My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Brief Synopsis
The Farm by Joanne Ramos follow several perspectives of women involved in a new surrogacy-type program where women are paid to stay at a property while they carry someone else's child.
Jane is our main protagonist. She is a young Filipino woman who already has a daughter of her own but who takes a "job" at Golden Oaks (the Farm) and ends up confined there through the length of her surrogate pregnancy. We meet several other fellow surrogates as well as some of the leaders of Golden Oaks throughout the book. And we slowly see Jane's eyes opened to the manipulation that Golden Oaks (and others?) are responsible for.
Review
I gave this book four stars because I think the premise especially is super intriguing. Unfortunately, I do not think this book completely lived up to the expectations I had for it, so I couldn't give it five stars. There definitely were moments of surprise and twists that I was not expecting, but for some reason I felt like the pacing was off. It felt very slow and drawn out at times and then a twist would come out of nowhere and kind of catch me off guard. This can absolutely be viewed as a pro or con depending on the person.
Another thing that kept this book from being five stars was that there were some characters and storylines that I felt dragged on way too much and were not the most interesting, but then their were some plot points that I felt could've been explored more. With a topic that could really lean into its dystopian nature, I think there were some missed opportunities.
Overall, I still enjoyed the read. It's a type of story that intrigues me and makes me think and ponder more carefully how it reflects our current society or where things could go. It just didn't quite deliver on some aspects I was hoping for.
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