Today is April Fool's and I wish I could say I'm joking, but this month's read, The Farm by Joanne Ramos, was a total flop for me. "Farm" is a reference to the luxe retreat where surrogate mothers live out their pregnancies for wealthy parents who can't have children or who could but it's not convenient. I almost quit three times but kept going thinking it was about to all make sense. Nope. 14 hours of my life that I can't get back.
This got me thinking, what was the author trying to achieve? Then I read a blog post about asking three questions when you finish reading a book and decided to incorporate into my monthly reviews.
- What was the artist trying to achieve? Examining contrasts and similarities between motivations for money, identity and motherhood. Most people would do anything for money and/or their children - the means justify the ends.
- Some people move through the world like they own it
- Sometimes a person has no choice but hard choices
- Did he or she succeed? Not for me - it all seemed shallow and calculated. Certain people take advantage of others because they can through money or personality. Nothing new or compelling here for me.
- Was it worth doing? Unfortunately no.
I have a 10-day trip coming up so hoping to make a significant dent in my to-be-read list. I hope the next one is a good one!
TBR List
- Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad
- Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
- The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
- The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary
- Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
- Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
- How to Have Impossible Conversations by Boghossian/Lindsay
