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A review by raindropsinreverie
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
2.0
(This book put me in a month long slump)
(less of a review, more of a small, not-thought-out rant)
I had seen a lot of praise for this book and since I love a good dystopia, I was really excited to read it and picked it up as my first read of the new year.
It starts off strong, and the initial desperation and pain of Frida trying to convince the authorities (and everyone around her) that she is a good mother is so well written. But it just all goes downhill. The (kinda) likeable and pitiable Frida of the initial chapters slowly becomes an extremely whiny and frustrating character. Unlikable characters are fine, I love them. But I don't think the author wanted this character to come off as unlikable. But Frida's constant need for her daughter to want her and need her, with absolutely no brain cells wasted on thoughts of her well-being! Ma'am! Please! Get a grip!
The book is so slow and so repetitive that even if you skipped a few chapters here and there, you wouldn't miss anything of import. I couldn't bring myself to care too much about the other mothers at the school no matter how much I tried to.
I wish this book had focused more on the immigrant parenting style vs US parenting style, because the scenes where Frida is trying to defend her parents and their love for her were the best parts of this entire book.
The idea behind this book and the message it wanted to convey was something that appealed to me but I just wasn't satisfied with the execution. The school was weird. The fact that the general population is entirely okay with it knowing that tomorrow they themselves could be labeled bad parents and sent to play with android dolls is very very weird. I don't think the author really planned out the dystopian setting very well.
(less of a review, more of a small, not-thought-out rant)
I had seen a lot of praise for this book and since I love a good dystopia, I was really excited to read it and picked it up as my first read of the new year.
It starts off strong, and the initial desperation and pain of Frida trying to convince the authorities (and everyone around her) that she is a good mother is so well written. But it just all goes downhill. The (kinda) likeable and pitiable Frida of the initial chapters slowly becomes an extremely whiny and frustrating character. Unlikable characters are fine, I love them. But I don't think the author wanted this character to come off as unlikable. But Frida's constant need for her daughter to want her and need her, with absolutely no brain cells wasted on thoughts of her well-being! Ma'am! Please! Get a grip!
The book is so slow and so repetitive that even if you skipped a few chapters here and there, you wouldn't miss anything of import. I couldn't bring myself to care too much about the other mothers at the school no matter how much I tried to.
I wish this book had focused more on the immigrant parenting style vs US parenting style, because the scenes where Frida is trying to defend her parents and their love for her were the best parts of this entire book.
The idea behind this book and the message it wanted to convey was something that appealed to me but I just wasn't satisfied with the execution. The school was weird. The fact that the general population is entirely okay with it knowing that tomorrow they themselves could be labeled bad parents and sent to play with android dolls is very very weird. I don't think the author really planned out the dystopian setting very well.