The School for Good Mothers: A Read with Jenna Pick

This is a fascinating, in depth examination of authoritarianism, xenophobia, female oppression and motherhood. The more rigid and hateful the US government becomes under Trump’s greedy grasp, the less dystopian this brilliant novel seems to be.i am eager to read Jessamine Chan’s next book!

This book does some things right: it's an interesting concept, emotionally gripping and it's quite funny in parts. It also illuminates--in a hyperbolic way--the impossible standards to which mothers are held. However, it needed better editing both for length/pace and to ground the narrative. The story is extremely dystopian without mentioning the date or giving any hints at historical or future context, so it feels disorienting to read. I realize that may be the point, but having experience working in the child welfare system, it's strange to read such an inaccurate portrayal of how it operates without some indication of this happening in another time. If the story was meant to be rooted in concern about any present political or cultural shifts, that could have been made clear. Ultimately, the book just depicts an alternate universe without any reference points to ground it, and at the same time, it depicts present day Philadelphia very accurately, which makes it feel even stranger. It's important to know this book could be triggering for mothers, especially new mothers. I don't say that lightly as I rarely struggle with dark material, but the story is incredibly sad, rage-inducing and stressful.

Characters are relatable and interesting. The writing is wonderful but the book is really hard to read. I kept bouncing between two distracting ideas. (1) The story is completely impossible in the inplausible sense—no government could fund this, no staff could enforce a system like this for a year, no judges would be this clueless/heartkess. I mean where is the press in all of this? Especially after the suicides? Then (2) the other thought is that its completely impossble in the unthinkable sense—the horrors happening to these families are crimes against humanity that demand outrage and justice. Having subjected myself to the despair and depravity of this world, I feel like I should at least have been rewarded with a point, a moral or maybe even a glimmer of hope…but no. Not getting any of that. That said, I will look for other books by this author.

Repeat after me, "I'm a bad grandma, but I'm learning to be good".If this book wasn't so well written I would have put it down after chapter 1. However, the author is clearly gifted and she kept me going to the very end, despite the fact that it literally gave me nightmares. I'm often haunted by the mistakes I've made with my own children over the years, and even now with my grandchild. But for the grace of the benevolent universe, I would have been one of the mothers in this book. It was difficult to read, but I can't stop thinking about it. In some way it is helping me to forgive myself for the things I could have done better.

I am trying to push myself to read new types of books. I love literary fiction so this fit the bill—-even with the dystopian feel.There was so much that was hard to digest and read—but I do think I’m still glad I gave this book a shot. It was a lot to think about.SPOILERI would have given it a higher rating but the ending felt rushed and unclear. I don’t think Will would have actually left Frida alone with Harriet at the house. And then…I could not figure out what the deal was with the picture and the ending, etc. I had to look up stuff on Goodreads and Google to get clarity.