Anna's Reviews > The Farm

Golden Oaks, "The Farm", is a beautiful mansion in an idyllic setting in upstate New York. Women are carefully selected to be surrogates to carry babies for their mega wealthy clients. They are treated to healthy meals, massages, personal trainers and luxurious rooms. But while they are there, each woman is monitored 24/7 and must give up their call phones, identification and they are not allowed to have visitors. Sworn to secrecy, their lives belong completely to the clients. The reward is the large payments the surrogates receive for delivering a healthy baby. The surrogates are frequently recruited from immigrant neighborhoods, lured by the money they are offered. Despite the pampered treatment, it is the clients, not the surrogates who are the priority, creating the potential for any number of issues.
Told in alternating chapters, you learn the backgrounds and stories of Ms. Yu, manager of Golden Oaks, Reagan, an idealistic surrogate, Jane, a Filipino immigrant with an infant daughter who too is a surrogate, and Ate, Jane's elderly aunt.
A expose on immigration, manipulation and the lure of wealth. Classified as distopian, but seems not too far off from reality.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.