The Farm

Author: Joanne Ramos

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 327

Publisher: Random House

Published: May 7, 2019

Book Description: Nestled in the Hudson Valley is a sumptuous retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, private fitness trainers, daily massages–and all of it for free. In fact, you get paid big money–more than you’ve ever dreamed of–to spend a few seasons in this luxurious locale. The catch? For nine months, you belong to The Farm. You cannot leave the grounds; your every move is monitored. Your former life will seem a world away as you dedicate yourself to the all-consuming talks of producing the perfect baby for the uberwealthy clients. Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines and a struggling single mother, is thrilled to make it through the highly competitive Host selection process at the Farm. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her own young daughter’s well-being, Jane grows desperate to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on delivery–or worse. Heartbreaking, suspenseful, provocative, The Farm pushes our thinking on motherhood, money, and the merit to the extremes, and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love.

Rating: 3 Stars

Review: I am so torn on my feelings for The Farm. This is a unique story about a grand location, where women are chosen to be surrogates for the extremely wealthy. This book brings up a lot of issues of class and race. However, I think this book tries to be too much. It is billed as suspenseful, though I did not understand why there even had to be this kind of suspense. In the real world that could never happen, and I do realize this fiction, but it felt very contrived.

The writing is excellent, and it was a page turner, but I did feel a little let down at the end of this story. This is hard book to stay too much as it starts to get into spoilers.

This is an interesting read, and I think this might a great one for book clubs as it will definitely serve for a good discussion. I think it worth the read, just to make you think. I believe I will be thinking about this for quite awhile, as it is memorable.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book, for an honest review.