The School for Good Mothers

A Novel

De: Jessamine Chan

Narrado por: Catherine Ho

Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize
Selected as One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022!

In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eye on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgement, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

An “intense” (Oprah Daily), “captivating” (Today) page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.

©2022 Jessamine Chan. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Ho holds the listener captive as she narrates this deeply engrossing portrait of the boundless depth of a mother’s love. Her exquisite narration channels a heartbreaking, terrifying, and prescient story that leaves the listener gutted." (AudioFile Magazine)

Overall pretty unique perspective

I wouldn’t recommend this novel to many people, but I did enjoy another perspective on the judgement of women and particularly one whose behavior concerning parenting is less than pristine.

More of a sci-fi novel than was advertised

Story is a little too slow for my taste. It also has a sci-fi twist, when Freda reaches the school, that was not very believable. Unfortunately the storyline was not very interesting to me personally.

Haunting and Gripping

Only complaint is the cliffhanger it leaves on! I wanted more! I listened to this on the drive from LA to CO and was completely hooked the whole time.

Engaging and scary

This highly believable story about government overreach re: correct parenting was well written and engaging. The narrator was very good. Certainly a provocative discussion starter.

I thought it was great

Rich, dark, satire. In this story, any mother should be able to see the crazy things they expect themselves to be, and the even more crazy things that the world expects them to be. Impossible expectations. here they come to terms with being human and being a mother.

a child of a bad mother

this was a tough read for me for a multitude of different reasons.
1. i am a child of a “bad mother”.
2. i am not a mother.
3. i don’t typically read anything other than fantasy and romance.

overall i think if you can get past the exaggeration of the school/program and the constant whining in Frida’s inner monologue, there are some good aspects of the book. makes you think about the fact that not everyone should be a parent, even if they REALLY want to. the school did not, in my opinion, have any lasting affects of the bad parents. and the ending clearly shows this. although my points above are valid, i still hold a lot of sympathy for most of the characters.

A lot of unnecessary messaging

The book is really great especially if you love dystopian story set in close modern times. Some of these things you can actually see happening today. I would have given the book a five star review but they were so much for messaging that had literally nothing to do with the book. It was really distracting. But otherwise the story was great and I couldn’t put it down.

Good concept, mediocre execution, despicable main character

I have to make myself keep listening because I HATE the main character and the story is not compelling. I am hating myself for my finish every hook started self.

Great story

I enjoyed this book. It was a little slow, but captivating. The descriptions and detail paint a perfect picture.

Dark and emotional

This was a dark book that stirred my emotions. There were quite a few moments that will stick with me for awhile, but it was a bit of a slog at times. One of those books that I didn't necessarily enjoy but felt compelled to finish.