Fans of The Handmaid's Tale will enjoy this uncomfortable dystopian novel set in the near future. Women that have been deemed as unfit mothers are given the opportunity to attend a rehabilitation center to regain access to their children.

I really struggled to get through "The School for Good Mothers". Initially, I was pulled in by the description of the book. I was expecting a dystopian future with a “Cuckoo’s Nest” meets “Handmaids Tale” storyline that follows a mother and her experiences at this futuristic and emotionally abusive "school for moms". But then from the set up, the author completely lost me because of the absurd depiction of what landed the mother in this situation.

Because, how do you make the main character need these services by committing an act severe enough to lose her daughter but not lose the reader who is then asked to sympathize with the mother and her situation? "The School for Good Mothers" puts forth an unrealistic picture of child neglect - the main character is an otherwise wonderful mother, but then leaves her child, who is barely one, alone for *hours* at their home so that she can grab coffee and stop by work?

And then, her self reflections on this incredibly dangerous choice are shallow at best, swinging between outrage because *she* is actually the victim to ambivalence and confusion as to what the big deal is. Saying things like, “But maybe some people weren’t meant to claim their space. She claimed it for two and a half hours and lost her baby.” UH YEAH because you chose to leave your infant alone so that you could “claim your space” by walking out of your house for two and a half hours!!

And so then what initially reads like a criticism of unrealistic expectations or mom shaming falls apart pretty quickly when the act that she committed isn’t a preference or legitimate parenting choice, but truly an act of neglect which then trivializes why organizations like Child Protective Services exist in the first place. Because what’s the big deal, it was only over two hours alone?

The mom clearly doesn't get it, and maybe that's part of the point, but then for the next several hundred pages we're left with her in this school, and while I absolutely do not need the main character to be likable, the narrative returns again and again to why she is in this situation, by referencing her "bad day" making it difficult to move past to enjoy the rest of the storytelling.

A School For Good Mothers By Jessamine Chan
I wish to thank Net Galley and Simon and Schuster for this compelling and intriguing
novel.
“A mother is always patient. A mother is always kind. A mother is always giving. A mother never falls apart.”
Until that is when Frida has a bad day. Now the state has sent her away to a school to learn to be good.
Frida left her 18-month-old baby home one day in an exersaucer for about 2 hours. She is suffering from lack of sleep and her husband left her for a younger woman when the baby was only 2 months old. Frida is barely holding on to her job. She does not have a proper job according to her parents and her culture. She has had periods of depression in the past. Then she gets a call from the police that they have her daughter. Frida must hand over the baby to her father while awaiting her day in court. The judge decides that Frida is not fit to be a mother and sends her to a new program. Frida will have to learn to be a good mother during the year that she is there. If she proves herself, she can get her baby back. If she fails the program, she will lose custody and cannot see her daughter until she is 18.
As a mother, haven’t we all had a bad day? The reasons some of the mothers are in this special school are things that can happen when you have children- your child falls out of a tree and breaks a limb, you spank them in a store, you post pictures of them having a temper tantrum on social media. Are they excusable? No. Are they a reason to take away a child from their parent? NO.
At times, this was a difficult book to read. What Frida and the other mothers had to endure during their stay was unbelievable. The book gets creepy and dark while Frida is in this state-run facility. While leaving your infant child alone for over two hours in unspeakable, you also hope that Frida is able to pass all the tests and be able to see her daughter again.

I loved this book. Both dark and filled with hope, it questions what it takes to love a child and to strength to be a mother. A page-turner for me.

This was an engaging read especially for those who are mothers themselves. The bond the main character has with her actual child and what develops between her and her doll child as well is very interesting to read. I feel that the book lacked some pacing. I was expecting more of a solid ending for how much time I had invested reading the book. For 2/3 of the text it was a slower pace describing in detail many aspects of the school for mothers.

Thank you to NetGally for providing an advanced review copy. Dystopian world that doesn't seem to far from reality. In the current climate of school board meeting insanity and SO much discussion of "good parenting", this book hits a nerve. You follow a later 30 something mom, Frida, that has "one very bad day" that haunts her for the entire story and sets in motion a series of repercusions one could only dread as a parent. CPS arrives, her child is sent to her father and Frida is drug through an inept and pre-deteremined outcome of a court. Given the choice of being listed for life as a bad parent and custody stripped from her or attending a reformatory school for bad parents, she chooses the later. She is promised that in one year's time she can return to her daugher, Harriet, who is just shy of 2 currently. However, she has to live and learn in this new reforming program which becomes a hellish nightmare of mental games - all with good intentions of makng her a better mother. The skepticism of government knowing best and what consistutes good parenting and the stereotypes of mom's role vs dad's role plays out perferctly in this novel. You will find yourself agreeing and then disagreeing. As a parent of two teens, I completely related to these pressures that are in our society and within the stereotypes. I highly recommend this book. It will definitely make you think.

This book, while having all the boxes ticked for me in the description, just never really landed with me. I never felt much for any of the characters and the story just fell very flat to me.

3.25. This debut novel has gotten a lot of good buzz. However, I found it painfully slow to read, predictable, and very repetitious. I think this author shows talent with pretty good character development but this novel did not grab me. A disturbing dystopian novel taking place in contemporary times on motherhood that could capture almost any mother within its orbit with an Orwellian tone of the state taking control. Others may enjoy it, but was not to my liking. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased and candid review.

This book falls into that category of “excellent, but…” It is very well-written and I was completely absorbed in it. The State-as-nanny concept is horrifying and creepy. But I just didn’t LIKE this novel. Chan pulls no punches with Frida. She is full of flaws and contradictions and bad decisions and I found her hard to like. Usually vulnerability inspires empathy, but I struggled to find compassion for her. There are some ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ vibes which were interesting but this one just didn’t work for me.

This book was so bad it made me stop reading for a week-- and not just this book, all other books. The prose was so unnecessarily pretentious and rim. I loathed it, inside a "hated it", inside a "wanted to throw it across the room."

Frida is one tired momma.. Life at this point is not good.. she has a husband who is having an affair and she is alone with her daughter. She can’t seem to get it together.. some days are good and some days are bad. The day we meet Frida, she is having a very bad day. She leaves her apartment to go to her office and gets caught up at her office. What was supposed to be a quick trip.. turns into a nightmare.. Why would this become a nightmare? Well it’s because she has left her daughter at home. The neighbors hear her daughter crying and call the police. Frida comes home to this mess faxed and confused. She wasn’t thinking clearly? She couldn’t believe she did this? She is heartbroken that it has happened and yet this isn’t the worst think that will happen to her on this very bad day. The courts decide that she will have to enter a modern day faculty, where mothers will learn how to take care of their children. It is a facility that is futuristic with android babies that can interact. The women are constantly being monitored and seeing their children again, means they have to complete this program with the right grades and attitude they never see the children again. Frida’ ex is very supportive of her and takes their daughter, so that Frida can complete this program. Regardless of how hard she tried to get out of it she can’t. Once in the women here are broken. They are lost without their children and their families. This new world they live in is absurd and futuristic. They are watched all the time, have no moments piece. They must interact with these computer children (robots) and they must pass all of this to get out and see their kids again. The author did an excellent job telling this story. It has a dark theme but there are bits of satire and sarcasm that break it up. Frida is such a relatable character. Her life just got overwhelming and her very bad day, doesn’t seem to end. This was a four star read for me. I kept reading because I had to see how it all played out. I want to thank Netgalley & the author for my copy for an honest review. It was my pleasure to read and review it. I hope you enjoy it too..

The School for Good Mothers is a dystopian novel about what happens when the government takes over parenting.
Frida Liu is a struggling single mother. After her husband leaves her for another woman, she is struggling to balance taking care of her daughter and working. When exhaustion leads to her leaving her daughter at home alone, the government steps in. Frida has to prove that she can take care of her daughter.
This is a very dark book. The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 comparisons are not unjustified. It was interesting to read this book since it is a cautionary tale.

This book was CRAZY and nothing like I was expecting.  The story explores a future where mothers who aren't exemplary are taken to a "school" for a year to learn the skills to be a good one. The stakes are high because if they fail, they never get to see their children again.  Even though the premise sounds awesome, I found the execution slow moving and confusing.  Just an okay read for me.

I was granted a free copy of this text by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to like this text given the premise. However, it turned into a confusing mess that did not live up to the hype. A good story for female empowerment, but the plot does not match up with the themes.

This was a very intriguing story. It really makes you think about what would happen if this was implemented in today's society. Although I really wonder if it's focus is in the right direction.

Frida has what she calls "a horrible day". A day that makes the reality she knows disappear and is then thrust into something she never could have imagined. A day that will keep being the focal point of her past, present and future.

Throughout the story all of the mothers, including Frida, are tested in ways that are normal challenges of raising a child. However they are evaluated in some very different and at times disturbing ways. After seeing the entire concept I do believe something like this, although not this exact program because I really do question the motives behind the people running it at times, could be something that would be very beneficial to some of the struggling mothers out there.

The author has done an extraordinary job of challenging ones thoughts and feeling on such a tough subject.

I don’t know how to rate this. There were parts I disagreed with, that enraged me and that pulled at my heartstrings. Regardless of how I settle on this book as far as star rating goes, I do know this one will be a memorable one. Interested in this authors future publications.

Wow! I really enjoyed reading this dystopian novel. Thank you for allowing me to preview.

The pressure put on moms is exhausting, but so important. While reading The School of Good Mothers I believed the requirements of them to be ridiculous and spot on at the same time. Motherhood is hard. It’s emotional and overwhelming and so rewarding.

Poor Frida! Poor Harriet! The fact that they will always hurt because of one bad decision is heartbreaking. I enjoyed the thoughts this novel brought up. Great idea for a great book!

This is a difficult to read near futuristic novel about a government program to correct parenting mistakes and help bad mothers learn how to be good mothers. Frida Lui has a bad day and leaves her young daughter at home alone to run and errand and get coffee. This lapse in judgment lands her into a year long parenting boot camp filled with unbearable cruelty as she struggles to meet the schools impossible demands as she helplessly watches her daughter be enveloped by her ex-husband and his new wife. I had trouble liking the characters- even those that we were supposed to like and be cheering for. The writing is strong but I wasn’t able to connect emotionally with Frida.

While I didn't totally love this book I do see a lot of potential for wonderful future books from Jessamine Chan. There's a lot of concepts here that just kind of hang out in the space instead of Chan feeling the need to clarify what the 'point' was which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I did find it really difficult to feel a lot of empathy for a lot of the characters, very much including our main character Frida. I do think this was intentional though. I enjoyed so many of the ideas and writing elements here but it just didn't quite land for me.

Jessamine Chan's debut novel follows a story of Frida as she struggles through motherhood and a the abandonment of her husband. After leaving her toddler alone for hours, Frida is reported to the state and enrolled in a school for mothers- where she will have to endure the surveillance and harsh instructions of the state to gain custody of her daughter Harriet again.

The story is both dark and dystopian. As a mother, I struggled to read some of the scenes in the novel. I felt for everyone involved, although it was certainly hard to like Frida.

I thought Chan's treatment of race and gender within the school was really well done- challenging and definitely too close to our current reality. It was a highlight of the book.

Although the premise of the book was brilliant, the slow pacing and grimness of the story also made me struggle with this novel.