brotestantethic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Abortion and Sexual content
fbzcab's review against another edition
Graphic: Pregnancy, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Racism
Minor: Abortion, Dementia, and Cancer
badvision's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Infertility, Medical content, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Abortion, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
cestnicka's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
I also enjoyed the internal struggles the author conveyed within each character and it really is thought provoking and makes you question and think. I also liked that she showed everyone has two sides to them and that there is also more than one way to look at things and how that can get misconstrued sometimes.
It had a lot of potential and could have been a really amazing read, however despite all these great things, I just didn’t love it for a few reasons…
There were too many characters that I felt didn’t add anything to the story and wished they would have focused a bit more on the main character and her struggles.
I also found the book to be too long because of what I said above. The story lacked a focal point. I struggled because it didn’t feel like there was a strong plot. So I kept waiting for something to happen and it took too long for what would be “the plot” to really get going.
I also felt like the ending was pretty weak. I just think it needed a lot more depth. I wish she would have narrowed down the topic a bit more and really focused in on what the good parts of the story were.
It was an ok book but I needed more depth in less pages.
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Abortion
epellicci's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, and Confinement
Moderate: Abortion and Toxic friendship
Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Slavery
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Author: Joanne Ramos
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2.5
Pub Date: May 7, 2019
T H R E E • W O R D S
Provocative • Underwhelming • Measured
📖 S Y N O P S I S
"The Farm" is a high end facility offering amazing amenities and top notch care to women they've recruited to be surrogates for wealthy wannabe parents. The "hosts" offer their bodies in return for a big payout when they deliver the babies, a payout that promises to change their lives. Meet June, a single mother from the Philippines, who strongly encourage by her Aunt, decides to apply to be a 'host' in order to offer her daughter a better future in America.
💭 T H O U G H T S
The premise for The Farm, Joanne Ramos' debut novel, sounded so intriguing I couldn't stop myself from picking up a copy. The concept was amazing, and the themes of motherhood, capitalism, immigration and reproductive right were thought-provoking, however, the execution was unsatisfying. This supposed dystopian world seemed way too plausible, and although the characters felt real, I took very little interest in any of the perspectives.
What really irked me was that the whole way through there was this underlying sense building of something awful happening at the farm, but that turned out to be nothing and I was left feeling very underwhelmed. The one thing this book did do well was raise lively discussion around a variety of topics.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• bookclubs
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"She always said that worst thing you can do to a child is raise it with too much softness, because the world is hard. But Jane is not sure. There are people who move through the world like they own it, and the world seems to bend to their demands."
Graphic: Pregnancy and Classism
Moderate: Racism, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Child death
zombiezami's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Spoiler
it wasn't a happy ending. The ending just felt a little anti-climactic. Maybe that was the point, but in the realm of sci fi, I feel like the author could have pushed the envelope a little more.I also feel that the time skips made the book feel rushed at times, rather than helping the narrative. Even, so, I was legitimately stunned when we found out that Regan met an actor and not the real client. That was truly sinister.Graphic: Vomit, Gaslighting, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Racism, Xenophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Blood, Miscarriage, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, Animal cruelty, and Slavery
Eugenics, Colorismthebooklooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion
nanobooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage
theknitterwithabook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is a contemporary fiction that tackles the problems of capitalism, elitism and morality.
We follow Jane, an Philippines immigrant, who tries to find work in America while caring for her baby girl. She is offered an opportunity to earn a considerable amount of money in exchange to being a surrogate mother. The only issue is that she will be separated from her baby for the duration of the pregnancy. It is hard for Jane to be away from her daughter whom she left in the care of her cousin.
The Golden Oaks accommodates the "hosts", the surrogate mothers. We soon realize that they are all immigrant, sometimes paperless, and all of color, and the owners are wealthy rich people mostly caucasians. The place doesn't feel that safe and is never acting in the best interest of the Hosts but of the buyer of the baby.
This was a challenging read. You carry a feeling of uneasiness all through this book. The women are almost considered as cattle and it feels so wrong.
Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage