The School for Good Mothers: ‘Will resonate with fans of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere’ ELLE Paperback – Import, 10 March 2022

Think of this book like 1984 but for mothers. Mothers who the state thinks aren’t good enough to take care of their children. Mothers who abandon and those who neglect. The ones who prioritise a career over raising their children as per a prescription. Mothers who basically do not follow rules.Jessamine Chan’s world is that of horror, to constantly keep the reader on their toes, knowing fully well that no one is watching and yet it seems that way with every turn of the page.You empathise with Frida Liu, a divorced mom who is trying very hard to be there for her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet. Till she abandons her for an afternoon – to get a cup of coffee, answers her email in office, and forget about her child. The neighbours hear the child’s screams and the authorities are summoned. The child’s custody is given to her ex-husband and his young girlfriend. Frida is placed under constant surveillance by the government and ultimately is sent to a state-run reeducation camp for “bad” mothers. What happens there and later makes for most of the book.Chan’s story is chilling. It is of a world that demands perfection from mothers, while fathers are not held accountable. It is a world that constantly wants proof of women being good mothers – which means essentially that they should be perfect and self-sacrificing. They shouldn’t yell. They should always smile and love the child no matter what. They should anticipate their children’s needs and be there for them. Frida and some other women at the “school” definitely do not fit the mould. They are constantly questioning the system and that’s the other part of the story – told most subtly.Chan’s writing is easy while making the points she does at every page. There is racism, classism – sometimes through Frida who is second-generation Asian American or in the form of other women who are Black, poor, or both. The white women are absolved of it all – they can make no mistake and when they do, they are let off easy most of the time.There is a lot to unpack in this brilliant novel. The questions of motherhood, and what is being maternal at the core of it – what is parenting, and most importantly what the role of love is in raising a child are asked over and over again. The School for Good Mothers is perceptive, horrifying, and makes us look up and pay attention to the world we live in.

4 starsFrida Liu is a new mother. Struggling with a recent divorce and carrying a self doubt on her shoulders as big as a mountain. She takes care of her daughter for some days in a week and on rest of the days her ex-husband takes care. Frida doesn’t want childcare , she wants to be with her daughter, Harriet.On a particular day, Frida steps out of the house leaving her daughter alone for few minutes. Few minutes turn into few hours and when she is back home, neighbors hearing Harriet's screams have called in the police.And after this incident, Frida is questioned and assessed on Motherhood. She is given a chance to be a good mother by attending a school where she is to learn to be a good mother. She goes through the training where she meets other mothers like her and also fathers. The school has set a whole new set of training where mother has no identity of her own. Her life is for her kids.Well, it is a small trend that is going on nowadays due to social media where we find a lot of stuff on parenting (along with other things). We get ideas and styles on parenting, names for different styles of parenting. So this book is the whole next level of parenting. We are made to constantly question Frida's decision. Why didn't we focus on her Husband who left her for another woman when Frida just had a baby and needed much needed support? Why didn't we focus on the Husband's girlfriend who constantly advised Frida on what's good for Frida's baby? Why didn't we focus on Frida's parents whom she didn't want to ask help feeling that they might get judgmental?Because when it is a matter about a kid, its always the mother. Not father, grandparents, family-friends or society. It is the mother.Jessamine Chan is broached a topic which is hiding itself in the folds of society and social media. A blend of dystopian and current domestic issues in the world. I liked the book very much as it made me to think on the matter. A good read if you need something challenging.Happy Reading!!

Poor writin

llego hiper maltratado, roto de la portada y las últimas páginas dobladas

Story was very good read, but upsetting to think this could really happen.

I read this book from start to finish in one sitting. Once I’d read the first chapter I was unable to put it down. The series of events that leads this mother to be separated from her daughter Harriet, an 18 month old toddler, the punishment in which she is ordered to endure by the authorities in order to ever see her baby again is absolutely devastating and several times it was beyond difficult to finish reading what she was enduring let alone process it. This is an extremely eye opening experience that certainly deserves to be shared and appreciated as one can undoubtedly determine the outrageous boundaries from which authorities have no regard for, that circumstances are not all the same nor are choices or situations from which others choose from. Individual rights and responsibilities must be taken into consideration when assessing a mothers rights to raising her child and I’ve always been wholeheartedly supportive with the mothers having the custodial time and rights but the courts aren’t always fair in their decisions or handling individual cases such as ensuring these mothers have access to all resources necessary to support their child and themselves while raising them without the financial resources needed and the financial resources they had once available to them when together with the other parent. If her finances are halved or altogether taken away it makes a very stressed and impossibly impoverishing lifestyle and hardships that are compounded by the stress of raising children to her very best ability it is impossible to parent at best levels when extremely stressed beyond belief with financial difficulties or perhaps she is unable to find work having given her whole life to raising children and keeping household responsibilities strictly to her own responsibilities relieving the male of any external factors or pressures enabling him to be focused on only his job career and successes within his career awarding him financial compensation and stability as well as excellent credit and years of experience and participation in career development. She is not currently able to find a job that compensates her equally nor does she have the years of experience because she sacrificed everything for his betterment and her children’s lives by being at home. When the males leave I think it’s deplorable they should be considered for any kind of custodial rights until children are in teens and during academic year no sleeping outside their mothers home nor on weekends until they’ve reached high school levels. All the more, she and her children should be given the same financial compensation that they’ve always been used to and that this man can absolutely afford. Moreover, she should be given promise that he will use visitation while she’s on trainings or in school to ensure she has a career and the opportunities that her husband had solely due to her sacrifice and enabled him to work while she handled all household matters. This is one of these cases in which the male leaves her so extremely ill equipped to find substantial work, financial compensation or even the time the child care and the support system in which he received from her while he was beginning his own career in job force. He wasn’t emotionally or mentally concerned stressed or worried and distracted by raising his newborn, a toddler or any children. He didn’t need to remember or make the doctor dental and all other appointments that are necessary and required by the authorities for children to attend. This was a mother who prior to her husband leaving she had been an exemplary mother and caregiver. Had it not been the case, why 18 months later did this man wait to speak up? Perhaps she made an extremely poor choice yet why hadn’t he been held accountable for being checked out prior to this? Why not order him to provide more financially? To ensure her strength is on children not stressing about finances or shelter or job security? This book will make your heart hurt and your brain philosophize.

Couldn’t even continue reading it . Horrible way to describe motherhood

Very disturbing and difficult read. How one mistake can change so many lives. I still can't help but judge the main character, she is very flawed but does she deserves what happens to her?