Compelling dystopian read ala Handmaids Tale. Had a hard time putting it down and found many of the issues thought-provoking. Interesting and surprising ending.

This is a creative and insightful story. Frida Lu is a new mother, and she is struggling. Her husband has recently left for her for his mistress, and she's struggling with her job. One day, Frida becomes overwhelmed, and Frida leaves her daughter, Harriet, home alone for a few hours. In this near future, Harriet is caught up in a new government initiative that closely monitors parents for those who, in the state's eyes, fall short. The only way for Frida to be able to get custody of Harriet back is to attend a school to redeem "bad mothers." Frida wants nothing more than to be reunited with her daughter -- but will she be able to survive the program?

This book offers a very interesting concept through which to explore questions about the the nature of parent-child relationships, gender roles, and how society's expectations interact with both. It is also a strong story that will keep readers highly engaged.

Very highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for sending me an ARC of The School for Good Mothers in exchange for an honest review.

The School for Good Mothers is the story of Frida, a 39-year-old mother of a toddler, Harriet. She struggles with co-parenting after her ex-husband ran off with his mistress. So, at the height of what she will relentlessly think of as her “very bad day,” Frida leaves Harriet alone in an exersaucer in their home. For over two hours. While she goes to get coffee, and runs to the office. When she is somehow caught, Harriet is taken from her and Frida is ultimately sent by the government to the School for a year of re-education with other mothers and fathers.

My first problem with the story in The School for Good Mothers is that what Frida did was, objectively, wrong and dangerous. She could have asked for help or a break from her parents, or her ex, or just hired a babysitter. Frida is painted as an upper-middle class woman who had options that she simply rejected out of pride for appearances’ sake. While her punishment was absurd—a year in a school being trained how to hug and forced to repeat slogans like “I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good”—it was never clear to me that the author actually thought Frida had done something objectively wrong and worthy of some level of punishment.

The larger problem with The School for Good Mothers is that it is slow and rather repetitive, and that it tries to pack so much social commentary into the story that the forest gets lost for the trees. Is the book about the “perils of ‘perfect’ upper-middle class parenting”? Then why are most of the moms not upper-middle class? Is it about the self-judgement and judgement of others involved with parenting, how we often parent in response to how we were parented? Is it about the racism and sexism and general unfairness the author portrays as inherent in the American child protective service system? Then it probably would have been better to show us more of the outside world—how these mostly but not exclusively brown and black mothers were selected for the School—and make the story closer to real life than this weirdly regressive (“[t]he kitchen is the center, and the mother the heart, of the home”), Kafkaesque system of hopelessness that never feels very realistic. The whole book has an emotional flatness, and the story probably would have been more compelling if told as a first-person narrative.

The School for Good Mothers is an ambitious novel, describing itself as a “page-turner” about ideas, and a “modern literary classic.” In constructing its titular school, you can see the book’s forerunners, from The Trial to 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale. Unfortunately, the story of this fascist mommy school is far too muddled to live up to its own lofty goals.

Wow. This dystopian novel is both far-fetched and yet all too real. Everything that happened in this book, while at times outlandish, does not seem out of the realm of possibility.

The School for Good Mothers focuses on Frida, who has a bad day and makes a bad parenting decision (honestly, it was a really bad decision, and it admittedly biased me against her initially). As a result of this decision, she is put in a new program where she has to learn how to be a good parent.

This book is eerie. Even though it seems that so much of what goes on in this book could never happen, there are enough things that hit the mark to make you wonder, could this happen? What DID feel really timely and accurate were the pressures on women, the pursuit of perfection as a mother, and the way society judges mothers. While not a mother myself, I have witnessed these things. I know plenty of mothers who feel like they are never doing enough, never measuring up, feeling guilty for not reaching a pinnacle that is unrealistic for anyone. Why is it this way and what can we do to fix it?

The Schoo for Good Mothers certainly shows us what could happen if we don't change things. This book definitely made me feel uneasy, uncomfortable, upset and even anguished at times. And while none of those things feel good, that was part of what made this book so amazing. The ending left me feeling bereft, but it was definitely an appropriate and understandable ending given everything that led up to it.

Bravo to Jessamine Chan for writing this wonderful book. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The beginning was super intriguing, slightly slow, but because of they title you know where it goes. When the MC gets to the school is where it kind of got slow-er. Think boring Orange is The New Black, with weird terrifying Chucky doll recreations running around looking for love. (Not really, but close… in my mind)
The writing is great, it’s grabs you and has a flow. Some parts of this story is heart breaking and also some times relatable being a mother.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my review

I had high hopes but they were dashed with the unrelenting and overwhelming grimness of the book. I didn't care about anyone, the surveillance was depressing, and I felt like it was written into a dead end. Great idea but clumsy.

Look at that beautiful cover! It's been a while since I got a very very very good ARC!
This book...I just can't put it down and I also love the characters within!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

This review really pains me to write as it was one of my most anticipated for January 2022. The School for Good Mothers is being touted as a new The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s part speculative fiction, part science fiction, and really focuses on the the plight of motherhood. Especially in today’s society where everyone has an opinion, it’s hard to be a ‘good mom’. Jessamine Chan takes this idea of what a ‘good mother’ should be and turns it into a modern dystopian story tale of what happens when Big Brother tries to tell us what a ‘Good Mother’ really entails.

Two caveats before I get into my review further.

1. I’m 7 months pregnant with my first child and my personality hates being told what and how I should do something, so maybe I’m just a tiny bit sensitive to a book about a middle class women being told how to be the perfect mother. I’m not normally a sensitive reader but maybe set yourself up for success and don’t pick up a speculative fiction book on motherhood when you’re already nervous about that journey.

2. To me this is nothing like the Handmaid’s tale. Yes, it has the dystopian atmosphere of women being told what to do and how but past that, these two are nothing alike.

Now for the story itself, after having a terrible day, Frida makes a huge mistake by leaving her toddler alone at home while she runs to grab something from work. During this time her neighbors call the authorities and Frida loses custody of her daughter. In an attempt to get her back, Frida agrees to go to The School for Good Mothers, where she’ll spend a year learning to be a ‘good mother’ and to prove that she made mistake. During the course of her ‘schooling’ Frida, along with 200 other ‘bad mothers’ are sequestered in a prison like environment and subjected to the curriculum the state has put together in order to teach them how to be the perfect mother. Told entirely through Frida’s eyes we learn about the harsh treatment and strict rules of the reform school.


This book evoked all the outrage emotions for me. Which to me is normally the sign of both a good writer and thought provoking prose. This would normally generate a much more positive review from but however I couldn’t get into the way the story was written. I’m not even sure what type of narration I would classify the writing as, but it was flat and unemotional to me. Sure Frida had emotions, she told us about them, but I never once felt them. I felt as if I was reading the manual of someone’s life, or a technical document from work. Maybe the way the story was told works for some people, but it didn’t work for me.

This book is also entirely toooooo long. At ~336 pages, the book itself is average size if not on the shorter end but it felt like it took me forever to read. It probably took me the same amount of time to read but it felt much too long, which automatically gets stars deducted. Personally, I would have cut out 100 pages in the middle and called it a day.

The subject matter itself is interesting and original. Imagine a world where a mother is told it’s selfish to be lonely, to want to be good at their job or hobby, or even to need time away from their children. Chan does a great job of depicting what it would be like, if treat and teach mothers that their sole purpose in life is to cater to the every whim of their children, and if they get any sort of happiness or joy from any source other than their children, then they are a bad mother. It’s mind blowing but also strangely relevant to today’s world.

Ultimately, this book didn’t do it for me. I appreciate the efforts and the uniqueness, but I needed this to go full blown wild on the science fiction genre, which it didn’t. While the message of the story is good, it feels like way to much work for the small reward we get in the end.

The School for Good Mothers comes out January 4, 2022. Huge thank you to Simon Schuster and Random House for my copy in exchange for an honest review. If you liked this review, let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof_books.

Harrowing.

The premise is absolutely outrageous. There are so many logistic and legal issues that make the program Frida is placed in untenable. But, putting aside the logic of it, it's fairly disturbing. The author does a good job of showing beauracratic indifference to individuals.

Loved this book! For the first section, I thought the book was just going to be about DFCS procedure but the story really picks up when Frida heads to the “school.” Couldn’t put it down after that. The detached way the social workers/judges appraise the situations of the mothers was a very poignant nod to how broken out current system is while the school and what the mothers go though is very dystopian future feeling. The robots reminded me of several Ted Chaing short stories.

I wanted to love this one. It has a dystopian esque premise that sounds appealing because I adore dystopian books. But the level of what feels like racism and horror done to Frida was just too much for me. It felt like no one was on her side, that things were allowed to happen that are just so far out there, I couldn’t handle it. I totally understand the point of dystopian is to play on our fears and to make things super far out there in a believable way, but it was beyond appropriate and unimaginably cruel. Poor Frida, she’s caught in a system that doesn’t allow mothers to make mistakes. Such is the state in the US, where helicopter parenting is the norm. I don’t say this to justify what happened to her because she made a mistake. But what she goes through isn’t a just or reasonable response that is beyond belief. It might have been more enjoyable for me if the book had been executed in a smoother format that read less tedious. Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for sending this along.

I received an ARC of this book by the publisher via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review.

The School for Good Mothers is a stunning debut from Jessamine Chan. It's a disturbing and eerie dystopian novel which could be set in our world a week from now. This novel explores questions regarding motherhood within our society. At its core the book asks us to question the idea that has become prevalent within our culture about being "a perfect mother" and the societal judgment that accompanies that. Is there a perfect way to be a mother? Can one time a hug down to the second to determine whether or not it's "perfect"? Can we properly function under the weight of expectation of perfectionism in parenting? And what makes a good or bad mother? While bringing forth these questions, Chan also touches upon social issues that can affect these questions such as race, sexism, ancestral trauma, ethnicity, gender roles, technology, mental health, sense-of-self, and surveillance. I love books that make me think about societal issues as well as philosophical questions, and this book definitely did that. I can see this being a great book club selection.

The book's main character, Frida Liu, is an interesting and well-rounded character. She toes the line between likability throughout the novel, but you find yourself rooting for her to succeed. I think it's a true sign of skill when an author can pull off a morally grey character who inspires pathos amongst readers. Chan's prose is clean and the pacing of the novel is pretty good. Lately I've been having problems while reading of losing interest midway through the story, but The School of Good Mothers kept my attention throughout the novel. I was left guessing throughout the novel about what would be Frida's fate. The ending was poignant and memorable, and I'm pretty sure that this story is going to stay with me for a longtime.

I'm excited to see such a strong debut from Jessamine Chan, and I look forward to see what the future holds for her. I give it 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Frida had a very bad day. At the end of her rope, she left her 18-month old daughter, Harriet, alone for several hours. As she fights to regain custody, the judge decides she must attend a new program. The women sent to the school named in the title are sent away for an entire year to practice their mothering and prove they are worthy of their children.

This is a dystopian novel that sometimes feels a little over the top. But both the sci-fi elements and the strange messaging relayed to the mothers about their duties came together in a very real way.

The messages that feel odd and overt in the book are actually very real ones that we internalize every day: that our kids are in constant danger, that mothers should have no identity outside of them, that any hurts are our fault–and we are more culpable than fathers will ever be.

Also: we must hyper-parent when they’re young, but we’re bad mothers for being protective when they’re teens–and we must know the exact moment to make that switch. Our fears become less about our kids’ safety and more about the surveillance of our neighbors–because with one mistake, all could be lost.

Despite the oddities of this book, it broke my heart and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There is so much to discuss here; it would be a great book club pick.

Oh my word. I cannot hardly put my feelings into words on The School for Good Mothers. It started out as just a novel that sparked my interest and then turned completely dystopian and bonkers - but I could not put this one down!

This book was extremely hard to finish. The writing was very factual and boring which made it very difficult to relate to the main character which makes it hard since it’s a very character driven book.

We follow Frida, a recently single mother, after having what she calls “a very bad day”, when she happens to leave her child at home unsupervised for 2+ hours. She ends up going through a very peculiar program to become a “good mother”.

The author had an amazing plot and I believe she could have done such a better job writing it and putting more feelings in the story in order to help the readers connect to the story a bit more.

Thanks Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Reminiscent of the Handmaiden's Tale, this haunting tale of the repercussions of of one bad choice will leave any parent up at night wondering "what if it were me?" This book is a must read for anyone who who questions the role of government in families or who has ever wondered if the are a "bad parent."

This book was a tough read - not because it's bad, but because it does what dystopian books should do - come uncomfortably close to reality. Being a woman in America right now, given recent court rulings it is not too far off of what reality feels like.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

Pub Date: 1.4.2022

This dystopian story centers around mothers who the state have deemed “bad” and in order to try and get their children back they are sent to a rehab facility where they must complete a year of training and tests.

This was an emotionally draining, laborious, and repetitive story. The chapters were very long so this felt like it really dragged on and not much happened. It felt like it was just a lot of depressing situations with mothers who ranged from wrongly accused to truly brutal.

I love dystopian novels and wanted to like this one but it really just didn’t work for me. It gave me some very creepy vibes that I did not enjoy. I will say that the writing was good and the concept was unique so I’m sure other people will find this to be an entertaining read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was ... not good? Bad feels too overtly strong of a word, but I am coming up short with any other description. The book opens with our main character, Frida. She's tired, worn-out, and running on fumes, and all of these conditions lead to a non-accidental accident (?) in which her eighteen-month-old daughter is left home alone for two hours.

There were two main things that I disliked about this book. This primary thing was the personality of the main character. As a reader, you get the sense that you are meant to sympathize with this tired mom, but in reality, she is just kind of insufferable. The second thing was the unrealistic manner in which the author handled certain situations.

For example, one of the first scenes of the book is when Frida encounters the social worker assigned to her case. I'm a social worker in the child welfare sector, so it's hard not to be a bit nit-picky. The social worker begins taking photos of Frida without permission (this would never happen) and when Frida asks why she's taking photos the social worker says, "Do you have a problem, Ms. Liu?" (this would never happen). Additionally, the social worker says "Ms. Liu, this was an emergency removal because of imminent danger. You left your daughter unsupervised." The language is wrong, the tone is wrong, and the process is wrong. It's hard to look past scenes like these when you have an intimate understanding of the profession and the author is probably just going off of what they have seen in movies.

Once something makes me cringe in a book, it's hard to come back from that place. For those reasons, I could not enjoy this book like I had hoped I would.

I really liked the premise, but the execution lacked a little bit for me. We follow Frida Liu after her horrible day that has awful repercussions regarding her daughter. I felt that we didn't get to see the relationship between her and her daughter that would make us care so much for what was happening; I didn't get the feeling of dread or foreboding from what could happen for Frida in regards to her daughter. I felt the narration didn't let me in the characters relationships or lives; I got all the facts, but none of the emotion, the urgency.
I did like the ending though.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.