Tracy ( Out of town for a few: Wedding =)'s Reviews > The School for Good Mothers

'The School for Good Mothers' by Jessamine Chan was very different from any other book I have encountered to date. Main character Frida Liu comes from a traditional Chinese family with all the "typical" expectations of being the perfect mother, wife, and daughter. She is frustrated (and seemingly bored) with her role as a work at home mom and primary caregiver to her young daughter, Harriet. She makes one bad decision (what she refers to continually as her "very bad day") in regards to protecting Harriet and is sent away to the government run "School for Bad Mothers." Here, she is constantly made to repeat a mantra stating she is narcissistic and a bad mother while attempting to prove she is worthy of regaining custodianship of Harriet - by attempting to parent a preprogrammed "living" doll and teaching her "proper" human behavior. Frida also has to show she puts the doll first and that that she understands she is to have no needs or desires other than being a mother. She should desire no other relationships in her life - and if she does she is demonstrating not being worthy of getting her daughter back. The men have their own school and the expectations and demands are not as high and seem extremely unfair in my opinion. In addition, the counselors and those judging the mothers don't seem to have children of their own. How can you judge what being a parent is like if you are not one? You can have an idea, but I think you truly learn by doing. The ending is not what I expected and was hard to swallow. Thank God there is nothing like this in real life is all I have to say. Wow. Just... wow.
Narrator Catherine Ho does a wonderful job as the solo narrator and could not have brought this book into fruition for the listeners enjoyment more perfectly. Great job!