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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: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abortion and Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Terminal illness
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: Child death, Miscarriage, Racism, and Abortion
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
Graphic: Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Slavery, and Excrement
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: Miscarriage and Abortion
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: Miscarriage and Abortion
egmamaril's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Ableism, Racism, and Dementia
Minor: Abortion
Eugenicsjamieholton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Pregnancy and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Miscarriage, Slavery, Dementia, and Abortion
aaanikaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abortion
mytearsricochet_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Abortion, and Pregnancy