This surprise dystopic novel is disturbing and creepy in a way that is similar to The Handmaid’s Tale, but without the ritualized rape, and with more satire.
“Bad mothers” are sent to an experimental new Child Protective Services-run school to be rehabilitated. The offenses that mothers are sent to the school for range from letting a two year old play in a backyard alone, posting a video of a toddler’s tantrum on social media, and inadequate childproofing, to leaving a two year old in an exersaucer for two and a half hours while the mother went to work, and stuffing six kids into a basement hole in the floor where they got black mold poisoning.
The commentary on society’s expectations of mothers hits very close to home. The mothers are told “a mother’s love can cure most common illnesses,” “all accidents can be prevented with close supervision,” and “through caring for her child, all a mother’s needs are fulfilled,” among other terrifyingly possible beliefs from real life.
I can’t wait to find out how this ends. Will our protagonist be reunited with her child? Or will she be added to “the registry,” preventing her from ever again having parental privileges?