selection by a celebrity book club that I follow. Unfortunately, this was a mostly DNF for me. The first several chapters started off strong, But once the story moved on to Frida's arrival at the school, the plot became repetitive and boring. I made it through 75% of the book before finally skimming the final pages as I was curious how it would end. My opinion is a very unpopular one as there are many rave reviews for this book. While this book was not for me---readers who enjoy dystopian-type storylines will most likely enjoy it!

I only got about a third of the way through, but I don’t think this is the ~vibe~ for me right now. Clearly I’m not going to be a great resource for why you should or should not read this but some of the feedback from my book club chat was—“repetitive in the middle”, “stressful & boring” and just kind of……I don’t know, weird?

There’s for sure some interesting concepts here, with commentary on the surveillance state, racism, sexism, authoritarianism, etc., so I wouldn’t completely write it off. But I would definitely exercise caution and maybe read a few *actual* reviews before going in.

Single mom, Frida, has a very bad day. She’s trying to take care of her cranky toddler while working from home, all on almost no sleep. She makes a really stupid decision and ends up paying dearly for it.
She’s sent to a deranged reform school for moms, where she’s sentenced to spend a year learning to be a “good mother” to a fake kid while being kept away from her own. The school’s standards for good parenting are largely unattainable and pretty much designed for failure.
While the school was obviously over-the-top and satirical, the commentary about how hard society judges mothers was spot on, especially when juxtaposed with the bad dad school.
A tad too long, but engaging and somewhat disturbing.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this #arc of #theschoolforgoodmothers in exchange for an honest review.

Jenna Bush's book club picks are usually good reads and this did not disappoint. OMG.... can this really happen here????? It really makes you think about the topic... and it was really disturbing. Being monitored and watched constantly gives me the creeps, but the characters in this book accepted their fate for the most part because of their 'character'. I'm anxious to go to my book club and discuss.

The School for Good Mothers hit a little too close to home for my taste. As a new adoptive mother and a foster mother, it was interesting to read about the perspective from the other side of the many court cases I've sat through. I think as foster parents it can be too easy to see the biological parents' faults and forget about how horrifying it is to be separated from your child — whether that's for a limited time or forever.

What I liked: Chan's writing gave me a lot of empathy for Frida, the main character, who lost her 1-year-old daughter after "a very bad day." I was rooting for her the whole time (which is kind of amazing considering what I didn't like about this book). I also really appreciated the satire on the unreasonable expectations that society puts on motherhood these days. There are areas where it made me grimace and others where I felt deeply seen.

What I didn't like: It was just way too long. Maybe this was on purpose, because you really, really got a taste of what it was like to be Frida waiting on the final verdict. But I was kind of over all the units and the same conversations over and over again — especially between Frida and her counselor/teammates. It was also surprisingly sexual in parts. I understand how that fits into the overall story, but I wasn't expecting it and I personally could have done without it.

I'm giving it a 3.5/5 rating because I found the premise and the satire interesting, but overall the book was too long for me and could have been edited better.

Jessamine Chin's "The School for Good Mothers" is one of the most emotionally devastating books that I have read in recent history. Frida, a mother of a young child has a very bad day and does something inexcusable- she leaves her eighteen month old child home alone for several hours. As punishment, she is sent to a pilot program, the titular school, where Frida and other bad mothers must learn to be good, through therapy, mantras, self-flagellation, and interactions with lifelike robot children. This book certainly provides a lens to view issues of our time: the policing of women's bodies and intentions, the impossible expectations placed on mothers (but not fathers), and the role of the state in raising children. However, it is Frida's personal relationships (with her daughter Harriet, her robot daughter, and the rest of the cast) that propel this story and make it so heartbreaking. Full disclosure: this book made me so tense that I had to skim the last third of it instead of reading it. I still cried. I'm not sure how I feel about it or who I recommend it to, but I do feel it probably deserves all the hype surrounding it right now. I am also the mother of a small child.

Very disturbing Novel. I wasn’t expecting a book like hand maidens take But dealing more with children.

The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan is set in the near future during a time when the government decides to crack down on errant parents. Frida makes a poor decision when she's overworked and overtired to leave her young daughter home alone for a couple of hours. The police become involved and Frida is sent to a government institution to be retrained as a good parent. She undergoes rigorous training in a massive effort to regain custody of her daughter. Fascinating and scary at the same time. Read and enjoy!

This premise of this book sounded so unique and interesting, but it left me a little disappointed. The first several chapters and build up were fine, leading towards what I anticipated would be the crux of the book. However, the protagonist’s time in the school aka the major point behind the book, was rather boring. It was a lot of tell, not show going on. There were a lot of descriptions at that time without real exciting action, which surprised me given the apparent sci-fi elements of this book. The middle of the novel really dragged for me, I can only give this one 2 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

3.5 starts

The School for Good Mothers shines a light on what Western society expects of mothers and how parents, particularly mothers, harshly judge one another. At the same time, this book is a story about a mother’s love for her child. It is undoubtedly a book that will stick with and make you think.

The School for Good Mothers has an interesting and unique concept and plot. It did, however, become a bit monotonous. Despite being a bit slow and rather repetitive, I did not want to put it down as I wanted to know the next thing that would happen at the school. People who need a book with a strong plot that propels you through a book may want to forego this one. I also found the ending of The School for Bad Mothers to be incredibly unsatisfying. It took my opinion of the book down a notch. However, I can see where it may have been difficult for Chan to write a different ending or one that would satisfy readers.

Jessamine Chan’s writing in The School for Good Mothers was fact-driven and unemotional. There was an emotional flatness to the writing and the book. I think that this was likely intentional so that the reader makes up their own minds and opinions without being biased by the author. I can see this being problematic for those who think that the mothers’ and/or the school’s actions should be judged negatively. But I think it is part of what makes this book strong – the fact that The School for Good Mothers makes you examine your own expectations and judgments of mothers.

Chan highlights the expectations of modern-day parenting, the violence enacted upon mothers by the state and each other, and the double standards for mothers and fathers. She also touches on the fact that there are American expectations of mothers which do not conform with other cultures or encompass the multi-cultural aspect of the U.S. But for me, Chan did not take it quite far enough to actually make any kind of statement. The social commentary was buried deep but never fully addressed. If you are not already aware of these issues, the commentary may not be obvious, which I think is a missed opportunity on Chan’s part.

The School for Good Mothers is a book that will leave you reeling after finishing it and wanting to hug your children (fur or skin babies) tight. Chan manages to shock and disturb despite the absence of emotion in the writing. Overall, I enjoyed The School for Good Mothers and found it thought provoking, quietly intense, and impressively disturbing. It is a perfect book club pick, because you will desperately want to discuss it with someone else. However, I recommend skipping it if you need to the author to take a stance and include judgment of the characters within the text.

I was intrigued by the School of Good Mothers because it was a Read with Jenna Today Show pick. I also wanted to start my 2022 reading challenge with debut novels and this one had made so many lists. This dystopian drama could be described as a parents worst nightmare. The story was so shocking and heart wrenching at times that I would not recommend this book for pregnant mothers, new mothers or anyone who has recently lost a child. The book is told from the perspective of Frida, a recently divorced Chinese American Mother and her struggles with co-parenting her beautiful little girl named Harriet. She loves her daughter, but in her weakest moment, the mother gives in to her stress and sleeplessness and makes one very bad decision that will impact the rest of her life. I’m not justifying her actions, but you do feel for her when the judge suspends her parental rights and sentences her to a year long government led parenting program. She is thrown in with other mothers who have abused, neglected, and/or abandoned their children. Each woman has to repeat the mantra, “I am a bad mother learning to be good.” I hated the way all of the mothers are taught to introduce each other by their first name and what they did to their child. She has to keep retelling the story of her very bad dad while others judge her. I do not want to spoil the major plot twists or ending, but there were times I wanted to scream at the way these women were treated including the psychological torture that they endured on behalf of educating them to be good mothers. The school felt more like a prison and you start to wonder if it is worth it. The instructors lacked basic empathy and subjected the mothers to lessons that were truly bizarre. Even when the mothers tried to comply, the rules kept changing so they still could not be successful. Failure led to swift retributions including losing phone privileges and being sentenced to talk circles. I was bothered by how they never factored in the culture differences and the very real trauma that some of these women endured in their own lives that impacted their parenting. To make matters worse there was such a double standard for men enrolled in the program. Overall, there seemed to be very little hope of any of these mothers being reunified with their children. Will anyone survive? I will say that reading this book is like watching a train wreck, you cannot stop reading even if it is painful. You have to know the outcome. I know the ending will lead to rich discussion in book clubs. Did I love the book? I’m honestly not sure, but I definitely want to talk about it.

Thank you for allowing us to read THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan. Please find our full interview and review of the book located here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jessamine-chan/id1511650673?i=1000549017868

A dystopian novel about motherhood? I was certainly intrigued. Frida is a mother who has a bad day- in the stress of a day of a single mother she makes a mistake that gets her charged with neglect and abandonment of her child. Only way to have a chance of regaining parental rights? Spend a year at a School for Good Mothers- a pilot program from the state to try to 'fix' the issue of poor parental behaviors in society.

While the premise is very original and intriguing, for me the book fell flat. The pace was incredibly slow- the only point where it didn't drag for me was the very last chapter, which made for a very surprising turn of events.

I have been seeing some reviews of this book and I think its a hit or miss. Maybe if I had more personal experience with the societal expectations placed on mothers, I would have been able to connect with this book. But for me it was a miss.

Frida had a very bad day and that day sadly set course to a a new path where she temporarily loses custody of her daughter and as part of her punishment is sent to a School that “trains” mothers.

I have a lot of feelings about this book. There’s a dystopian vibe to it as far as the School goes. Dystopian is not my favorite genre to read but this story felt like a wreck you could stop looking at, I just wanted to keep reading. I felt in shock at what I was reading about most of the time. There are a lot of references to how differently men & women are treated as parents in society. This was definitely an interesting read.

This book would make for great discussion as a book club pick.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy to read.

Frida has one "very bad day," when she walks out of her house, leaving her toddler behind and alone for two hours. But in this new world, CPS has been given essentially unlimited power to determine which parents, particularly mothers are "good enough" to see their children again, and Frida finds herself not measuring up to the near-impossible standards. In a last-ditch effort to gain custody of her daughter, she agrees to attend a one-year intensive, live-in program which will teach her to be a "good mother" - or else terminate her parental rights. But the program seems to come out of a nightmare and Frida finds herself just hoping she can make it through with her sanity intact.

This book has been compared to "The Handmaid's Tale" since its release, but I think its actually much scarier - because the world in which Frida lives looks so much like our present-day world. It COULD be today's world. Just wit a couple of small differences. As her lawyer says at the beginning of the book, just a couple of laws changed and no one paid attention, "and why would you? You were just living your life." I mean, who would agree with laws strengthening CPS? But then you look deeper and BAM! You end up with a nightmare scenario.

What's also incredibly interesting is you find yourself rooting for Frida and the other mothers generally, even though they are incredibly flawed. Obviously, Frida made a huge mistake and should be punished, but the extremes here are pushed so greatly, it makes you question everything - what is rehabilitation, and what is simply revenge and torture? These are the valuable questions this book raises.

The book also touches on issues of racism, classism, and sexuality.

I think the time at the school went on for a little too long, but in the end I was glued to the book, waiting to see how it turned out, if Frida could work through the system, which seemed determined to make the mothers fail. All of the ethical questions really come together in the ending and I really felt almost haunted by how it all turned out, though it felt perfect for the book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in dystopian literature, feminist reads, or just good drama. It will keep you reading late into the night!

The premise of this story is good, but the execution just falls flat for me. Frida Lui has a one-off and is deemed an unfit mother. She is sent to a rehab school focused on training "good" parents. Frida and 200 other mothers are subject to strict rules and exercises to practice parenting on dolls that look identical to their own children. The program however is extremely intense and almost seems like it's setting the parents up for failure. This book was extreme and never seemed to explain the reason for it. There was nothing to tie everything together/give it meaning.

In this captivating debut, narrator Catherine Ho quickly immerses listeners in the nightmarish story of Frida, a struggling Chinese-American single mother of a young daughter who makes a terrible mistake that leads to devastating consequences. Ho embodies Frida in this terrifying and rich story of the impossible standards society sets for being a good mother, the dangers of big data and surveillance, and the societal pressures placed on women in general. Ho holds the listener captive as she narrates this deeply engrossing portrait of the boundless depth of a mother's love. Her exquisite narration channels a heartbreaking, terrifying, and prescient story that leaves the listener gutted.

my review on AudioFile for the audio book of this title

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/209833/the-school-for-good-mothers-by-jessamine-chan-read-by-catherine-ho/

This has been my favorite book of the year, so far!! This was unlike any book I've ever read. From the very first page, I was hooked! I finished it in two days and I wish is was not over. It was cringey, honest, raw, and real.

This book was a very wild ride and I'm still not 100% sure how I felt about it? It was very dark, sad, etc. and I didn't love the ending so I'm left feeling like what did I just read.

The women at the school repeatedly complain that they're sure that the men don't have to go through the practices that they have to do which mirrors how judged women are as mothers in society while men get a break when it comes to being fathers. The women have to go through extensive practices and are judged so closely and they often reflect that the dads are probably just taking multiple choice tests and worksheets.

Read this if you liked The Farm by Joanne Ramos.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

TW: Parental Neglect & Abandonment, Racism, Sexual Assault, Suicidal Ideations, Suicide