“𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.” —𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨
Heavy. Haunting.
The School For Good Mothers, though dystopian fiction, really highlights the ways in which motherhood can be judged and dismissed. Mothers are expected to be perfect all the time, but the reality of motherhood can be isolating, exhausting, and overwhelming.
In this story, our MC Frida is deemed a bad mom by social services and her 2 year old daughter is removed from her care. Frida is placed in a year-long motherhood training program where her decisions and actions are monitored and scrutinized alongside a group of other bad moms. They are degraded and dehumanized, forced to relearn how to feel in talk circle, graded on their parenting styles, and ultimately denied the right to be with their own children.
The book focuses on the pressure mothers face to give up their identity to be “good moms”, and I think it is an unfair expectation that hits too close to home. A country that doesn’t support motherhood should not have the right to control it.
As a mother, this book really resonated with me and left me feeling disturbed and outraged. It’s a scary idea that the government can step in to decide what makes you a good or bad mother. This book demonstrates the danger of letting government draw that line for us.
Good literature makes you feel and think, and this book definitely did that. 
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MANDY'S READING LIST 