The Farm

A Novel

By: Joanne Ramos

Narrated by: Fran de Leon

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

National Best Seller

Life is a lucrative business, as long as you play by the rules.

Skimm Reads Pick

People Book of the Week

Belletrist Book Pick

“[Joanne] Ramos’s debut novel couldn’t be more relevant or timely.” (O: The Oprah Magazine)

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by Time • Glamour • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping • Marie Claire • Town & Country

Nestled in New York’s Hudson Valley is a luxury retreat boasting every amenity: organic meals, personal fitness trainers, daily massages - and all of it for free. In fact, you’re paid big money to stay here - more than you’ve ever dreamed of. The catch? For nine months, you cannot leave the grounds, your movements are monitored, and you are cut off from your former life while you dedicate yourself to the task of producing the perfect baby. For someone else.

Jane, an immigrant from the Philippines, is in desperate search of a better future when she commits to being a “Host” at Golden Oaks - or the Farm, as residents call it. But now pregnant, fragile, consumed with worry for her family, Jane is determined to reconnect with her life outside. Yet she cannot leave the Farm or she will lose the life-changing fee she’ll receive on the delivery of her child.

Gripping, provocative, heartbreaking, The Farm pushes to the extremes our thinking on motherhood, money, and merit and raises crucial questions about the trade-offs women will make to fortify their futures and the futures of those they love.

Nominated for the NAACP Image Award

Longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Praise for The Farm

“So many factors - gender, race, religion, class - may determine where you come down on the surrogacy debate.... Ramos plays with many of these notions in her debut novel, The Farm, which imagines what might happen were surrogacy taken to its high-capitalist extreme.... The stage is set for lively book chat.” (The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“A thrilling read.” (New York)

“Grippingly realistic.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Brilliant.” (New York Post)

“A provocative idea, and Ramos nails it.... Crisp and believable, this smart debut links the poor and the one percent in a unique transaction that turns out to be mutually rewarding.” (People)

“Wow, Joanne Ramos has written the page-turner about immigrants chasing what’s left of the American dream.... Truly unforgettable.” (Gary Shteyngart, New York Times best-selling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Lake Success)

©2019 Joanne Ramos (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A timely investigation of how much control we really have over our own situations, especially when it comes to women’s choice.... With glimmers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and the dystopian eeriness of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Farm is equal parts entertaining and creepy.” (PureWow)

“The Handmaid’s Tale vibes are strong, but the ‘holy sh*t this book is genius’ vibes are stronger.” (Cosmopolitan, “The 14 Best Books Coming Out in May 2019”)

“A horror story set in a not-impossible future, this fast-paced read will keep you on the edge of your seat as it explores topical issues with page-turning plot twists.” (MindBodyGreen, “5 Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down This May”)

Great book club book

We had an exceptionally longer book club discussion the night we discussed The Farm. Even though the book didn't come with questions, our friend came up with some good ones on her own. So many things to think about with this book.

Meh

Struggled to finish this, the story dragged on in parts. Ending was unsatisfactory for me. Feel like the book tried to say something about women's choices or options or something but didn't quite get there.

Excellent novel!

I couldn’t wait for this book to come out and I listened practically non stop. Very interesting subject matter. It will pull at your heart strings and make your blood boil. I know I was yelling in the kitchen while listening and my husband looked in like I was crazy! The characters feel so real! I have no complaints about this book. It moved swiftly and the narration was great.

Ending was boring (but realistic)

This book was good, and I will be recommending it to some of my friends, but not all- simply due to the fact that the ending was... well, really bland. When the narrator said “Epilogue” I was pretty pissed. However, I do have to say that at least the way it ended was realistic. I hate it when books are trying so hard to be entertaining that they go too far off reality. I must say that the narrator was an absolute treasure. The narrator nailed every character’s voice consistently, so I always knew who was talking. Looking back, I was really enjoying the book whenever I listened, and the topic of the book was very intriguing, but I wish there would have been a crazy plot twist at the end or something but maybe that’s just my personal taste! One nit-picky thing about the book that really annoyed me, was how much “a lot of money” was mentioned, but never HOW much. Money was always described as “a decent amount” or “a lot”. “A lot of money” means different amounts to different people. I wanted to really know how much each host was getting paid, not just relative amounts, but actual numbers.

Slow but worth it

it's a bit of a drag to get through but it's very "real". The message is somewhat subtle but worthwhile.

Lack Luster Ending

I liked this book. I found the story and it’s characters to be somewhat original. However, the ending was disappointing.

A nice read

Interesting subject, makes you think, opens your eyes to other ways of life. Nothing shocking or exhilarating. But a good read. Very good narrating, you can hear the different characters.

Extremely engrossing and hard to put down.

This book held my interest right from the start and all the way through the end. Although it is an examination of class and socioeconomics, it is handled with sensitivity so that (as in life perhaps) there are no 100% good guys and no 100% bad guys. This is a difficult feat to perform these days when it appears that the dictates of the literary world require casting characters who desire and acquire status and material gains in life as villains

A good premise that fell short

A good premise that fell short. I was hoping for a little more, but, alas, not my favorite.

good story.

easy to finish, but nothing too suspenseful or exciting. good characters and storyline overall.