18
Science Fiction"The School for Good Mothers"
I'm reposting as I (mis)posted originally in "Feminist Books" and my post was deleted by the mods
"The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan.
Has anyone else read this? It's a new book, a novel set in the near future in which mothers who are deemed defective are removed from society and sent to a penal training camp, where they are "re-trained" to be good mothers.
Naturally, their every effort is deemed insufficient or faulty, and the ways they can err are myriad. To be a "good mother" is to know, intuitively at all times and in every stituation, how to react to a child's behavior, and to keep before one at all times the responsibility of shaping the child. The whole experience recalls the re-education camps and self-criticism circles under Mao (the book is written by a Chinese American).
The women are condemned to their fate by pitiless social workers whose behavior and attitudes may seem extreme to some, but having seen similar behavior and attitudes in action and used against my sister when her teenage daughter starting cutting and issuing suicide threats rang true to me. And the women are instructed at the retraining camp/prison by instructors who are all childless and whose ideas are therefore all theoretical and ideologically motivated, which reminded me of the education profs at my college, none of whom had children or had taught in a classroom.
It has taken the social pressures we as mothers are subject to and anatomized the reality of motherhood, with its competitiveness, its never ending always ramped up expectations, and the condemnation, external and internalized, and highlighted it all.
To me, an English and women's studies prof, it's the motherhood version of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
This sounds like an interesting idea! Was it a well-written book?
Competently written, at least what I read. Not well written. And not well executed in terms of the main idea. It didn’t work either as farce or as speculative fiction.
I hadn’t yet heard of this title but now I want to read it. I’ve been disappointed by the recent spate of so-called feminist novels that I stopped paying attention, even though feminist and speculative fiction are two of my favorite genres.
Returning to say that I went to Amazon to look at this book. I read the excerpt and approximately 50 reviews both negative and positive. This looks like another poorly thought through disappointment to me. Examining the unrealistic expectations put on motherhood and the double bind that all mothers navigate would be fertile ground in just about any genre. Even domestic thrillers have touched on this issue. Big Little Lies, I’m looking at you.
But this? The idea that it is sympathetic to leave an infant alone for hours so that you can get coffee? And go to the office? For a file only in hard copy? In a near future that has our tech and more? You either have the file messengered over or you take the baby with you.
Ummm, that actually is bad, I thought as I read the opening and the book list me right there. Even a mediocre or over burdened mother who left an infant alone for a half an hour for an understandable reason would be rushing back, no matter how she little sleep she’d gotten. She’d be terrified. This lost me with the ridiculous idea that this set up was somehow relatable or even realistic.
And if all the mothers are being punished with removal of their children, where are the children going? Childcare is often difficult and thankless work, and fathers rarely volunteer. There would have to be some gain for the society or individuals. What is the gain? Women and mothers are treated badly but it doesn’t sound like this book explores this in any relatable or interesting way. Sounds like another mediocre attempt at a feminist novel.
So far we have had The Power, The Men, Vox and Blue Ticket to name a few. I’m not sure just what is going on because misogyny and sexism are on the upswing but we’re having trouble describing or addressing them in fiction. I’m saving my $13 to $20 and won’t be reading this one.
Thanks for doing the homework. This is a big pet peeve of mine too--I think it's harder to find satisfying 'big ideas' books of any kind than it used to be. I put it down to the shorter modern attention span. Some writers still have the bandwidth to do justice to a subject like this, but many either don't or can't devote the time and focused attention to exploring all the potential avenues of their premise. In order to do that, you need mental slack time--you have to spend a lot of time just sitting and thinking with no outside stimulus of any kind. That just isn't built into our culture anymore. Most people look at their phones when they're waiting for someone or standing in line or riding the bus. For a writer, that time is worth gold. I heard Ann Patchett speak once about her early job as a dishwasher, which allowed her mind to roam free for hours every day. She'd work out her story points in her head and write when she got home.
I actually think Naomi Alderman did a good job with 'The Power.' I found that a satisfying read, though like many modern books, it didn't stick with me.
As for leaving a baby alone for hours to run errands that I agree with you sound pretty unnecessary, yeah...not a good way to gain the reader's sympathy. Is there any chance we are supposed to think she was negligent?
Yes, we were supposed to think she was negligent. She was. We were also supposed to think that mothers were burdened with unreasonable expectations of care. Except that the example just doesn’t work.
I think I’m going to try and write my own feminist novel. I’ve been thinking about a scenario for some years. Thanks to you and Ann Patchett I’ll make sure that I increase my repetitive task, meditative time. Thank you.
The Power was the best of the lot and it at least addressed the fact that our oppression is physically based at the root. But I don’t like the laziness of just flipping the sexed and women will develop the same oppressive hierarchy that men do. I’m with Atwood on this one. I can take women being bad, but I hate to think we’d be predictable, boring and male light.
Yes--that's a good point. Again, you have to go back to the greats for realistic female awfulness (Tepper, Suzy McKee Charnas--the Holdfast Chronicles are amazing, if you haven't read them--just three books. I would try to explain them, but I don't think I am up to it. A society that is all women is confronted for the first time by the existence of patriarchy).
You should write your feminist novel! Let me know if you want a reader.
I’ve read other Charnas but not those. I will get them, thank you for the recommendation.