Scan barcode
A review by vivaldi
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
3.5
Sometimes I'm simply in the mood of picking something outside of my 2022 reading list. My 2022 reading list is still lacking some literary fiction titles, so I've decided to look up the internet and see which recent literary fition releases received good reviews.
So I came Jessamine Chan's debut novel The School for Good Mothers. I was intrigued by both the premise and the positive reviews so I jumped in reading this from a point of curiosity - to both understand what this novel really wants to tell & why this book is well received in the first place.
To put it concisely, The School for Good Mothers is a hard to put down literary fiction with some Sci-Fi elements (artificial intelligence, I'm lookin' at you). This page-turner is rich with social commentary & digs deep into the notion of parenting, and features a flawed yet nuanced main character, Frida Liu. I must admit that I couldn't put this book down because I wanted to see her character development, how her child is faring away from her, and her fate with her child. So I Chan definitely did something right with Frida's characterisation and the social commentary aspects of the book that kept me going!
I think The School for Good Mothers is a solid debut that left me a healthy amount of food for thoughts. It had me thinking about a lot of things including:
- What are the redeeming qualities of a good parent? Or conversely, what makes someone a bad parent / incapable of parenting?
- What would change if social workers intervene on what they deemed to be "bad parenting" as in the novel?
- How much mistakes / slip-ups could be condoned before one faces a legal consequence?
Without giving away too much details of what exactly happened in Chan's debut, I think the novel addressed all three points above in an open-minded manner. What emotionally hit me is that both Frida's rumination about her past mistakes leading to her child being taken away and the setbacks she faced in the school, made the consequences she faced more heartbreaking. In addition to the heartbreaking impact that had me invested in Frida as a character, I also think the social commentary about mothers from different backgrounds is quite interesting to read about - their circumstances and how that leads to them unable to adhere to the "good parenting" standard as dictated within the pages.
So substantially I can understand why The School for Good Mothers is well-received: it's thought-provoking, has sharp social commentary, and has a way of welcoming readers to turn the pages.
While The School for Good Mothers is definitely a strong debut for its own merit, it's not without its drawbacks. Personally I thought some of the secondary characters aren't as well fleshed out. So while I'd loved to see how Frida slowly got along with her roommate & classmates, I didn't have that much of an opportunity to see that come into fruition. Another thing that I wasn't particularly fond of is the language use in latter half of the chapter - particularly the racially derogatory terms that I didn't feel was resolved properly.
Finally, I also want to give readers a heads up that The School for Good Mothers contains a lot of content warnings which I'll list below, so be aware of these in advance if you plan to read the book!
Content warnings: racism, misogyny, violence, abandonment, separation, illnesses, emotional blackmail, mental illness, mentions of drug, self-harm, hospital visits, and childbirth
So while I had some issues with the language use in a few chapters & would had loved to see better character arcs amongst the support characters, overall I think Chan's The School for Good Mothers is a thought provoking debut. I rarely read literary fictions but Chan's sharp social commentary and emotionally devastating storytelling did manage to keep me interested in the story she's trying to tell!
(3.5 stars out of 5)
So I came Jessamine Chan's debut novel The School for Good Mothers. I was intrigued by both the premise and the positive reviews so I jumped in reading this from a point of curiosity - to both understand what this novel really wants to tell & why this book is well received in the first place.
To put it concisely, The School for Good Mothers is a hard to put down literary fiction with some Sci-Fi elements (artificial intelligence, I'm lookin' at you). This page-turner is rich with social commentary & digs deep into the notion of parenting, and features a flawed yet nuanced main character, Frida Liu. I must admit that I couldn't put this book down because I wanted to see her character development, how her child is faring away from her, and her fate with her child. So I Chan definitely did something right with Frida's characterisation and the social commentary aspects of the book that kept me going!
I think The School for Good Mothers is a solid debut that left me a healthy amount of food for thoughts. It had me thinking about a lot of things including:
- What are the redeeming qualities of a good parent? Or conversely, what makes someone a bad parent / incapable of parenting?
- What would change if social workers intervene on what they deemed to be "bad parenting" as in the novel?
- How much mistakes / slip-ups could be condoned before one faces a legal consequence?
Without giving away too much details of what exactly happened in Chan's debut, I think the novel addressed all three points above in an open-minded manner. What emotionally hit me is that both Frida's rumination about her past mistakes leading to her child being taken away and the setbacks she faced in the school, made the consequences she faced more heartbreaking. In addition to the heartbreaking impact that had me invested in Frida as a character, I also think the social commentary about mothers from different backgrounds is quite interesting to read about - their circumstances and how that leads to them unable to adhere to the "good parenting" standard as dictated within the pages.
So substantially I can understand why The School for Good Mothers is well-received: it's thought-provoking, has sharp social commentary, and has a way of welcoming readers to turn the pages.
While The School for Good Mothers is definitely a strong debut for its own merit, it's not without its drawbacks. Personally I thought some of the secondary characters aren't as well fleshed out. So while I'd loved to see how Frida slowly got along with her roommate & classmates, I didn't have that much of an opportunity to see that come into fruition. Another thing that I wasn't particularly fond of is the language use in latter half of the chapter - particularly the racially derogatory terms that I didn't feel was resolved properly.
Finally, I also want to give readers a heads up that The School for Good Mothers contains a lot of content warnings which I'll list below, so be aware of these in advance if you plan to read the book!
Content warnings: racism, misogyny, violence, abandonment, separation, illnesses, emotional blackmail, mental illness, mentions of drug, self-harm, hospital visits, and childbirth
So while I had some issues with the language use in a few chapters & would had loved to see better character arcs amongst the support characters, overall I think Chan's The School for Good Mothers is a thought provoking debut. I rarely read literary fictions but Chan's sharp social commentary and emotionally devastating storytelling did manage to keep me interested in the story she's trying to tell!
(3.5 stars out of 5)