How much are you willing to pay for something that was once considered sacred? What is the price?
A topic like no other.
A book about surrogacy, about power, class and caste. A book about the server and the master. Till what length will you go for money? Will you go all the way?
These questions are what this book highlights. The Farm, aptly titled is a place of paradise, with every amenity, all comforts taken care of for you. The only catch, you are pregnant and the baby is not yours.
You would simply brush it off as a book about surrogacy, I would say, wait, read the title again. What does it say? The Farm. It is a farm, or more like a ranch except the babies here are human.
Pregnant women, referred to as hosts throughout the book, sign away 9 months of their life to be constantly monitored in a comfortable facility designed with all possible luxuries to deliver the perfect kid for their high-profile clients. A lot of times, these hosts don't even know whose baby they are carrying.
On the surface, this seems great. Get paid a load of money for 9 months and then it's all uphill. The only difference, humans are not animals. We think, we talk, we gossip and we spread rumours.
Oakwood Farms, conceptualized by Miss Yu, is a money-minting machine, a very low profile place catering to high profile clients. This is a story about power and how far lies and deceptions go. Manipulation at it's best.
A young Filipino, Jane, comes to Oakwood Farm in hopes of giving a better life to her own daughter, Amalia. A submissive, content woman is forced to live without her daughter for 9 months with no visitation permitted. Her only contact with her one-year-old is monitored conversations. When her calls go unanswered for a few days, panic sets in and all rationale goes right out of the window. For a new mother, thinking of the worst possible scenario comes easy, she finds herself breaking the rules.
But where there is money, there is a strict reprimand for getting out of line.
Another thing I loved about the book was the character development and how your family, your ethnicity and your background shapes you. A stark difference here is shown between Jane and Raegan, Raegan is a white American from a well-to-do family. She is in a constant state of dissatisfaction and taking things for granted. Where on the other hand, Jane has learnt to survive with what she has and believes she doesn't have a right to riches or happiness. Their characters and how poles apart they were, was one of my favourite things about the book.
Language wise it was easy to read and comprehend. Yet it took me a very long time to actually get through it. Even though I loved the concept and the book was way out of my comfort zone, there were times when it was simply boring. Things do pace up once they hit the farm but before that, it's all mild and mellow. Evelyn's portions were kind of dreary. I don't know what was the purpose of putting a disabled kid to the mix?
I liked how the book had a proper conclusion. I love wholesome endings. I would have liked to know more about what happens to Evelyn's estate, but it was not to be.
If you don't mind trying a new, different book, pick this one up!
You will gain a new perspective for sure.
That's all from my side.
xoxo
Pearl
Comments
Post a Comment