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School for Good Mothers
336 pages
A tense, witty, and deeply anxious exploration of the impossible standards of modern motherhood pushed to a dystopian extreme.
What it feels like
This propulsive page-turner plunges the reader into an anxious, dystopian atmosphere where the everyday pressures of upper-middle-class parenting are weaponized by the state. The narrative moves with a brisk, tense energy, driven by sharp, witty prose that skewers the impossible expectations placed on women, particularly single mothers and daughters of immigrants. As the protagonist navigates a claustrophobic, Big Brother-like institution, the mood shifts from personal struggle to systemic dread, highlighting the violence women face from both the government and each other. It is a gripping, emotionally fraught experience designed for readers who appreciate biting social commentary wrapped in a high-stakes fight for maternal survival and boundless love.
- Mood
- anxious
- oppressive
- dystopian
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- witty
- critical
- tense
- satirical
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- perils of perfectionism · state surveillance · maternal devotion · systemic misogyny · immigrant family expectations
- The writing
- Witty and propulsive, driving the narrative forward with sharp observations about modern parenting and societal expectations.
- The arc
- Moves from the crushing anxiety of personal failure into a desperate, high-stakes fight to prove one's worth against an oppressive system.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave tense, thought-provoking dystopian fiction that skewers the impossible standards of modern motherhood.
Content notes
- state surveillance
- child separation
- infidelity
- institutional oppression
About the book
Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. What’s worse is she can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with their angelic daughter Harriet does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she’s just enough.
Until Frida has a horrible day.
The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida — ones who check their phones while their kids are on the playground; who let their children walk home alone; in other words, mothers who only have one lapse of judgement. Now, a host of government officials will 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 she can live up to the standards set for mothers — that she can learn to be good.
This propulsive, witty page-turner explores the perils of “perfect” upper-middle-class parenting, the violence enacted upon women by the state and each other, and the boundless love a mother has for her daughter.
Description from Open Library.
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