The school for good mothers: a novel
(Large Print)
In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgment lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.
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 eyes 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 judgment, 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.
A searing 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.
Notes
Chan, J. (2022). The school for good mothers: a novel. First large print edition. Ashland, OR, Blackstone Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Chan, Jessamine. 2022. The School for Good Mothers: A Novel. Ashland, OR, Blackstone Publishing.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Chan, Jessamine, The School for Good Mothers: A Novel. Ashland, OR, Blackstone Publishing, 2022.
MLA Citation (style guide)Chan, Jessamine. The School for Good Mothers: A Novel. First large print edition. Ashland, OR, Blackstone Publishing, 2022.
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Apr 22, 2024 08:05:54 PM |
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Last File Modification Time | Apr 22, 2024 08:06:07 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | May 02, 2024 10:44:13 AM |
MARC Record
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---|---|---|---|
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008 | 211115t20222022oru ed 000 1 eng d | ||
020 | |a 9798200912933|q (large print ;|q hardcover) | ||
040 | |a YDX|b eng|e rda|c YDX|d SO$|d JAS|d OCLCO|d GRC | ||
082 | 0 | 4 | |a 813/.6|2 23 |
100 | 1 | |a Chan, Jessamine,|e author. | |
245 | 1 | 4 | |a The school for good mothers :|b a novel /|c Jessamine Chan. |
250 | |a First large print edition. | ||
264 | 1 | |a Ashland, OR :|b Blackstone Publishing,|c 2022. | |
264 | 4 | |c ©2022 | |
300 | |a 529 pages (large print) ;|c 24 cm | ||
336 | |a text|b txt|2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated|b n|2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume|b nc|2 rdacarrier | ||
340 | |n large print|2 rda | ||
520 | |a "Set in near-future America, The School for Good Mothers introduces readers to a government-run reform program where bad mothers are retrained using robot doll children with artificial intelligence. Protagonist Frida Liu, a 39-year-old Chinese-American single mother in Philadelphia, loses custody of her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet, after she leaves Harriet home alone for two hours on one very bad day. To regain custody, Frida must spend a year at a newly-created institution, where she practices parenting with bad mothers from all over the county. There, she learns to love an uncannily life-like toddler girl doll in order to demonstrate her maternal instincts and prove to her family court judge that she deserves a second chance. Frida is an outsider in every way: better educated, more affluent, and the only Asian. The mothers, whose transgressions range from benign to horrific, are under constant surveillance. If they don't pass all the school's tests, their parental rights will be terminated. Inspired by dystopian classics such as 1984, Never Let Me Go, and The Handmaid's Tale, the novel eviscerates the dominant American parenting culture, while highlighting the tragedy of state-sponsored family separation. Is there one right way to mother? Can a bad mother ever be redeemed? With warmth, heart, and dark humor, the novel tells a timeless story of a mother fighting to win back her child, and her struggle to hold onto her integrity while being indoctrinated." --|c Provided by publisher. | ||
650 | 0 | |a Chinese American women|v Fiction. | |
650 | 0 | |a Single mothers|v Fiction. | |
650 | 0 | |a Motherhood|v Fiction. | |
655 | 7 | |a Large print books.|2 lcgft | |
655 | 7 | |a Science fiction.|2 lcgft | |
655 | 7 | |a Dystopian fiction.|2 lcgft | |
907 | |a .b21035180 | ||
940 | |a MARCIVE 07/2022 | ||
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