The School of Good Mothers by Jessamine Chen

Title: The School for Good Mothers

Author: Jessmine Chan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 2022

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now 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 a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

I absolutely detested this book. We are reading it for book club and I know I am going to rant at the meeting. Overall I had a few big issues with the book:

1. Who is this book for? I know how much society pressures mothers and then blames them for anything negative that affects children. Fathers are largely absent from this scenario. The book detailed all of that, but was it new information? No. I know exactly how all this works.

2. No character growth. I was hoping that Frida and many of the other characters would experience some great character growth. Unfortunately we don’t really that growth. Additionally, Frida repeats herself so much. We hear her whine over and over again. The reputation really got to me.

3. Conflicted feelings about Frida’s socioeconomic status. Frida is struggling financially at the beginning, but she does have access to resources. Most of the women that she meets at the school do not have access to those resources. The cult between those women and Friday wasn’t really explored and glossed over so much.

4. The school itself is just ridiculous. I understand that speculative fiction likes to exaggerate circumstances to make a point, but the school and specifically the “children” were just too much to be believable. I just couldn’t.

5. I know we are supposed to be very annoyed by Frida’s ex-husband and I definitely was. But what was his purpose in the book. Every time he was mentioned or appeared, I just shouted “Fuck the Patriarchy.”

Overall, I slogged through this book and immediately felt like I wasted so many reading days. This felt like a very bad copy of The Handmaid’s Tale that just doesn’t live up to the hype. When I add in all the bullshit about restricting the rights of women, I was so incredibly mad at this book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

Publisher: Celadon Books 2019

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 336

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Unread Shelf Project Reading Challenge - February

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Boring, boring, boring… and then I started to see all the plot holes and got really angry at the book. Even with the first chapter I was a bit bored with the story. I could see that we were getting an unreliable narrator and a mystery that probably wasn’t much of a mystery. All my fears for this book were confirmed about half way through. I got to the end of the book and wanted to just throw this book at the wall. I hated all the characters. I hated the plot. I hated how all the female characters were treated. I hated the giant black holes of plot inconsistencies. I can’t believe that this was one of the Book of the Month books of the year for 2019. Waste of my time.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Title: Leave the World Behind

Author: Rumaan Alam

Publisher: Ecco 2020

Genre: Thriller

Pages: 256

Rating: 1/5 stars - Hated it

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Unread Shelf RC - Book with High Expectations

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other? 

I completely despised this book. I cannot decide if Alam wanted the reader to just feel like he was talking down to them the entire time or he really meant it. Right from the get-to, the reader is put into an uncomfortable position and doesn’t get to relax. Okay, I get that stylistically. But then I read through the entire story and fail to find any message or reason to read it. There is absolutely no hope to be found in the storyline or the characters. All of this had definitely dropped down the ratings. I’m okay reading bleak books, but this one just fell down a deep hole and didn’t come back up. Was this book supposed to be a mirror to the worst of human behaviors? If so, congratulations, you accomplished the task, but do I want to read it? Nope. I don’t. Combine all this with the oddly sexual descriptions throughout the book and I was completely done with it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck

Title: Expecting Adam

Author: Martha Beck

Publisher: Harmony 2011

Genre: Nonfiction - Inspirational

Pages: 368

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall Reading Challenge; Nonfiction Adventure; Read Your Freebies; Well Read Reader - Memoir

John and Martha Beck had two Harvard degrees apiece when they conceived their second child. Further graduate studies, budding careers, and a growing family meant major stress--not that they'd have admitted it to anyone (or themselves). As the pregnancy progressed, Martha battled constant nausea and dehydration. And when she learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she battled nearly everyone over her decision to continue the pregnancy. She still cannot explain many of the things that happened to her while she was expecting Adam, but by the time he was born, Martha, as she puts it, "had to unlearn virtually everything Harvard taught [her] about what is precious and what is garbage."

Thoroughly disappointed in this one. I was expecting a feel good, yet harrowing struggle through a difficult pregnancy and subsequent birth of her son.  And yet, I could not find any sympathy for Martha and her struggle.  She whined.  The world revolved around her.  Her life ended with the pregnancy.  Ugh!  Get over yourself lady!  I wanted to read of an honest and brutal account of a difficult time, but there were no good lessons within the book.  And the book wasn't at all about her son Adam.  I can't summon any understanding for a woman who has everything, complains about how life changes, and places blame on others. And don't get me started about the supernatural aspects of the book. No thank you!

The Billionaire Wins the Game by Melody Anne

Title: The Billionaire Wins the Game (Billionaire Bachelors #1)

Author: Melody Anne

Publisher: Gossamer 2011

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 205

Rating: 1/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Romance; Monthly Key Word -- November; Mount TBR; 52 Books -- W45; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Joseph Anderson has decided it's time for his three successful sons to find brides. Joseph wants grandchildren to fill his mansion, and he wants them immediately. His eldest son, Lucas, is successful in all areas of his life, except love, and Joseph begins matchmaking. He finds Amy Harper and deems her the perfect daughter-in-law. He just needs to get her and Lucas to both realize they're made for each other.

Lucas Anderson is wealthy, sexy, and stubborn. He has no desire to have any woman enter his life, causing chaos, or using his family's name. Many women have tried, and he's been successful in finding out who they are beneath their false smiles.

Amy Harper was raised in tragic circumstances and doesn't like pampered, rich men who have been handed everything with a silver spoon. She spent years finishing her education and then received a job with the Anderson Corporation. She instantly doesn't like her incredibly sexy boss, who is arrogant and thinks every woman should fall at his feet.

I picked this up to take a fun romance break from the epic that is The Count of Monte Cristo.  Unfortunately, what I got was a poorly written tromp through every romance cliche and stereotype I know of.  We get the over-bearing, macho, pig-headed male lead who's very experienced in bed.  We get the cautious and yet willful and pig-headed female lead who's a virgin.  We get meddling parents.  We get instant attraction. We get lies and omissions. We get misunderstandings that could clear everything up in five seconds.  We get an accidental pregnancy.  We get a forced shotgun marriage that the female lead resists but submits quickly.  We get a 180 degree change in attitude without ever discussing anything.  And finally we get a happily-ever-after.  Ugh!  Too much crap shoved into one short book.  Plus, it is badly written with changes in scenes, narrators, and action with little or no warning.  I had to reread many paragraphs just to figure out what the hell was going on. I thought about DNFing the book many times and yet I finished it for some reason.  I blame the sleep deprivation.

Billionaire Bachelors (DNFed series)

• 1. The Billionaire Wins the Game
• 2. The Billionaire's Dance
• 3. The Billionaire Falls
• 4. The Billionaire's Marriage Proposal
• 5. Blackmailing the Billionaire
• 6. Runaway Heiress
• 7. The Billionaire's Final Stand

MoM #14: Super Cyclone

Title: Super Cyclone

Year Released/Rating: 2012

Starring: Ming-Na, Nicholas Turturro, Andy Clemence

Directed By: Liz Adams

Written By: Liz Adams

Genre: Action, Scifi

Star Rating:  1/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Summary: An oil rig accidentally drills into an underwater volcano, unleashing an unstoppable tornado! Indeed, the tornado gets so powerful that it picks up Navy cutters like tinker toys. Then it makes the sky rain oil, then fire. And somehow the oil rig does not get scooped up like Wizard of Oz... somehow. Additionally, the big tornado seems to hover in just one spot for almost the whole movie! Don't ask too many science questions. You won't get answers as to how the sky can catch on fire. You won't get answers about ships weighing hundreds of tons can get catapulted into the air. You won't get answers as to what nanotubes have to with bad weather. And you certainly won't get answers as to how an 18" drill bit can create... a Super Cyclone!

Review: 

Another ridiculous Asylum disaster movie.  The continuity errors in the first 10 minutes alone had me rolling with laughter.  This is just so incredibly unbelievable.  Somehow a drilling platform creates a super tornado somehow connected with a volcano.  Yeah right!  Notice that the summary is longer than my review.  Basically this is horrid.  Just an small example of the ridiculous: Repeatedly we are told there is a severe storm present, yet shots of the actors show them in clear sunny weather with well defined shadows. Last note: I remember when Ming-Na was on ER and could actually act.  What the hell happened?

NMF #19: Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus

Title: Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus

Year Released/Rating: 2010 R

Starring: Jaleel White, Gary Stretch, Sarah Lieving, Robert Picardo

Written By: Micho Rutare, Naomi L. Selfman

Directed By: Christopher Ray

Genre: Action, horror, scifi

Star Rating:  1/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia: The ship in the beginning of the movie, the USS Gibson, is a battleship. At present there are no battleships serving in any navy, including the United States Navy.

Summary: Do I really need one?  Shark vs. croc, huge size, enough said.

Review: The sequel to Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.  I didn't think it was possible to get worse than the first one, but the sequel accepted that challenge and passed with flying colors.  This is just horrid.  The CGI is bad.  The acting is horribly over dramatic.  The plot line is ludicrous.  And the dialogue is just plain unbelievable.