I read The Farm by Joanne Ramos which is a story about a poor immigrant woman becoming a surrogate to try to earn a livable income. All the surrogates (known as Hosts) are required to live on the farm while supervisors control every element of their lives to ensure the healthiest possible babies. Their diets, exercise, and exact whereabouts are always tracked. Even their internet usage and phone conversations are monitored to make sure they don't have any extra stress. This definitely read like a dystopian novel but I actually think nearly everything that happened in this book is realistic, though horrifying. The hosts are not allowed to have their children with them, and visits with their children are used as rewards or punishments (withholding the visits). This book starts to examine the huge discrepancy in lives between the rich and poor but it doesn't do enough. Additionally, the ending was incredibly disappointing. I felt the author made these rich characters seem evil but then sends mixed messages about them at the end. I also felt four perspectives was too many resulting in flat characters. All in all, I didn't enjoy this book and do not recommend it. I ended up giving it 2 stars.
The book is out May 7th, 2019. Thank you Random House for an early copy.
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