The storyline of this book is very interesting but the execution of it is disappointing. This book had great potential but it just didn’t quite deliver. The end was disappointing
An average book

From the title, the cover and the blurb, I was expecting a dystopian psychological horror; something like Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives but with surrogacy instead of marriage, and a wealth divide in place of the gender wall.

This is not that book.

Instead, The Farm is a thoughtful exploration of family responsibilities and choices, and whilst Golden Oaks and its manager Mae are mildly sinister, the horrors I had anticipated were replaced with the more insidious horror of reality: women and children are exploited, treated as things, discarded when no longer of use. This happens.

I sympathised with the main character, Jane, as she struggled to do what was best for her young daughter in both the long and the short term, when those two timescales were directly at odds, but I never really fully connected with her. There was no real intimacy into the character’s thoughts and feelings as the story progressed, and the combination of her bad luck and poor decision-making made me wince more than once.

This was a chilling look at a service industry / commodity production line that is already underway, and the depiction of pregnancy was varied and authentic. I think I was just left slightly flat by what felt like an unfulfilled plot potential and an anticlimactic finale.





Reagan laughs, surprising herself. It isn’t funny, but it is. It’s all completely ridiculous: three pregnant women carrying other people’s babies talking about second-trimester sex pangs and trying to guess which one of them harbors a billionaire’s fetus.

– Joanne Ramos, The Farm

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This was actually much more nuanced than I expected, though still an utterly chilling tale of how women can be commodified, even by other women, and how insidious the process can be, as little by little we see Jane and her fellow 'Hosts' manipulated, terrorised and compelled by those who get to hold the cards. The writing is sparing and subtle; I felt genuinely breathless at times, as if I could feel the walls closing in. Ramos explores topical ideas around race, gender and inequality in a way that feels horribly real and horribly imminent. Comparisons with The Handmaids Tale are likely, but this future is all too believable.

Jane is a Filipino immigrant trying hard to support her baby daughter.
Reagan is white, educated and wants to make a difference in the world.
Jane and Regan are just two of the many girls who work at Golden Oaks as ‘Hosts’.They are basically surrogates for the rich and influential.
But is all as it seems at Golden Oaks, (nick named ‘The Farm’ by some of the hosts) and can you truly sell a part of yourself without ramifications.
The story essentially focuses on Jane and her struggles, but it is also told from the perspective of Reagan (Jane’s room mate) Ate (Janes Cousin) and Mae (The manager at Golden Oaks).
This took me a little while to really get into the characters at first, but once I had the story flowed nicely and it was easy to get engrossed in. The thing that drew me to the book was that it had been highlighted at ‘A Handmaids Tale for 2019’ and you can definitely see that. The set up at Golden Oaks is all very plausible and sounds idyllic, the Hosts are all there willingly and being paid handsomely. However, you can see how an institute like Golden Oaks could descend into Margaret Atwoods dystopian nightmare.

What a great read!

In this modern world where careers and money rule people’s lives, some people just don’t have the time to raise their own baby.

Enter Mae Yu, manager of Golden Oaks and its bank of ‘hosts’ – or put quite simply, a baby farm. Hosts are nurtured through the nine months of their pregnancy and remunerated generously – however, they are vulnerable and ripe for exploitation. The story concentrates on Jane and Reagan, two hosts from very different backgrounds with different motivations – both characters to care deeply about.

Tangibly close to our real world, this sits exquisitely and uncomfortably on your mind – read it!

The could have been a fantastic book the premis was excellent but it just melted In to an average read I expected so much more.,

Although this had a slow start it picked up to be one that could not be put down. The first part sets the scene of the poorer immigrant situation - in this case filipino’s - who support the families that they have left behind. We are then introduced to Ate and Jane who are the main basis for the story and they are both so easy to understand their emotions. Jane gets into trouble by acting or speaking irresponsibly and it looks like everything will be wonderful when she is introduced to Golden Oaks the baby making farm. The setting and procedures at The Farm are all realistic and make so much sense but eventually the darker side comes to the foreground. I loved the characters as they were so easy to relate to. The book covers the difficult topics of poverty, inequality and illegal immigration in a very well balanced way that is certainly eye opening and thought provoking. A wonderful debut novel

The farm was an interesting read. Not what I was expecting at all.

At the beginning, it felt rather slow, and it made it rather hard for me to get into. It got better towards the end, though, however, the slowness if the beginning did slow my interest of the book.

I loved the cultural diversity in this book. Based around Filipinas, I had to admit, made me carry on. I've not read a lot of books where the main character is Filipino, so to say my curiosity was piqued was a understatement.

The farm is a read that will definitely pique your interest, and is unique in it's own way. A great read!

I had noticed this book advertised via a books newsletter and already read the blurb and knew that, with no doubt I wanted to read it. The UK cover is the plainer of the covers I have seen. An orange background will help it stand out on a book store shelf and draw your eyes to it. The pregnant female forms on the cover tell you without a doubt that the subject of pregnancy is featured within. The genres I have seen listed for this book are General Fiction & Literary Fiction which I agree with but would add both Dystopian & Futuristic to this list.

We meet one of the books main characters Jane who is a single mother to baby Amalia who has recently left her cheating, rather controlling husband. We join Jane as she is desperately attempting to find her older cousin Evelyn, though as is in Filipino culture she respectfully calls her Ate. Ate is 70 yrs old but is a hardworking baby-nurse who has collapsed whilst at work and been taken to the A&E. When Ate is released from the hospital it is clearly apparent, she is not fit for work, in fact due to a heart murmur she needs to take life a lot easier than she has been doing. After some discussion and a little pressure from Ate, Jane agrees to leave her poorly paid job at a nursing home for the elderly to stand in as a baby nurse. Jane is also cajoled into leaving baby Amalia with Ate and the other women that live in the dormitory house. Ate has been a baby nurse for years and has been called “a brown Mary Poppins” by some of her clients. Ate’s reputation is so good she has often acted on behalf of families finding them a suitable person that she knows herself for the job. Ate has her own rules and ways and imparts them on the girls she recommends making them better employees. When Jane’s baby nurse job ends Ate has an idea for another “perfect” job for her. As Jane has no job and baby Amalia to look after its quite an easy sell to Jane. The job application is in depth and involves lots of paperwork, though it is fairly easy to do. Jane has passed the first stages of the interview procedure and has to travel to the final stage of the Interview process to become a surrogate. As part of this final stage Jane is shown round Golden Oaks which is set in an unspoilt area of lush, natural scenery. If chosen as a “Host” which those that live at Golden Oaks are referred to, you quite literally live in relative luxury! Where the motto is “The best host is a happy host”. Hosts are surrogates for wealthy clients who cannot have children or have left it too late to carry their own child, or those who do not have time for a pregnancy in their hectic rich lifestyle. The pay is good, but Mae Yu, the female business head of Golden Oakes is particular about the type of woman makes the correct sort of host. Mae answers only to head of the whole Holloway Group, Leon. At Golden Oakes the pregnant hosts are monitored closely by wellness co-ordinators, that take care of their body and mind. Their food intake is monitored along with the amount of exercise they are doing. All this is measured and recorded by a wellness band. Though some of the hosts lean the downside of the wellness band is that it also contains a tracker. The hosts are paid in stages and when a safe, healthy birth has happened they get what is called a delivery bonus. It sounds like the perfect job but you cannot have guaranteed visits from your family or for yourself to go out, unless your rich client agrees to them. The client is regularly updated on the pregnancy with ultrasounds being seen remotely via computers. Everything has to be done to reassure the client that their “investment” is doing well.

My favourite characters were Jane who is having to do all these jobs away from her baby to provide for her and her future. I also liked Reagan who is being a surrogate so she can have money of her own rather than relying on hand outs from her parents. I have to admit to being fond of the rule breaking, straight talking Lisa as well. She proves to be a true friend when Jane most needs one when she thinks Amalia is in danger. For the character I loved to hate, I would say it has to be Ate, because yes, she helps Jane and women like her find jobs but she isn’t doing just out of the goodness of her heart.

The pace of the book and its writing style make this book hard to put down. There’s lots of “what going to happen next” or “guessing answers” to questions you have at the end of chapters, which keeps you glued to the book. I really did honestly love this book, it had me from the first word and held me to the very last word and left me wondering about what could come next! This book is amazingly different yet so believable! With, the mention of Red Cedars another facility like Golden Oaks opening and then the other surrogacy scheme called Project Macdonald that Mae is putting to Leon there’s certainly room for more hosts, clients & books! Having said that this book also works brilliantly as a standalone read. I would also like to add that though this book is listed as Literary, and General Fiction, I would predict that this could quite well become the norm in our not too distant future. The setting and style of the book actually reminded me a little of The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist and Body Parts by Jessica Kapp.

I don’t know why but i was expecting a handwives tale saga but I still read this book in one sitting that’s how good it was!

I got an eArc of this through Netgalley and thought it was a Handmaid's Tale type dystopia about surrogacy, but soon realised I was actually reading a book set in the present day with a premise which isn't that far away from reality. And that, in a way, is much more chilling than any dystopia, because it really brought home how disposable women's bodies are - especially those of poorer women.

The plot itself is pretty simple. Jane has a young baby, a deadbeat husband and few prospects. She's living in a dorm in New York with her much older cousin, Evelyn, working first in a care home and then as a nanny, leaving her own tiny baby to care for the baby of privileged rich people. When she messes up she has no idea what to do next, so when Evelyn suggests she becomes a host - a surrogate - at Golden Oaks, an exclusive surrogacy facility, Jane jumps at the chance even though it doesn't mean leaving her own daughter for a few hours, but for the full nine months. The hosts are kept at Golden Oaks for the duration of their pregnancy, their diet, exercise and access to the outer world limited. They sign over their rights not just to their bodies. but to their autonomy. All that matters is the babies they carry, not themselves.

Jane and Evelyn are Filipino - as is the author - and all over the world Filipino women work as maids, nannies and carers, often leaving their own families behind to care for others. Meanwhile in Asia, women volunteer their bodies as surrogates, often for western couples, also to provide for their own children. This is nothing new. Rich families in the UK used to employ wet nurses to breast feed their babies, leave their care and education to servants, send them to boarding school at 7. They have money, the women need the money. Where's the harm? In capitalism everything is for sale after all. But of course that doesn't make it right...

In The Farm Ramos takes this commodification of pregnancy to the next level exploring how the women's rights are eroded by the babies they carry, crucial decisions about their own health and happiness held by mystery clients, the women whose babies they bear. There's a sense of menace, of helplessness throughout the book, a feeling we're watching ultimate exploitation even though the hosts are there willingly and well paid for their time and bodies.

Ultimately the build up falls a little flat as the the air of menace which pervades the book never quite gets fulfilled and the ending, although realistic in some ways, doesn't give the resolution I maybe hoped for. Additionally the multiple view points all told in third person present makes it hard to really engage with any of the characters, and so, in the end, I would say this was a three star read. But The Farm was a thought provoking book which asks some difficult questions and is well worth reading.

A novel that gets progressively more chilling as you read it - reminiscent of Orwell and Atwood, where you see the noose tightening and feel helpless watching it.
The Farm is a novel set from different pov's, and I found the majority interesting. I felt Mae's pov was hard to get into, and it wasn't until the ramping up of the plot and the truly obvious dystopian flavours came in that I enjoyed her chapters.
However, this is a worthy book on race, privilege, and what happens when an apparent utopian concept slowly devolves into something postmodern and dark, and horrible.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding Joanne Ramos's debut novel, so I must begin by saying: yes, this is one of those rare occasions that the noise was completely justified. Many have described it as a contemporary of Margaret Attwood's dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale, but given the dire situation the world currently finds itself in The Farm is not a million miles away from reality.

So forget what you've been told this is a stunning, complex work of fiction with its roots firmly based in real-world events. Make no mistake, it is a challenging read and brings forth many philosophical, moral and ethical questions which I always appreciate in my fiction. It is so well constructed that you simply cannot fail to be drawn in from very early on. I fully expect this to rapidly become a bestseller and to leave its mark on readers as it did with me.

The effort that has gone into making this a multifaceted, powerful and searingly emotive tale holding many important messages for its readers show that this has been a labour of love for Ms Ramos. We have been warned for several years now about the beginning of the end for people employed in low-skilled jobs as a direct result of the emergence of technology which can carry out those jobs with increased efficiency whilst negating the need to pay a wage or salary. This means those who are made redundant must find an alternative method of making a living, but with little to no expertise, this leaves few jobs open to them.

And that's where Golden Oaks, a facility that houses surrogates for the duration of their pregnancy, comes in. Catering to the uber-wealthy the hosts' lives are controlled in every possible way from conception right through to birth.

Ramos uses this divisive set-up to comment on a variety of increasingly important topics, including the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor, technological advancement as a double edge sword, surrogacy, exploitation, class, race and immigration. She manages with considerable aplomb to show just how lost we've become as a species, but most of all, it signifies just how quickly the famed American dream can turn into a hellish nightmare.

Each of the female inmates is intricately developed as well as three-dimensional, and each holds a different perspective which helps make the story fully rounded. One of the parts that really stood out for me was the fact that these affluent Americans seeking a surrogate will pay significantly more for a white host who is well educated than any other race. Sadly, this seems to be reflective of our reality to some extent where some individuals in society perpetuate the ugly idea of white supremacy, whether intentional or incidental is beside the point.

Thought-provoking, beautifully written and incredibly original, Ramos is a master storyteller who has disguised this intelligent and eminently readable piece, which could be perceived as a warning, as fictional, but given most of what happens in the book is already happening in reality - just how fictitious is it? Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC.

Some time ago, I read a starred review for The Farm, requested an arc, got approved, and then promptly forgot everything about the book that had made me want to read it in the first place. And let me tell you: I think this is the best possible thing that could have happened.

Words like "dystopia" are being thrown around in reviews of the The Farm, as are comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale, but this is misleading. This book should not be regarded as a dystopia; it is a mere breath away from reality. It is almost entirely a contemporary. Most, if not all, of what happens in this book is already happening. If I had gone into this believing I was getting a dystopian novel, I would have been disappointed.

Instead, The Farm is better viewed as a character-driven exploration of race, immigrants, class, and reproductive rights in modern America. As technology develops, we see the disappearance of blue collar jobs, long-filled by immigrants and the poorest Americans. Out of this will grow - and are growing - service-based jobs. One such job that is increasingly becoming an option for former blue collar workers is surrogacy. This is not a dystopian matter. Companies like Growing Generations already exist, offering you the chance to earn up to $63,000, plus benefits.

This book is about a company called Golden Oaks, similar to Growing Generations above, except that it offers a live-in center for the surrogates to be free from outside threats and distractions, eat only the most nutritious food, and live stress-free.

Ramos uses this setting to examine several very different characters. There's Jane, a Filipina who joins Golden Oaks to earn money for her own 6-month-old baby, and her older cousin, Evelyn, who has a long history of caring for rich people's newborns. There's white, pretty and educated Reagan, a "premium host" who is driven by her need to do good and be of use. There's Lisa, also white, who is on her third pregnancy at Golden Oaks and frequently criticizes the center for its exploitation, calling it "The Farm".

Through these women, the author weaves a tale that I personally found fascinating. She looks at the way people can be exploited and manipulated based on their character profiles. She looks at racial and class bias and the ludicrous way rich Americans will pay so much more for a white, educated "host" when the kid is 100% theirs anyway. It's ridiculous, and yet I absolutely believed in it.

There are, of course, lots of morality questions. So much deceit goes on under the guise of protecting the surrogates from stress, and the host's contracts create many issues. Mae-Yu, the Chinese-American running Golden Oaks, finds loophole after loophole to lie to both clients and surrogates. Questions arise as to whether the center should be allowed to force an abortion, and whose life takes precedence - surrogate or baby's - when the host has signed a contract promising to use their best efforts to ensure the wellbeing of the unborn child.

Ramos really understands all her characters. Her writing never falters as she takes us inside such very different minds and makes each one completely believable. She must have put a lot of thought into all of their situations and motivations. And there are a number of very moving moments, too. I really enjoyed it.

The Farm was a good read but did not live up to expectations. It was sold as a feminist almost dystopian tale, and while all the main characters are complex women, it is much more focused on the current world and moral and ethical questions around surrogacy and potential exploitation. While these are interesting and prescient topics and the characters were engaging and well written, the ending felt like a cop out. I'm not sure it ever really reached a conclusion. I was happy for the outcome for most characters, but it felt like it dodged the overarching issues and complexities in order to wrap everything up in a nice bow.
A good read but not as world shattering as had been implied

Touching on themes of immigration, poverty and inequality, this book follows a young mother who is pushed by her aunt into taking on a role as a surrogate mother in an extremely high-class baby farm for the supremely rich who haven’t got time to be pregnant themselves!
There is foreshadowing of some kind of danger at the baby farm- which whilst luxuriously plush, has a big brother watchfulness over all of the baby ‘hosts’. This lends interest to what is otherwise a mundane catalogue of daily rituals at the farm and keeps you reading. However the actual twist when it comes is from a different direction, and the farm is only involved in damage limitation and reprisals against the perpetrator.
I found this book a little flat in writing style at times. The concept was so good but I feel the twist could have been more exciting, and that the book ended in a disappointing way. Overall it entertains through hope that something thrilling will happen, but sadly it fails to deliver.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise for Joanne Ramos’s debut novel The Farm sounds like it is ripped straight out of dystopian fiction. A megacorporation that sets up a surrogacy service for the ultra-rich, taking mainly poor women and immigrants and putting them in a facility for the duration of their pregnancy. But Ramos does not go down the dystopian route. She has other concerns than the end of society. She is much more interested in using what is only just a thought experiment to explore the disparity between rich and poor in America.
Jane is a Filipino living in dorm accommodation in New York with her baby Amalia, her cousin Evelyn (Ate) and a number of other women. She scapes by working at an old age home but when a better job as a nanny comes to an unexpected end Jane is left without a job. Enter Golden Acres, a new facility set up by Mae Wu, an executive of a megacorporation, which provides surrogates for the ultra wealthy. Jane agrees to sign up, leaving her daughter in the care of her cousin with the promise of regular income and a “delivery bonus”. On entering the facility she meets Reagan, a fairly rich young white woman who has signed up to try and achieve some financial independence from her family, and her wild friend Lisa.
While there is some element of control at Golden Acres, known by its inmates as The Farm, Ramos does not present it as a dystopian nightmare. The women who are there have come by choice, although that choice is informed by their desire to earn enough to live well in America. Mae, who runs the facility, does care for her charges but in an economic way, always putting the profitability of her centre above any personal desires of the women in it.
Ramos uses her scenario to deeply explore the gap between rich and poor in the US and the struggle of immigrants to make a living and support the families they have left behind. She does not shy away from the way the Filipino women are treated both as hired help and as surrogates. In both cases, they are seen as lesser in some way, as grasping and potentially shifty. No one is spared with one episode having Ate being treated that way by a wealthy Filipino family that she has been catering for. This disparity carries through the book, with Ramos making a point about the different treatment of Reagan and Jane who themselves have a rocky relationship through the book.
The surrogacy centre itself is only a slight extrapolation of the ability of the wealthy to buy anything. While some are seeking surrogacy due to an inability to carry a baby to term, in many cases, the people seeking surrogacy are doing so to avoid the hassle and expense of pregnancy and are happy to use those who have little choice to provide this service.
The Farm as a concept comes across as a Handmaid’s Tale- style dystopia and while pessimists might see this as a stepping stone to a more restrictive future Ramos herself never goes there. She is much more interested in the value of reproductive rights and the entitlement of the rich to purchase those services. In that respect, The Farm is still a cautionary tale, but one with plenty of heart and compassion even while everyone is held in their place.

I got into this book really quickly and found myself wanting to pick it up at every opportunity to see where the story would lead. The book was unlike anything I’d read recently and it was a welcome break from the usual psychological thriller books that are everywhere. Really enjoyed how the setting was modern day and could easily picture Golden Oaks in my mind. I also enjoy books that are told from differing points of view. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for letting me read.

I was really, really disappointed by this book. After hearing about it for awhile and being really taken in by the concept, I was so excited to read it and glad to have the opportunity to do so with an ARC from NetGalley.

The story focuses mainly on three women, Reagan, Mae and Jane, although Jane is the clear protagonist of the story. An immigrant from the Philippines, she takes a job as a Host (surrogate mother) at Golden Oaks (the baby farm) in order to provide for her daughter. Reagan takes the job to do some good and help others, while Mae is the one running the show.

It started off well, with lots of commentary around the class and race divide in our society, even down to the rich outsourcing their pregnancies. The Farm/Golden Oaks itself is this gilded cage that monitors the surrogates, right down to restricting what they can and can't eat and monitoring where they walk, lest they contract Lyme disease or something else.

I was really gripped by this up until the peak of the action, and it was really the resolution and the ending that completely ruined this book for me.
Jane's escape has me rooting for her, and then scared for her when she returns to her apartment only to find Mae sitting there. From there, it gets kind of messy. Is she punished harshly on her return to Golden Oaks? Was the Client happy with the birth of the child? Why did she agree to go work privately for Mae after everything she'd been put through?
Why was Mae even a primary character? She didn't go through any kind of character development and came out the other side completely unchanged. She was neither a good nor bad character, which made her pretty dull to read. In most stories, a main character learns something over the arc of the story but Mae just felt flat.
The time jump to three years later was also very odd. We never really hear what happened to Reagan, or any real resolution around her relationship with "Callie". We never hear from Lisa again.
I believe the author was onto something with this story overall, but just tried to cram in too many "main" characters and it all just fell flat. Not enough character development, too many loose ends and just a disappointing end to something that could have become a modern classic.
I hope that the publishers take reviews like this on board and help to shape it before it goes to publication.

An interesting novel reflecting on surrogacy, wealth and who ultimately holds the power over fertility and reproduction. I enjoyed the fact that the ethical points weren't cut and dried but allowed for shades of opinion, but, trying not to give spoulers, I was a little disappointed by the rather saccharine ending.
Thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury for an advance copy of this book.