Helpful Score: 1
Based on the book description, I thought this was going to be a Dystopian-type story. It was not. A place like The Farm could easily exist today.... in fact, I wonder if there is such a place and most people just don't know about it.
Minus half a star because the character of Jane was so annoying.
Minus half a star because the character of Jane was so annoying.
This is an interesting novel from two aspects. First, the premise that seems futuristic but maybe not so much so. Golden Oaks" is a resort where women who need money become surrogates, stay during their pregnancy, where all is provided, food is regulated and intended parents who pay dearly choose what the baby hears. The second is the characters. There is Jane, a young mother, who is jobless and needs to support herself and her daughter. (Ate, Jane's aunt, a baby nurse, persuaded her to try Golden Oakes.) Reagan is a premium host whose goal is a need to help others. Wealthy and educated, she refuses to take money from her father. The cynical Lisa is in her third pregnancy for the same parents. She criticizes the exploiting of women who need money and shares her comments with the others. Finally, meet Mae, the ambitious director, once poor herself, who monitors the young mothers. She will do whatever she needs to do to climb the corporate ladder. Each tells her own story and readers see into their hearts and minds.
This well written book moves quickly and flows from one character to another and one situation to another easily giving the reader time to identifiy with women caught in situations over which they have little or no control. There isn't a day that Jane doesn't miss her daughter but she can see her only online and has no control over what happens to her. Lisa has mesmerized her âparents,â for whom she is carrying their third child, to do almost anything for her. Reagan discovers that the mother of her child is a fake. The actual mother is controlling and not interested in her as a person.
So many issues are brought to the forefront including reproductive rights, exploitation, class, race and more. Is it ethical to exploit those who need money for such purposes? Should the extremely wealthy be able to âpurchaseâ a child? Should someone be able to dictate that the mother be highly intelligent and the sperm from doctors, lawyers or other esteemed individuals? All in all this is a good tale. Kudos to the creative author.
This well written book moves quickly and flows from one character to another and one situation to another easily giving the reader time to identifiy with women caught in situations over which they have little or no control. There isn't a day that Jane doesn't miss her daughter but she can see her only online and has no control over what happens to her. Lisa has mesmerized her âparents,â for whom she is carrying their third child, to do almost anything for her. Reagan discovers that the mother of her child is a fake. The actual mother is controlling and not interested in her as a person.
So many issues are brought to the forefront including reproductive rights, exploitation, class, race and more. Is it ethical to exploit those who need money for such purposes? Should the extremely wealthy be able to âpurchaseâ a child? Should someone be able to dictate that the mother be highly intelligent and the sperm from doctors, lawyers or other esteemed individuals? All in all this is a good tale. Kudos to the creative author.
_The Farm_ by Joanne Ramos is not a new _Handmaid's Tale_, other than dealing with women and pregnancy. Nor is it the sci-fi thriller I was expecting, based on various reviews. It's not really that dystopian, at least in the eyes of someone who knows nearly nothing about contemporary surrogacy and the current legalities behind the business of "making babies."
After extensive screening, beautiful, young, economically needy Hosts are selected to carry the babies of extremely wealthy and successful Clients (who either can't or don't want to give birth themselves due to crazy schedules or the risk of marring their figures). After ejection from her current job as nanny, protagonist Jane is urged by her elderly cousin Ate to apply to be a Host at the titular farm, Golden Oaks.
The farm is a very high-end resort, in some ways. Hosts earn bonuses for successfully carrying their babies through each trimester while dining on organic food, getting massages, and having their cargo's health constantly monitored via WellBands. Golden Oaks, however, is also a prison: Jane is punished for lying by not being allowed to see her beloved daughter Amalia, Host Lisa has to ditch her WellBand and sneak onto a forest trail away from cameras to quickly have sex with her visiting boyfriend, Coca-Cola and Snickers bars are forbidden, and Golden Oaks' head Mae watches via the "Panopticon." Anything that might put a fetus at risk is strictly forbidden. At Golden Oaks, for nine months, you are a carefully protected womb. You can't leave, unless you have permission from Golden Oaks and your Client, which is rare.
Hence one of the novel's primary themes: the ethics of motherhood-for-hire. Does Golden Oaks exploit its Hosts or help them with its offer of nine months of sequestered security? Do Hosts contractually know what they're getting themselves into, or does Golden Oaks take too many liberties with their emotional health and physical freedom? Should Golden Oaks deliberately lie to a Host about her Client, for the perceived well-being of a Host? Is a baby a commodity? Should it be, ever?
The book is also necessarily about motherhood, specifically the obligations of a mother for her biological child. Jane, in need of money, becomes a Host but must leave her own daughter behind to do so. Much of the novel centers around Jane's love for Amalia and her growing concern that Amalia is being neglected. If she can't trust Golden Oaks, and she can't trust her cousin Ate, whom can she trust? What can she do? What should she do?
The novel includes vivid characters beyond Jane: Ramos gives rich backstories to fellow Hosts Lisa and Reagan, as well as Mae and Ate, that enrich the narrative.
Ramos crafts a pleasant, albeit far-fetched ending for Jane. In some ways, it also sets the author up for a sequel, as Golden Oaks spawns a second facility and Mae's brainchild (both puns intentional) for a "more financially accessible premium" level of surrogacy.
While there's no creepy governmental overseer or hatching alien babies within its pages, _The Farm_ is still a thought-provoking read.
After extensive screening, beautiful, young, economically needy Hosts are selected to carry the babies of extremely wealthy and successful Clients (who either can't or don't want to give birth themselves due to crazy schedules or the risk of marring their figures). After ejection from her current job as nanny, protagonist Jane is urged by her elderly cousin Ate to apply to be a Host at the titular farm, Golden Oaks.
The farm is a very high-end resort, in some ways. Hosts earn bonuses for successfully carrying their babies through each trimester while dining on organic food, getting massages, and having their cargo's health constantly monitored via WellBands. Golden Oaks, however, is also a prison: Jane is punished for lying by not being allowed to see her beloved daughter Amalia, Host Lisa has to ditch her WellBand and sneak onto a forest trail away from cameras to quickly have sex with her visiting boyfriend, Coca-Cola and Snickers bars are forbidden, and Golden Oaks' head Mae watches via the "Panopticon." Anything that might put a fetus at risk is strictly forbidden. At Golden Oaks, for nine months, you are a carefully protected womb. You can't leave, unless you have permission from Golden Oaks and your Client, which is rare.
Hence one of the novel's primary themes: the ethics of motherhood-for-hire. Does Golden Oaks exploit its Hosts or help them with its offer of nine months of sequestered security? Do Hosts contractually know what they're getting themselves into, or does Golden Oaks take too many liberties with their emotional health and physical freedom? Should Golden Oaks deliberately lie to a Host about her Client, for the perceived well-being of a Host? Is a baby a commodity? Should it be, ever?
The book is also necessarily about motherhood, specifically the obligations of a mother for her biological child. Jane, in need of money, becomes a Host but must leave her own daughter behind to do so. Much of the novel centers around Jane's love for Amalia and her growing concern that Amalia is being neglected. If she can't trust Golden Oaks, and she can't trust her cousin Ate, whom can she trust? What can she do? What should she do?
The novel includes vivid characters beyond Jane: Ramos gives rich backstories to fellow Hosts Lisa and Reagan, as well as Mae and Ate, that enrich the narrative.
Ramos crafts a pleasant, albeit far-fetched ending for Jane. In some ways, it also sets the author up for a sequel, as Golden Oaks spawns a second facility and Mae's brainchild (both puns intentional) for a "more financially accessible premium" level of surrogacy.
While there's no creepy governmental overseer or hatching alien babies within its pages, _The Farm_ is still a thought-provoking read.
The Farm by Joanne Ramos is about a business where the product is babies, the employees are fixed-term, the job requirements are stringent and absolute, and the management is concerned with profits and brands. Some might say that the idea of big business is menace enough. The book sets up an idea more of scientific experimentation and a "Big Brother" approach to controlling the "host" mothers. That sense of foreboding and danger unfortunately never comes to fruition.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2019/12/the-farm.html
Reviewed for #NetGalley.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2019/12/the-farm.html
Reviewed for #NetGalley.
Just finished and I know this will stick with me for awhile. Would be a good bookclub book because so much to discuss. The very elite wealthy 1% utilize surrogates to have babies. But it is all secretive and the surrogates stay at the farm where they are highly monitored and controlled. Lots to think about and discuss regarding the commodization of women's bodies, racial and class disparities (most of the surrogates, who are eligible to receive a bonus, are minorities; those that are caucasian get paid more, etc), and the relationship between mothers and children and the almost robot like feelings or lack of feelings of some of the characters. Or at the end did Mae have compassion for Jane? Good story also but not as neat and clean an ending as you might think. What is Jane's future? Good book and would recommend.
