Author: Jessamine Chan
Pages: 336
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Read On: Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days
Plot Summary: 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.
Things I Liked:
1. The writing was very good. The writer did a great job of pulling us into this world which is quite like ours only ever so slightly different. She also did an amazing job of showing us every shade of Frida's plight and you really feel like you are right there with her as she goes through one heartache after another.
2. Frida comes alive in this book. She is present in every page and it would be fair to call this book a character study, of sorts. We learn everything there is to learn about her, from feeling less than successful for her immigrant parents, feeling like she is constantly letting them down and feeling stuck and unworthy and reluctant to ask for help. I related to her character at so many levels. And so much of what she does and what she thinks aligned with how I would act in her situation. You can't help but feel for Frida and be enraged and agitated on her behalf. You find yourself cheering for her, heartbroken for her and hoping she comes out of this ordeal with her baby by her side. I think any book or any author that gets you this invested in a character has done her job more than successfully.
3. The thing I love best about books are how they make you pause and think. This one did that over and over again. First, it got me thinking about this gross level of surveillance and what possible good it can do in this world? Anyone who is monitored so closely all the time will hardly be their authentic self. And can something as universal and definition-defying as motherhood even be quantified and qualified and, more importantly, can someone even be taught to be a good mother? Sure, there are tools and behaviours that can be encouraged but really can someone be taught to be a good mother from scratch? I also kept thinking about the alleged crime and the punishment and it's severity. There are mothers in the school who did seemingly small "crimes" and are put in the same place and getting the same punishment as mothers who actively and severely hurt their wards. This book is full of things little and big that will make you put the book down and spend some time sorting out your opinions and thoughts.
4. Another thing I loved about this book was how I'd be thinking 'oh God no one deserves to be here and going through this hell' and then you'll hear of a mother who did a horrible thing and has zero remorse. I love books that make you change your mind and flip the narrative. Because truth be told, if you really think about it, what Frida did- and this is no spoiler, it literally happens in the first few pages of the book, leaving her 18 month old daughter alone in the house for two and a half hours is dangerous and quite wrong. Especially because Frida could and really should have asked either her ex or just hired a babysitter. Throughout the book she keeps calling it a 'bad day' and never really acknowledges her mistake or sees the danger in her actions.
5. The whole vibe and atmosphere of this book was so well done and it really brought out how horrible and soul crushing being there would be like. The horrible women who run the place and the things they do to make the mothers feel small and inadequate was infuriating and visceral.
6. I also liked the other mothers we meet here. There are a lot of them and it was nice to get to know them (even briefly) and hear their stories. And seeing the equations and relationships between them was also enjoyable.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Frida though relatable (sorta) for most part was also odd. Her ex-husband cheats on her and she is not even mad at him. She wants him back and turns on her rage on the ex's new love. OK, that woman is quite a handful, but, like a lot of typical women who've been jilted, the focus of Frida's ire is the 'other woman' and not the man who had vowed loyalty and love to her.
2. Also, her sheer stubbornness in not asking for help was just...I get it, I have a hard time asking for help too but this stubbornness goes to a whole other level when your unwillingness to ask for help (or even accept help) endangers your child.
3. This book is also very predictable. You pretty much know what's going to to happen in the end and it does.
4. I also found myself getting a little bored by the 65% mark and wish the book would just hurry up. There was so much repetitivenessand just the same thing being told and shown over and over again.
5. However, my main issue with the book was that Frida (and, I guess, the author too) acting like what Frida did was such a trifling matter. The thing that lands her in trouble is not OK. It's dangerous and a crime to leave your toddler strapped to a contraption alone for over two hours! Throughout the book, the vibe I got was..oh this was a one-off and not such a big deal. And that we, as readers, should only empathize with Frida and not see the error of her ways. In fact, compared to the 'crimes' that some of the other mothers were sent to the school for, what Frida did was so much worse.
Rating: 3.5/5
I did enjoy this book (for most part) and I think if you are a mother this might be an interesting read and one that will get you thinking.
Also, pick this up if you are a fan of The Handmaid's Tale and Orange is the New Black.
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