The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan is a dystopian novel about the price a mother pays for having a "very bad day". Frida leaves her daughter Harriet home for 2.5 hours on a day when she is at the end of her rope, rather than asking her ex husband or a neighbor to help with the baby. A neighbor reports her, her parental rights are terminated and she is sent to the school where it is hoped she will learn to be a good mother.

The lessons at the school are inhumane and horrific, the mothers are monitored 24/7 and the fathers in the neighboring school aren't treated as harshly as the mothers. Frida spends most of her time whining and being miserable, which is fair in her circumstance, but it makes the novel drag. After all she's been through, I feel the ending leaves you hanging.

Thanks to the author, Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I dove into The School for Good Mothers blind but I really enjoyed it! It reminded me a little bit of The Farm by Joanne Ramos but I enjoyed this even more. I enjoyed the prose, I thought the chapter length was perfect and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy once the book comes out next year.

As a fan of dystopian fiction, I really enjoyed the fresh premise of this book. Welcome to the future world of parenting, where every parenting decision made is scrutinized and “bad parenting” decisions result in strict consequences, The characters were interesting and well developed, and the storyline was unsettling despite its fictional and futuristic take on parenting and nods to Big Brother. It isn’t that a future like this can’t happen, but that we must never allow it to happen. Overall a good story and worth the time spent reading it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Holy heck! This book broke me. It was such interesting commentary on the world of high expectations for mothers and also such a good dark dystopia. Friday’s journey after her “really bad day” was sad and also resonated with any parent who has made a mistake whether big or small. I believed in the characters and rooted for them. I cried.

"Fix the home,” she says, “and fix society."

What an interesting, thought-provoking read. The School for Good Mothers is a dystopian novel with some science-fiction elements, whereby a very high level of government surveillance exists in the everyday lives of citizens, in order to monitor their parenting skills. Mothers and fathers who fall short of nearly-unattainable "good parenting" standards will have their children promptly whisked away by Child Protective Services for alternate care; they risk losing custody because of negligence, lack of supervision, inadequate child-proofing in their homes, being too affectionate or not affectionate enough, messy houses. Even owning "toys with food stains" is a significant enough offense to deem someone a "bad mother" and necessitate her child being taken away.

"She is a bad mother among other bad mothers. She neglected and abandoned her child. She has no history, no other identity."

After losing custody of their children, the "bad" mothers and fathers themselves will be sent to residential schools for months or years at a time, where they receive remedial training on everything from diapering to appropriate hugging. They chant mantras daily like "I am a bad mother, but I am learning to be good" and "I am a danger to my child" to remind them of their offenses. One such "bad mother" is Frida, convicted of neglect after leaving her 18-month-old baby alone and unsupervised for 2 hours. The School for Good Mothers follows Frida's story as she attempts to regain custody of her daughter, Harriet, by participating in the strict remediation training at the school.

"In order to get Harriet back, Frida must learn to be a better mother… Next November, the state will decide if she’s made sufficient progress. If she hasn’t, her parental rights will be terminated."

I could not put this book down. The School for Good Mothers prompts such provocative questions about the judgment and criticism that mothers face from society--who deserves to be a mother? Who is good enough? Where do we draw the lines between an objectively good parent and an objectively bad one? Going further, what person, group of people, or regulatory entity should have the right to set the standards for parenthood? Who should enforce those standards, and how? What weighs more--a mother's right to parent her child the way she deems appropriate, or a child's right to grow up in a safe and healthy environment? As a society, how many parent-child relationships are we willing to sacrifice on the altar of propriety?

"Is it in Harriet’s best interest to be parented by you?"

At the same time, it was a challenging book for me to read because of the aggressive feeling of cognitive dissonance it left me with, from beginning to end. On the one hand, I was sickened and angered by the dystopian government overreach and how intrusive and inappropriate it was. The novel filled me with righteous anger on behalf of these fictional citizens beleaguered by such injustice, having their every move watched, analyzed, and evaluated. And yet, none of the surveillance measures or restrictive actions felt like a far cry from policies that already exist in the US today—which made my indignation all the worse.

"The state will collect footage from a live video feed. In each room, they’ll mount a camera in the corner of the ceiling. They’ll put a camera in the backyard. They’ll track calls and texts and voice mails and Internet and app use."

On the other hand, it was incredibly difficult for me to sympathize with Frida or any of the other "bad mothers." Many of them were portrayed as abusive and negligent, and their behaviors would have been cause for concern, even in normal, non-intrustive, not-at-all-totalitarian environment. It was hard for me to figure out whose side I was on: the government, who was actively trying to protect babies from these objectively terrible parents, or the mothers, who were sad about losing custody, but were legitimately a danger to their kids. Basically everybody sucks and there is no good answer. (Almost felt like voting in the last few presidential elections...)

"She’s never felt closer to them. A sisterhood based on shared incompetence. If this were another life, she’d take a picture now... In this light, no one would be able to tell that they’re losing hope. That they’re dangerous women. Women who can’t control themselves. Who don’t know the right way to love."

The school re-trains the mothers by pairing them with these weird, creepy, manipulative, AI-robot-dolls that are engineered to look, move, speak, and act just like real children. (Like Klara and the Sun meets Gabby Gabby from Toy Story 4.) As a tangential sci-fi element, this could have been cool, but it became a central feature that almost swallowed up the story for me, and I could have done without that.

"Maybe they needed to feel that they were the lowest of the low in order to believe. To see that the only creature they deserved to mother is a doll. That they can’t be trusted with a human of any age, can’t even be trusted with an animal."

Definitely not a “meh” book - I was fully engaged and enraged the entire time. I just couldn’t figure out where to direct all of my rage, because I had so much of it, and so many possible targets. Cognitive dissonance. That’s my big takeaway. If you love that feeling, this is the book for you! (But seriously, though, this book made me think about big things, in big ways. And I love a book that does that.) Four whole-hearted stars!

——

A huge thank you to Jessamine Chan, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love dystopian fiction. This is a pretty brutal look at what would happen if monitoring people's parenting tactics went too far. Obviously, the author sort of exaggerates this, since it's speculative. But I ended up feeling a little horrified at the idea of it, despite not having children myself.

Frida is struggling a bit as a single mother with an infant. She makes a mistake in which the child is not harmed Her parental rights are taken away and she ends up going to a school for an entire year to learn how to be a good parent. Obviously, the expectations for the mothers are much stricter than those for the fathers.

Imagine having to spend a year of your life away from your child, away from your career, to learn to be a better parent from a staff of people who may or may not even be parents themselves? It does seem absurd, but not actually inconceivable.

The premise was interesting, and the comparison to The Handmaid's Tale caught my attention. Sadly, this book fell flat for me. I kept reading, hoping things would improve, but they didn't. Too much focus is spent on Frida's whining. It's understandable, to an extent, but it goes a bit overboard. I didn't care for the utter lack of hope in the book. Too many creepy characters, as well.

This is a dystopian novel where anyone can report child neglect to CPS. Frida leaves her toddler alone in the house for 2 hours, goes to court and is given the choice of immediate termination of her parental rights or attend a year long residential pilot school to teach her to become a good mother. No one in the program is treated with humanity and anything less than perfection is a failing grade resulting in termination of parental rights. This novel is very intense. and never lets up. The author does a marvelous job of creating a harsh environment while the mothers' still have hope that they will be reunited with their child. There are no accidents; you are a bad mother. The author explores Frida's background and frailties.

I was riveted by this book. If you like dark dystopias, this is a book for you.

“I had one very bad day”. The words spoken by Frida, new mother to Harriet, newly divorced, struggling to handle it all. It was this lapse in judgment that will change Frida’s life forever. Her ex-husband Gust has happily moved on with his younger girlfriend, her Chinese immigrant parents who worked their whole lives in order for Frida to have a better life, and little Harriet, who may lose the mother she knew for good. That one very bad day has now brought Frida to court, in which the State will send her to an institution for other bad mothers, and be judged on whether or not Frida has it in her to be redeemed. The institution is run by government officials, using scientific, and creepy, ways to determine Frida’s success or failure of being a good mother. The different backgrounds of the women in this institution are very different, their poor judgments that brought them there range from checking your phone to letting their child get injured on the playground by looking away fro one minute. And every minute they are being observed, every action, every move they make is being scrutinized to decide if they will ever see their children again.

The idea behind this story is frightening. While so many of the poor judgments made by the mothers are very bad, some instances are simply accidents. To think that “big brother” can step in and decide the eternal fate of your child by how you react in an institutional setting is beyond disturbing. The actions by the employees in the pink lab coats are borderline criminal. If this was real, it would be horrific, since it was more Iike a sci-fi novel, I found it boring. It was tough to read through. It really felt more like a poor rendition of the Hunger Games than a literary novel of today.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster, for an advance reader copy if this book in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Simon & Schuster......
Thank you very much for this outstanding new debut novel!

The School for Good Mothers
by Jessamine Chan

Was so much fun to read! Even though there were times I did find it a bit hard to read!
Just because I have kids of my own and sometimes I take these stories to heart and think about my own family!

This book is the reason I love a good dystopian read!
It held my attention throughout the entire book!
What I loved most is this is seriously the type of shit that could happen to us.... Now!
I personally thought TSFGM was enthralling.... Couldn't look away from my Kindle!
Had to keep reading and see how this story unfolds!
Chan has a way that holds you.... Until the very end!
These characters are so believable and real.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what this shit felt like living through!
Amazing job Chan.... You knocked it outta the park here, and I look forward to reading of your work!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you again Publisher, NetGalley and Author for this amazing ebook copy!.
I will post to my platforms closer to pub date!.

The School for Good Mothers is a novel which encompasses a world in which any parenting transgression is reported and the consequences are severe. It explores the use of AI in creepy and often disturbing ways. While I enjoyed this book and certainly wanted to find out what was going to happen next, I found it difficult to buy into some aspects of the novel, even taking into account the futuristic, dystopian tone of the story. Thanks to Simon & Schuster, NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

While being far from a feel-good read, The School For Good Mothers is a provocative book. Its exploration of expectations on parents hits very close to us today. The world's subtle dystopian setting is both unsettling and believable. To be frank, it's frightening.

This is the perfect book for fans of The Handmaid's Tale. A dystopian novel that tackles similar issues of Women's rights and the struggle to keep them. I love that there was a mix of mother's unfairly judged but also mixed in woman who probably deserved to get their children taken away, the dynamic between the types of mothers was interesting. The story was deeply interesting and even when it got repetitive I was still excited to keep going.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A dystopian novel about the complexities motherhood in an oppressive world. Frida leaves her daughter, Harriet, alone for a few hours. A mistake made during exhaustion. Her ex husband, a good father, was not a good husband, but he still cares for Frida. . Even with his support, she is forced to attend a year long school--losing her job, apartment, and all things normal.

This was. overall an interesting look at motherhood, attachment, what happens when you make a mistake and a prison like school in the future to teach women to be good mothers, while monitoring and judging their every move. It had a slow start but am glad I pushed through and read it

This book was a very hard read for me. The dystopian story about a hellish place on earth where mothers are sent for minor transgressions to try to retain custody was just so upsetting that it was hard for me to read it for more than a few minutes at a time. That said, it was a very well-crafted and well-written story, full of interesting details and vivid characters. Just very, very hard to stomach.

This book was an effective satire of the expectations and pressures placed on mothers. The display of double standards throughout was enraging and further highlighted the author's point about unrealistic expectations. I liked the questions raised about judging how much someone cares/how effective a caregiver someone can be. The contrasts between Frida and Susanna, as well as Frida and some of the other mothers were well done and contributed to the overall effect. The atmosphere of the book is foreboding and sometimes uncomfortable to read. The book does drag in the middle; some sections could have been taken out without detracting from the main point. Additionally, I would have liked more closure to the ending, like an epilogue to give a little more information about how everything worked out (or didn't work out).

This book started off and ended great. The middle was a little over the top for me. It just wasn’t realistic enough to be believable. I wish it would have been toned down just a bit.

I wanted to love this more then I did to be honest! Unfortunately the writing itself was my sticking point. It felt a little one dimensional and flat to me. If you are a reader who loves reading for plot, I can imagine this is a very solid read with some interesting themes on motherhood.

It's never a good sign when you're sent to a school to learn to be a better mother. But here is Frida, after making an ill-fated mistake and being reported by neighbors. This turned into a terrific book. Well written but dark and disturbing. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough! An ending that left me spinning as well. Thank you so much!