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A women who leaves her daughter alone is given a one year sentence at a school that teaches mothers to be "good." Although Frida's time at the school felt a bit dragged out, it also allowed to see how ridiculous the whole concept is. My heart broke for Frida.

6/2023

This didn‘t work for me. I found the writing completely flat and it just didn‘t hold my interest at all. For the story it was trying to tell it completely lacked any emotion or depth. I‘ve read many great dystopians and this one just didn‘t stand up to any of them

This blew me away, but I wouldn‘t say that‘s a positive thing. Parallels to current society, what it means to be a “good mother,” the glaring differences between how the mothers and fathers were treated - all very unsettling, and a reminder that women are so often still considered “less than.” Sometimes downright scary to read, but I‘d still recommend it!

Apt for Mothers Day! ?
Frida loses custody of her Toddler after leaving her home alone and is sent to "school" to be taught how to be a "good mother".

It was an emotional and uncomfortable dystopian read. A mix of a modern-day Handmaid's Tale and Orange is the New Black. I think it would be a good book club choice as there's lots of themes to discuss. It also has you question if you are a "good mother". A rough read.

I don‘t deal very well with books about perfect mothers or, in this case, about mothers teached to be perfect. Or what is supposed to be perfect. I guess I could have known but I needed a book to tick-off the #ReproductiveRights prompt of #Booked2023 (and yes I know it‘s a bit far fetched). Also the dystopian part of the book felt so lazily done. Nothing is dystopian in the book except for that stupid school.

(Pic: Vermeer exhibition 🥰)

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. Probably barely a pick for me. I liked a lot about this speculative fiction featuring a mother who made a poor decision while her daughter was in her care. I felt it dragged a bit about halfway through and I became less engaged. Overall a super interesting premise that was well developed. I wanted to love it, not just like it. I‘ll be interested in what she writes next.

Mothers who have committed transgressions are sent to a government run school where they will learn to be “good” and their every move will be watched. I love books with a dystopian/alternate reality vibe. This was gripping, I couldn‘t look away, it gave me all the rage and I sped through it, but it was also just so unremittingly sad I just can‘t get past that, the lack of any redeeming hope. I‘m not quite sure yet what to take away from it.

Seeing out the weekend with a glass of Gamay Noir and a title that's been on my #TBR for far too long! #CurrentlyReading

This title was included on the #TimesMagazineTop100ReadsOf2022 and I reluctantly picked it up, to be honest. This story was so very good and terrifying at the same time. And yanks on your emotions while it's busy tying you up in knots. Totally understand now why it was not only a celebrity book pick but also included on the tagged book list.

For the past few months I‘ve been taking screenshots of all the reviews that‘ve intrigued me. They‘re all saved on my phone for whenever I need a little reading inspiration, but now I‘m thinking I might make it into a little reading challenge during one of @Andrew65 ‘s upcoming 9 day readathons. 💖

Tagging everyone who‘s reviews I‘ve saved so far! ☺️

Off to a slow start this year. I should have finished Bono‘s book Surrender but the loan on the audiobook expired with under an hour to go and of course there‘s a lengthy holds line from the library 😩 I‘m 25% of the way through The Stand and I have 3 other books in progress. I‘m kinda all over the place right now but it‘ll come together, eventually!

This is a haunting book that I think will stay with me for a long time and one I'll recommend to many. I found it more chilling than The Handmaid's Tale in that it felt more realistic especially in our current era where women's rights are being winnowed away. This sheds a light on so much that's wrong in our society - from misogyny to racism. And I did not see the ending coming! An amazing debut novel.

A dystopian future in which the surveillance state separates parents from their children at the slightest perceived infraction. Mothers are judged more harshly than fathers, people of color more than White people, etc. An intriguing premise and very well-written!

4⭐️/5⭐️

3 out of 5

An intriguing read.

Read for reading challenges,

4/5

This story really intrigued me. It provoked a lot of deep thoughts and was delightfully dark throughout.

I loved this book. Frida is a struggling single mother who has a very bad day and the state send her away for a year to teach her how to be a good mother. It‘s like The Handmaid‘s Tale meets One flew over the cuckoos nest. It is so immersive and scary and I still can‘t stop thinking about it. Loved it so much, I read it on my kindle but had to buy the hardback. (God bless Waterstones hardback sale).😉

This was a terrific book club discussion, but not really a terrific book! I both liked and disliked the story as well as the protagonist. Lots of emotions. It‘s a mix of The Handmaid‘s Tale and Orange is the New Black. I went through looking for #Pop23 readers. If you‘d prefer not to be tagged, let me know! #Pop23 ~ A book that‘s on a celebrity book-club list #ReaderHarder23 ~ social horror

My last book of 2022, reaching 45 for the year. The most I have read in years. Stepping away from my phone and spending more time reading has reminded me why it is my favourite thing to do. This book is an insightful view on a direction you can quite easily see modern society going. Whilst it is easy to judge the main character, the skill of the author encourages you to look at all sides. A little woolly in the middle but it finished strong. 3/5

Lots of feelings about this one. A near future dystopia where CPS is in overdrive and sends mothers to a reeducation camp where they must learn to be good mothers to robot dolls before their children can be returned to them. Felt a bit long in the middle and sometimes a touch too over the top, but made me think and brought me to tears close to the end.

A moment of distraction and newly-separated mother Frida is adjudged unfit to be a mother without undergoing a program designed to turn bad mothers into good. Creepy and all-too-believable dystopia which raises some important questions, not least about the role of the state in parenting.

Somehow I ended up in WH Smith and then these somehow got bought. Weird.

I didn‘t really want to read this one but it‘s on the long list of the #TOB23 and my library had it. Is another definition of dystopian “super creepy”. Because this book is that. A mother makes a mistake one day, one very bad day, and has to go to a school for a year to learn how to be a ‘good mother‘, knowing that she may lose her child if she‘s not perfect at the school. While the book could have been shorter, it packs some powerful messages.

I appreciate that everyone getting their tires changed over to winter tires agreed to mute the volume so we could all read our books. #Vermonters

#tob

Frida leaves her daughter home alone for a couple of hours and gets sent to school to learn how to parent again.

I‘m giving this a soft pick as it was certainly a page-turner, although there was a lot I didn‘t like. It‘s billed as dystopia, which it is, and there was a lot that felt like it could really happen. However there was no set-up as to how this point had been reached, and everything else in the world, other than the school ⬇️

Oof, I just can‘t with all the mom-judgements and piling-on, even if it is done with satire in mind. I bumped this back onto my radar with all the end of year hype and the fact it made the #toblonglist but I felt like I was being buried in bad news and inescapable horridness while reading this. TOD 20%

My attention span issue is getting me into a little bit of trouble… I wasn‘t able to finish Night of the Living Deed before I had to send it on… but I bought it so I can finish it anyway! I *am* enjoying it! And I‘m hoping to finish Wine & Roquefort before I have to send *that* one in… just a couple days!

But I‘m also happily reading the School (horrifying!), and I have the other 2 that I‘m waiting to get back to once my holds come up!

😳😳😳

15-21 Sep 22 (audiobook)
Another from the Obama list.
Frieda has a ‘bad day‘ and finds herself at the school for good mothers - a correctional facility for mothers, guilty of some minor and a few fairly major infractions.
This raises interesting questions: when should the state interfere in parenting issues, do we believe in redemption, how do you balance child protection and parental rights, are there double standards for fathers and mothers?

Not one of my favorites.

This was a strange book. A bit slow, confusing and disturbing but compelling and thought provoking too. Quite unlike anything I‘ve ever read.

SUPER SALE ALERT! @TrishB @Caroline2 @Oryx @RaeLovesToRead @Leniverse @CGainor3 @youneverarrived @jenniferw88 @rockpools

The novel begins with Frida leaving her 18 month old unattended for 2.5 hours. Do I approve? Absolutely not. Unfit parent or delirious decision? The rest of the novel explores “bad parents”, their reeducation in a dystopian school, and surveillance. Taking uncomfortable or believable reactions and skewing them just a little bit more, made this novel engrossing.

This book is ROUGH, but it serves a purpose and it‘s very well written. I felt like I was experiencing everything right along with the main character, and by the end I was almost crying.

About 50% in. . . This book is such a head trip! Would make a great book club pick.😱

DNF. Great potential but I wanted to like it more than I did.

A good dystopian focused on governmental intervention in parenting. The premise was interesting & well constructed with moments that made me cringe & others that had my hackles raised. A lot of great social commentary, including a focus on systemic racism. The pacing does drag a bit through the 2nd half & the ending felt a bit rushed, but there was a lot of intriguing writing & well considered content. A great debut & one that will stick with me.

So much to reflect on after reading this book. How our society defines motherhood, how society‘s expectations of parenting differ for men and women, for different cultures and reflecting on the “perfect” mold we are often all expected to squeeze into even when it‘s not a good fit for many mothers.

This story is HEARTBREAKING! It is terrifying to think about how easily this could happen in the US given our current horror show of a country. Every mother at this school made mistakes - some pretty big - but the ridiculous lessons were so repetitive and devoid of emotion it was like they were trying to turn them into uncaring robots instead of give them any skills to actually be good mothers for their children. And the ending 😭. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I'm going to give this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, but not because I loved it. I admire the story this author crafted and it upset me SO MUCH.

Full review: https://laurensreads.blogspot.com

I liked the premise of this book. I think Frida would faced legal consequences in our real world and would receive parenting counseling. But this school was extreme, some scenes were absurd but I expect that in dystopian novels. However, I think it was unnecessarily repetitive in some parts. I still think this would be good for a movie or tv serie adaptation. The end...? Well..you need to read it. 3.75⭐️ I‘m a bad mother but learning to be good”

Terrifying how these outrageous dystopian-adjacent works of fiction are becoming more and more like real life. As a mother, this one hit hard. Though it‘s not a perfect book, it is impactful. Readers spend the majority of the novel with our MC in the school for good mothers, as the title implies. It was a bit repetitive, though it serves a purpose— I felt as if I were there going through the program with the mothers. A book for our time.

#judgemental #maymoms @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I can‘t quite say I enjoyed this anxiety-producing read, but it was thought-provoking. My thoughts kept swirling around how women, especially women of color, are disproportionately impacted by broken systems and societal pressures. Could any person live up to every expectation of what it takes to be a “good mother”? What are the parameters and consequences, and who decides? 🎧

This book took about 100 pages to get interesting. It‘s a futuristic story about a woman who loses custody of her daughter and must attend a school for a year whose purpose is to improve parenting skills. Each parent gets a robot doll to practice with and must bond with this doll. I did like the ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very distopian and made me wonder if I myself am I good mum. I think you may appreciate this book more as a parent and in end I probably would have done what the mum did

Reminds me a little of Handmaid‘s Tale. Struggled to feel bad for the mother in the beginning, but after all the injustices she and the others endure your opinion may change.