Cover Image: The Farm

The Farm

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It's hard to know how to classify a novel like The Farm. On the one hand, it portrays a world which is not the same as our own, nudging it into the category of speculative fiction. But readers are not required to make the same leaps of imagination as in novels such as The Power. Instead, The Farm feels like a future which is almost upon us. It imagines a society where commercial surrogacy is legal; the titular farm is Golden Oaks, harvesting babies for the super-rich via paid surrogates or 'Hosts'. I read The Farm when my son was eight months old. I actually got through it in more or less one night as I recovered from surgery to have my gallbladder removed, a health issue almost certainly prompted by my then recent pregnancy. No doubt because of this, I was particularly horrified by this concept of pregnancy appropriated by hyper-capitalism. Alarmingly possible, The Farm raises timely questions on socioeconomic inequality and the way we look at our own biological processes.

The central character is Jane, a Filipino single mother, recruited to Golden Oaks by her cousin Evelyn, a woman with long experience caring for the newborns of the super-rich. We see how there is only one step between Evelyn's wealthy housewife clients who become easily bored by their babies and those who wish to avoid gestating their offspring altogether. While Ramos takes  things to an extreme, she plays on responses to motherhood which run deep in western society. The 'Hosts' at Golden Oaks farm are almost all women of colour, just like the domestic help. While at 'the farm', they are fed organic meals and have access to private fitness trainers and daily massages. But they are not allowed to leave and visitors are forbidden. Failure to comply with the rules - eating the correct food, participating in the required pregnancy exercises - will result in forfeiting the hefty fee ... or worse. Think The Handmaid's Tale except Aunt Lydia is a CEO in a tailored suit.

The Farm is a fascinating female-driven novel. At the head of Golden Oaks is executive Mae Yu, who taught herself Chinese after her father refused to speak it at home. Mae can see the utility in mastering the language of the world's fastest growing economy. She recruits her 'Hosts' painstakingly, looking for docile candidates who will toe the line. The apparently 'service-driven' Filipinas are ideal. But she also has her 'Premium Hosts', Reagan and Lisa. College-educated and white, they are more ready to question the Farm regime and when Jane comes into contact with them, her apparently easy gig becomes more complicated. Beyond the Farm boundaries, elderly Evelyn continues to look after her own Clients' babies while also taking care of Jane's daughters but it also becomes clear that she has an agenda of her own. What exactly is going on behind the scenes at the Farm?

What I enjoyed most about The Farm was how Ramos takes the realities of the twenty-first century pregnancy industry and then takes them forward just one more step. Long before their babies are ever born, mothers want the best for their children. We take our multi-vitamins, we stop drinking, we get our whooping cough vaccines. Once a week, I used to amble down to pregnancy yoga with the vague hope of it helping during delivery. I checked packets of cheese to make sure they were pasteurised. I gave up Mr Whippy ice creams. You lose part of your physical autonomy. But the idea of this being a job mandated by an employer is something quite different. The women at Golden Oaks have their compulsory schedules, they have to 'clock' hours with 'UteroSoundz' devices strapped to their chests which aim to improve their foetuses' intelligence, their diet is dictated by their Clients. Their every move is observed by dedicated cameras around the facility. In one uncomfortable scene, a Host lies on an exam room table while the doctor talks to the unseen client via video and asks if  asks if 'Mom' has considered invasive testing. The Host's views are unimportant. They are the Handmaids and the fruit of their womb represents Mae Yu's bottom line.

The novel shares similar themes with Helen Sedgwick's The Growing Season, which imagines a world where synthetic pregnancy is possible. The Farm also plays on this strange divorce from our biological processes. Here though, rather than a scientific advance, money wins out. All this might sound as if The Farm disparages those for whom surrogacy is a path to parenthood. It does not. Reagan and even the more cynical Lisa want to believe that they are helping women who are unable to conceive to grow their families. Reagan's desire that her paid pregnancy have a higher purpose seems like mere insolence to Mae Yu but since Reagan's ethnicity gives her an elite status among the Hosts, Mae tries to appease her. Meanwhile, Lisa discovers that the family for whom she has Hosted three times have lied to her - the wife does not suffer from endometriosis. She is just a model who did not wish to ruin her figure. The Clients of Golden Oaks are not people suffering from infertility. They are those whose wealth and privilege have rendered them aloof from the ways of us mere mortals. For them, babies are commodities - it's just another expression of their consumerism. Let someone else carry out the labour.

Being honest, I know little about surrogacy but The Farm's capitalist spin on it is intriguing. Pregnant is an incredibly emotive topic. People talk about the maternal glow, or how a woman is blooming or blossoming but for many women, it is a far more complex experience. I have been incredibly fortunate that my motherhood journey has been fairly straightforward. I am also lucky in that I was able to enjoy being pregnant, being untroubled by the majority of the ailments which plagued so many of my peers. Moreover, I felt a passionate connection to both of my children from the earliest days that I was aware of their existence. Still, the levels of exhaustion were extremely challenging and at times pushed me to my limits. Nine months is a long time to be uncomfortable and all the while pretending to the world that it is business as usual. And so although I like the idea of being able to help a close family member or friend in need, the idea of riding that nine month rollercoaster only to finish with empty arms makes me baulk. And the line in The Farm where one Host recalls how she never even saw the face of the child she had carried is heartbreaking.

I thought also of Meera Syal's The House of Hidden Mothers, set in India which was for a long time the commercial surrogacy capital of the world. In that novel, Syal made clear that women from rural villages were recruited to be surrogates since they would have no way of protesting if they changed their mind. Unlike Mae Yu, Hidden Mothers' chief is Doctor Passi who has not entirely lost touch with her ethics. She has a distaste for those who have chosen surrogacy for social reasons but is still not above cutting corners. I think of the words in Genesis, in sorrow you shall bring forth children. What is it about the idea of someone choosing to buy their way out of the experience that makes us so uncomfortable? Is suffering a prerequisite for motherhood? Yet somehow I didn't see my pregnancies as suffering. Admittedly there was a point in my second labour where I wondered why I had done this to myself again. I remember gasping to my partner, 'Never again'. But the pain has faded from memory. And when I look at the marks my children have left on my body, my main feeling is one of pride.

For all that The Farm provoked a lot of reflections about pregnancy and societal inequalities, I did feel that Ramos had unfortunately pulled her punches and that her book suffered as a result. There were intriguing observations about limousine liberals, with Evelyn remarking that rich white families tended to have 'softer hearts' than their wealthy Filipino counterparts. Indeed, Evelyn's detailed instructions to Jane on how to be a baby nurse underline the white liberal desire to be seen as friend as well as employer while also maintaining the distance, 'Mrs. Carter and Mr. Carter are very nice! It is only that you need to show respect. They will tell you to call them “Cate and Ted,” very American, very equal—but it is always “sir” and “ma’am.” They will tell you to “make yourself at home”—but they do not want you to make yourself at home! Because it is their home, not yours, and they are not your friends. They are your clients. Only that.' And then on the flip side, Reagan realises how little her own good intentions have meant for those such as Jane, remembering how her Dad warned her 'that feeling sorry for people isn’t the same as loving them, much less helping them.'

But ultimately, Ramos fails to answer the question that her book has posed - what are the morals around 'nopeing' out of the physical side of motherhood? She flirts with the idea of a dark secret at the heart of Golden Oaks, but it just comes down to money. More awkwardly, Ramos spins Mae Yu's characterisation on an alarming 180-turn, absolving her of her villainy and giving her a sudden desire to have a family. But since Mae 'just doesn't have the time', she 'naturally' chooses to out-source to a Host. Said Host then breastfeeds and nannies her child and this is presented as a happy ending. It seems as if the reader is intended to admire Mae, with her MBA and high-flying career. She is the epitome of the American Dream, the second-generation immigrant who can have it all. The crumbs she flings to those beneath her are apparent signs of her true good nature. Ramos does not suggest that it is more performative liberalism. It would have been so much more interesting to explore how Mae Yu proves Evelyn's stark early observation, that the only thing one needs in America is the ability to make money, since money buys everything else. Issues of race and class die away when you have a big wad of cash.

Motherhood is exhausting. It breaks you down to your basest biological instincts. In the early days of my son's life, I remember feeling a keen understanding for why cats give birth under the stairs. I just wanted to retreat with my baby away from the rest of the world. My life has narrowed since I had my children. But it has also blossomed. Surrendering to the physicality of motherhood has brought me joy that I never really knew was possible. I am more content in my core than I was before. The rise of speculative fiction around synthetic pregnancy bothers me, with the reality presented within The Farm making me feel uncomfortable on a personal level. It disturbs me though that these views have even been shared in the mainstream media. While unaware of the precise circumstances, I was faintly repulsed by the pride in Amber Heard’s statement that she had become a mother “on her own terms” through a surrogate - there was no acknowledgement that this just meant someone else had carried her child, just the suggestion that it was somehow empowering that she had paid enough money to avoid pregnancy. It feels as if we are losing touch with what makes us human, suggesting that a distance between ourselves and our children would be a desirable thing. It is possible that I will never be pregnant again but I loved carrying my children for every back-breaking minute and I wouldn't have traded the experience for the world.

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So this waa a random pick for me. The first 40% i could get on with. The lasy 60% i couldn't wait for it to end unfortunately i couldn't get on with a few of the characters and didn't care what they had to say. Im glad i finished it but this book just waa not for me. Its a shame these things happen in thie day and age but the harsh reality is people are being used amd not treated very nice for carrying someone else baby.

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Creepy and enthralling in equal measure. Scarily this doesn't seem that impossible a near future. A chilling reminder that women can use each other as a commodity just as callously as men have and do, and a woman's ownership of her own body and destiny is still far from being safe.

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The premise and idea of this book was brilliant and I so wanted the execution to live up to it but unfortunately it was average and the ending was a bit unrealistic and unbelieveable. I kept hoping the story would pick up and get better but it just remained an ok read for me.

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For fans of the Handsmaids Tale, I really enjoyed this book! I love that it was told from the perspective of several characters. Hearing the thoughts and motivations of different women about the same situation was enlightening. I’ve never read a fiction book about surrogacy and I appreciate the author tackling the subject in such an open manner.

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First and foremost - whoops.

I read this in 2019 in time for the book release date but I just never got round to writing the review for it. Every time I put my fingers on the keyboard no words came out. Writing a review for this book was so incredibly hard to do and I just didn't know why.

I decided that 2021 was the year that I finally got round to writing these reviews, so here I am. Making myself.

In some ways, waiting a significant length of time can be a good thing in terms of writing a book review because you're able to put a bit of emotional distance between yourself and the text. Also, a few years on, means you can question whether the story had an impact on you and whether your initial thoughts and feelings stood against the test of time.

So I guess there's that.

What I felt for The Farm has remained. However, I didn't really feel much for it to start with.

It was labelled as a Sci-Fi Dystopian with hints of The Handmaid's Tale and, I believed, was about female reproductive rights in a contemporary world.

The blurb above was not the marketing description I read on Netgalley which lead more to a 'women live in luxury but are essentially trapped on a breeding farm with no free will.'

Yes, the female characters do live in luxury on the farm and yes, it very much is a private estate for surrogates (aka a breeding farm). Yes, they are heavily monitored and so 'free will' is questionable but and this is a BIG but - the publishers or the author or whoever really got their target audience a bit off.

My biggest gripe is that this is in no way a Sci-Fi Dystopian that should be pitched for 'those who enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale' just because they are both different takes on a sort of similar subject (reproductive freedom). But then again, the similarities are really only there if you squint.

The women in The Farm choose to become surrogates for a variety of reasons; for one character who has a meaningless life it's her chance to find meaning and 'give back'. For another it's a way to make decent money and get a bit pampered for nine months (while also being open to the possibility of making more money by blackmailing the owners).

For our main character, Jane it's a completely different story.

Jane is a Philippine immigrant in America who has lost her job and who is desperately trying to provide for her daughter. She's delivered her own healthy child so there's a chance that she will be able to do the same for someone else whilst receiving free accommodation and a hefty pay check to boot.

The only one whose choice seems less like a choice and more of an act of desperation is Jane's and even then it doesn't seem like a commentary on reproductive freedom but a commentary on class, race and capitalism.

The rich who can buy everything they want - even living wombs- will take advantage of the poor and desperate. And, as an Asian immigrant there is an underlying sense of racism with how harshly the farm treats Jane for her slip-up's then it does the white surrogates.

Whilst this makes for a tense and horrible situation for Jane who feels increasingly trapped and isolated from her family on the outside it doesn't exactly come across as women's reproductive rights under attack.

It's a story about how already rich people use other rich people to get richer and how both parties exploit the dumb, greedy or desperate. Of course, there are varying levels of sympathy from the reader on this exploitation with Jane being (appropriately) the receiver of most of it.

The writing wasn't bad and I felt for Jane but this was pitched incredibly wrong. I liked it for what it really was which is a mild contemporary thriller with commentary on the themes I've mentioned above.

I say 'mild' though because while I was concerned for Jane's wellbeing I was never really under the impression that anything was truly that much of a threat.

It wasn't a bad book but it wasn't a great book and I think had it been targeted correctly my expectations wouldn't have been what they were.

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This wasn’t the book for me. It wasn’t what I hoped. Not what I expected. I couldn’t give it a chance. It’s not something I would read

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This was a really interesting concept and it definitely raised some questions. However, I'm not sure that it was as good as it could have. Especially when you compare it to similar works, it just lacks a bit of depth. I appreciate what it was trying to do but I wish it had just pushed it a bit further. Maybe if it had gone for a more original take?

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In The Farm, young women are paid to be surrogate mothers for the wealthy. These women get the best of everything to keep the baby healthy, paying parents to be…..regardless of what the mother herself wants.

This is a tale of power and privilege, of the exploitation of immigrants and racism.

A dystopian world that feels all too close to the present day. I found this to be a compelling and thought provoking read.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC of The Farm.

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I wanted to love this book - it sounded like it would be the sort of thing I would love (very Handmaid's Tale), but I really struggled with it. I didn't really like any of the characters, and actually this 'shocking' set up isn't that astonishing. However, it was a good read overall, and the pace was really well set throughout.

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A dystopian story which sits well along the likes of Handmaid's Tale.

It explores high end surrogacy, where women receive a luxurious lifestyle and hefty bonuses in exchange for being perfect surrogates. On the surface, it's a great deal, but of course nothing's quite what it seems.

While it doesn't delve into the issues quite as deeply as I would have liked, it's nevertheless thought provoking and would make a great book club read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC without obligation.

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This was brilliant, it covered so many facets of society, the way the world is moving, feminism and power. Sped along as a story and drew real characters you felt for and recognised.

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Set in the murky world of surrogacy, this thrilling novel explores the potential for subjectivity and personal agendas at a "surrogacy" farm. Questionable ethics, morality and the autonomy of a pregnant woman and the rights of her unborn child are just some of the issues this deals with alongside class and racial issues.

I found this a thought-provoking and engrossing read

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This is one of those 1984ish thought-provoking stories that makes you ponder how easily The Handmaid's Tale could be a reality. It's intelligent prose and subject matter provide the reader with a part thriller, part dystopian colonisation tale and ultimate a warning.
I highly recommend this book by Joanne Ramos.

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Read this on a rainy Saturday in lockdown. Very good way of taking yourself off to another zone. It’s a dystopian premise that will have you thinking long after you’ve finished.
Really enjoyed it and can see it as a film.

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The Farm has such an interesting premise. Unfortunately, the character development felt really poor and relied on stereotypical portrayals of women who weren't that complex. Two stars because the writing itself is beautiful and the author is clearly talented.

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Golden Oaks. A center for wealthy people to handpick their surrogates and ensure their future children are given only the best food with the best medical care money can buy. The main issue? Golden Oaks can only survive on the suffering of others. They prey on the poorest communities they can find. They hone in on immigrants who are struggling. They offer them life-changing amounts of cash with the promise of heafty (and in some cases eye watering) bonuses should they give birth to a healthy child.

This is a book about exploitation and what makes it worse is that this doesn’t feel so radically out there that it absolutely could be happening right now. And even with that in mind, The Farm had the premises to be such an amazing book but it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The writing is beautiful, but the story jumps around from character to character, those of which added very little to the main story, and left my poor, pathetic brain a little confused as to who I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I just wanted a little more 💜

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I can see this book being part of book clubs as it raises so many interesting themes about a woman's body and her right to do with it what she wishes. The baby-factory where women are paid highly for their wombs is a fascinating idea, but I was getting bored towards the end.
The characters weren't truly engaging and I lost sympathy for them.
I was sad because it had such a great premise.

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Joanne Ramos’s intriguing but flawed debut novel is a colonisation story set inside Golden Oaks, a baby farm in Massachusetts. The Farm may be a 'social issues' book, but it wears the mantle lightly. It is a breezy novel full of types (the Shark, the Dreamer, the Rebel, the Saint), and veers, not always successfully, from earnestness into satire. Joanne Ramos’s characters articulate both sides of the surrogacy argument, however, it lingers indulgently over the trappings of the wealthy, to the point where reading this novel felt a bit like watching several hours of reality-TV.

Hence The Farm isn’t not a critique, but it’s also not an indictment. The novel’s too-neat ending won’t provide satisfying answers.

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I really enjoyed reading the debut novel from Joanne Ramos - The Farm. It deals with the issue of surrogacy and pushes the limits of what money can buy in a society not far off from our present.

It tells the story of young Filipino woman Jane who at the opening of the novel is living in cramped conditions, sharing a room with a number of other women. In desperation, she signs up to the surrogacy farm - Golden Oaks. It appears to be idyllic and the situation appear to be ideal however the conditions are incredibly strict. As a surrogate, Jane has limited rights and the amount of money she ultimately earns from the surrogacy are dependent on a number of conditions being met, including method of birth and the number of rules that she abides by during her pregnancy.

At the heart of the novel, The Farm explores the limits of what money can buy and the relationship dynamics between different classes in American society. In it´s very normalcy, it is a terrifying vision of a possible direction our society could take in the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel and look forward to reading more works of Joanne Ramos in the future.

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