I like a dystopian novel just as much as the next person, but this one lacked something...or maybe it just upset me so much, I couldn't personally appreciate it?

Frida's challenges as a mother and the horrific experience she had losing her daughter and then being sent to the school for good mothers is realistic in the sense that she experiences the same challenges, doubts, and emotional/physical exhaustion most mothers experience. Yet, the drastic legal consequences she faces from a exaggerated (yet, still rooted in reality) child welfare entity--paired with the horrific way she's treated by her ex-husband--seem over-the-top without the usual "fight the man" thread running through them that most dystopian stories have. Frida's last-ditch "fight" seemed too convenient and not organic to the consistently weak and submissive woman we see throughout the book. Was she suffering from postpartum issues? Was she this submissive in her marriage before having kids? No of this is ever really answered.

I also felt that the plot plodded along at parts. Frida's "treatment" in the facility got repetitive. The constant allusions to the women getting treated much worse than the men just made me angrier and angrier. I kept hoping someone, anyone, would fight back.

The highlight of this book is the commentary on motherhood and marriage that many women face. Chan adds new depth to the discussion with allusions to the racism Asian women and mothers also experience. I loved this inclusion in the book, but was disappointed with the way it was explored. By making the situations and the treatment of Frida so exaggerated, it lessened the impact of the discussion of these true-to-real-life issues.

For a very sensitive person like myself, this just wasn't the book for me. I really wish Frida had a bit more fight in her and that the situations she faced weren't so horrifying. Oh and Gust REALLY needed to get a comeuppance in some way, shape, or form.

If you enjoy really bleak dystopian stories, this is a book for you. It just wasn't the book for me.

Thanks to @NetGalley for a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.