The School for Good Mothers

What does it mean to be a good mother? And what should happen to bad mothers? The School for Good Mothers tackles these questions in a new, interesting way.

Frida is a woman struggling to adjust to motherhood. A cheating spouse, a demanding workplace, and her own mental health challenges all contribute to Frida making a choice that results in a neighbor calling CPS. As a result of the investigations (and under threat of losing her daughter permanently), Frida is enrolled in a program designed to help her become a good mother. This is where the story takes a dystopian, troubling turn. The School For Good Mothers is a year-long, residential program that lumps offenders of all levels together. Parenting classes are frighteningly prescriptive, and the goalposts of success seem to be constantly moving. It's unclear what success looks like, but failure is specific and constant.

There is a lot to wrestle with in this book. Frida is a difficult character with whom to empathize. As a mother, I am certainly sympathetic to the challenges of parenthood, among them the immense societal pressure to parent “correctly” or risk screwing up your kids. The line between negligence and mistake can be blurry and difficult to navigate, but the choice Frida makes is so clearly negligent that it is difficult to feel sorry or troubled when she faces consequences.

The depth and reach of those consequences, however, feels too big - outsize for the infraction - and so the reader ends up on Frida's side, sort of. The School is a terrifying place, and the things that happen there are so clearly bad and wrong - but one is left wondering, what would be the right consequence? What should happen to parents like Frida? Whose kids should be taken away, and for what reasons? What should parents have to do to prove their fitness?

This would be a great read for fans of The Handmaid's Tale. I also think that this book would be a wonderful book club book, as the scope for discussion is so broad and relatable.