Reviews

This is one of the shittiest books I have ever attempted to read. Boring beyond imagination. Stop comparing every stupid crap book with pregnant women to "A Handmaid's Tale". A total waste of time.

literaryappeal's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

rowe46's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

brennareadthis's review against another edition

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4.0

What a wild ride! I went into this book completely blind for book club and I’m so glad! So many great conversations to be had about this book. Cultural, economic, and gender divides. As the author Joanne Ramos wrote in her authors note “This book is meant to explore - for myself and hopefully for its readers, too - questions of who we are, what we cherish, and how we see those who are different from ourselves.”

katekate_reads_'s review against another edition

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2.0

The Farm is a business for surrogacy. The Clients get to select a Host for their baby - and know that the Host and baby will get the best care imaginable throughout pregnancy. Each woman will be on a strict diet and exercise regime, scheduled prenatal massages, music for the baby - everything to optimize the Clients’ satisfaction.

However - life as a Host may not be the ideal dream world it seems to be. They are cut off from their friends and family, observed at all times, unable to even email or have a snack without a Coordinator knowing and potentially stepping in.

We get the story from 4 perspectives - 2 hosts, the head of the facility and one family member of a Host. I didn’t really feel a connection with any of them.

Unfortunately - this was a book that felt like a lot of buildup for a really disappointing payoff. There were some issues I thought were being foreshadowed through the book and I was ready for them - but they never came. The ending was extremely abrupt - but I also was ready to be done so I was glad it didn’t continue longer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

eseddon's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

anjadevries's review against another edition

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4.0

Hmm I’m not sure where to start with this one. It was a interesting and compelling read which has a similar story line to The Handmaids tale and while I quite enjoyed it, I did find it a hard read. There are 4 povs that make up the story, but the main focus is Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines. Her pov is written mainly in broken english it seems, so this coupled with the multiple narratives means there is a lot going on and you really have to pay attention. Some parts of the book I also found quite confusing as parts of the story line would start and stop and weren’t sometimes explained till later on.

Overall I think it was a great book, it was gripping and had many factors of race, religion and gender as well as class, focusing on the rich exploiting those below them and just what lengths a mother would go to for their child.

For me, I would rate this 4 star and would recommend as long as you can give the story your full attention and really focus on the characters because it is worth it!

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