THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan

Frida Liu has a “very bad day” and leaves her eighteen-month-old daughter home alone for two and a half hours.  As a result, she must spend a year at the School for Good Mothers, which is actually a school for bad mothers who need to become good mothers.  The beginning of the book, before Frida enters the school, is tense and suspenseful, but her time at the school involves too much angst and hand-wringing.  The students are assigned a robotic doll, reminiscent of the artificial friend in Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, who has human-like capabilities.  Frida names hers Emmanuelle, which the doll struggles to pronounce.  Frida and Emmanuelle are a team in the quest for Frida’s parental rights being restored.  Their practice sessions include subjects such as stranger/danger and empathy for those less fortunate, but Emmanuelle initially sees a homeless person as stranger/danger, not as someone in need.  I like the idea and originality of this novel more than its actual substance.  Eventually, the author paints herself into a corner with Frida’s many failings--with only one way out.