Paperback, 336 pages
Published Jan. 4, 2022 by Simon & Schuster.
In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement 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. 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 …
In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement 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. 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.
Good reading with some unexpected twists. Heartbreaking and touching at the same time. The story of a woman who's daughter is taken from her by Child Protective Services and her struggle to get her back.
This book depressed me, and for what? I will say that Jessamine Chan is a strong writer and I enjoyed the writing on a sentence level. But how many times can we touch on the point that no matter how hard Frida tries, she's never good enough? Reading about her striving and striving and suffering and being punished anyway mostly just made me feel awful and every incident drove home the exact same point: mothers are expected to be perfect. Like, I get it. This could have been a short story or a novella and it might have packed the same punch without making me feel like I too just spent a year in what was functionally prison. I don't know. This just left a sour taste in my mouth and I kind of wish I hadn't read it.
3.5 stars
RAGE. That was my dominant emotion reading this book. I kept asking, "Why would people agree to go along with this? Why would they allow this amount of government overreach without trying to burn the whole system down?" But I think that's the point – as a cautionary tale to illustrate where we can end up if we allow each small cut into our freedoms to pass without resistance.
A nightmarish parental dystopia
A ton of ideas about parenting, society, and the present moment, crammed into an emotional near-future science fiction story. I wish the protagonist had been more sympathetic - but the future it paints is alarmingly plausible.
Felt like an attempt to be the next Handmaid's Tale for white women to latch onto. Maybe an attempt to be a commentary on how women of color are perceived as mothers but was poorly executed, Frida was painted as one who barely did anything wrong compared to these other women because while she left her 1.5 year old alone at home for hours, at least she didn't hit her. The premise could have worked, but the book fell flat. I felt no sympathy for the characters and was left with many questions about the new CPS "system"
It's been hard for me to decide how to review this novel. It certainly was a page turner for me, and yet--I had some problems with the main character. For starters, Frida Liu had more than a "bad day." She left her toddler alone for over two hours, and she knew that she was doing it. That she refused to ask for help was overly proud, but that she chose not to take her child with her when she left the house is just inexplicable. So, right away, I felt that she deserved some consequences.
That said, the consequence she faces is bizarre. This is where the novel becomes dystopian. The dolls these parents had to use in training were the stuff of nightmares, and could easily be made into another story...meanwhile, the author did make an effective statement about the problems of child services: the racism, sexism, and classism …
It's been hard for me to decide how to review this novel. It certainly was a page turner for me, and yet--I had some problems with the main character. For starters, Frida Liu had more than a "bad day." She left her toddler alone for over two hours, and she knew that she was doing it. That she refused to ask for help was overly proud, but that she chose not to take her child with her when she left the house is just inexplicable. So, right away, I felt that she deserved some consequences.
That said, the consequence she faces is bizarre. This is where the novel becomes dystopian. The dolls these parents had to use in training were the stuff of nightmares, and could easily be made into another story...meanwhile, the author did make an effective statement about the problems of child services: the racism, sexism, and classism involved in child custody judgements.
In the end, I felt that Frida lost focus on what was best for her child and spurned the attention of those who loved her and wanted to help. I suppose the reader must decide whether this horrible "training" she was forced to complete is at fault for Frida's messed up perceptions. The system was certainly horrible for the child, and indeed, everyone involved. There is much to discuss here, but I do wish Frida had been a little more likeable.
