Tag: contemporary

The Farm

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Golden Oaks is a pregnancy oasis. The surrogates who reside there are given access to organic meals, regular massages, fitness classes, and the latest information on having a healthy pregnancy. The Farm is told from multiple perspectives. We meet Jane and Reagan, two surrogates at Golden Oaks; Jane’s cousin, Ate; and Mae, who runs the Golden Oaks facility. Beyond that, I don’t want to tell you much more, to avoid giving away the story. This a slower paced novel, but it’s one of those multilayered books that will provide so much discussion material for book clubs. PSA: Going into The Farm, I was expecting it to be a dystopia, or at least science fiction-y, because of the shelves people selected on Goodreads. However, I’d describe it as more of a speculative contemporary novel. Still worth a read!

Favorite Passage:

“At the macro level, economics is less science than philosophy. One of its core ideas is that free trade — voluntary trade — is mutually beneficial. The exchange has to be a good deal for both sides, or one party would walk.”
“Yes, but it could be that one party has no other options. I mean, the ‘exchange’ for that one party might not be a ‘good deal,’ but only the best choice among a bunch of choices that are all total… well, crap.”
— Page 48

What I Loved Most:

The Farm examines the way that class impacts not only the options available to someone, but also the consequences of choosing a given option. Reagan is a surrogate from an affluent background, and she questions the ethics of Golden Oaks using mainly surrogates from lower-class backgrounds. In the quote I shared in the Favorite Passage section, Mae (who runs Golden Oaks) reminds Reagan that all of the surrogates are there by choice. Reagan points out that while that may be true, it doesn’t remove the fact that some women may have been under pressure in making their choices. Ramos doesn’t push you to think one way or the other when it comes to class and the privilege of choice, but she brings up some valuable points for consideration.

Read this book if you like:

Examining class, book clubs, pregnancy-related fiction, books that bring up ethical quandaries by discussing both sides of the issue

Book Details:

  • Author: Joanne Ramos
  • Publisher: Random House
  • Date of Publication: May 7, 2019
  • Age Recommendation: Adult
  • Check out The Farm on Worldcat to find it at a library near you!

Screen Queens

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

ValleyStart is a tech competition, aimed at helping high schoolers showcase their coding/design/creative skills. The goal for all contestants is to land an internship at one of the most prestigious companies in Silicon Valley. Lucy, Maddie, and Delia are paired up by the competition administrators to be a team – and when they arrive, they realize they are the only all-female team. Screen Queens is an incisive examination of what it means to be a teenage girl with hopes of making it in the male-dominated field of technology. It touches on sexism and female friendships and achieving the high goals one sets for oneself. I have nothing but positive things to say about this novel – go pick it up.

Favorite Passage:

“‘I had drinks with him.’
‘So?’
‘I smiled and laughed. I flirted.’
‘And?’
‘I led him on. I -‘
‘Did nothing to invite him to put his hands on you — and not remove them when you said to.'”
— Twenty

What I Loved Most:

This is one of those books where you’re super mad while reading it, but it’s the good kind of mad. It’s a great depiction of being a woman in a male-dominated field. Screen Queens doesn’t pull any punches in its exploration of abuse of power by men, particularly to more vulnerable, younger women. I’m here for any story about women in STEM fields, and I think Screen Queens does a great job of helping teenagers learn about this crucial social justice issue in a way that is age appropriate.

Read this book if you like:

Feminism, girls in STEM, subtle diversity

Book Details:

  • Author: Lori Goldstein
  • Publisher: Razorbill
  • Date of Publication: June 11, 2019
  • Age Recommendation: 10th – 12th grade
  • Check out Screen Queens on Worldcat to find it at a library near you!

Better Than the Best Plan

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Mitzy’s mom has always been a little untraditional… which is why they’ve moved from place to place as she tries out yoga or enlightenment or commune-living. But this time, things are different, and Mitzy is on her own. She comes home from school one day to find a note informing her that her mom is in Mexico for her latest venture, and Mitzy doesn’t know when she’ll be coming back. Seventeen-year-old Mitzy is a few months away from legally being an adult, so she figures she’ll be fine on her own. But when someone reports her to Child Protective Services, a social worker turns up to bring her to a foster home. And in a weird twist of fate, Mitzy finds out not only that she was in foster care as an infant, but that she is being brought back to the woman who was her foster mom for eighteen months.

Better Than the Best Plan follows the summer before Mitzy’s senior year of high school. Mitzy is trying to get settled into the gorgeous, fancy new house she’s staying in – but trying not to get to comfortable, since she is pretty sure her mom will come back to get her soon. Her new life is a far cry from her old life, and she is not sure what to think of the country club nearby, people who have private pools and tennis courts, or the cute boy who lives next door. Pick up Better than the Best Plan for a quick summer read that pulls you in from the first chapter.

Favorite Passage:

“I tell you all that because here’s the thing. I wanted to keep you. I so desperately wanted to keep you. I tried, in fact, probably harder than I should have. But your mother, she wasn’t going to walk away from you. She did everything the court required. She attended every DCF meeting. She jumped through every hoop, followed every rule. And it wasn’t easy. They really don’t make it easy, especially with kids as young as you. She really had to prove herself to them. But every challenge they laid, she met it, and so just after your second birthday, you went back to her. ‘Family reunification’, they call it. I wasn’t there to see it. I don’t think I had the strength to endure it. But you have to know that for nearly two years your mother fought for you. She never stopped being your mom, and she fought to make sure the court knew it. She didn’t leave you, Maritza. She went away, but she never left. Trust me on that.”
— Chapter Fifteen

What I Loved Most:

I feel like most of the books I’ve read featuring protagonists who are in the foster care system are heavy. Which is totally fair – these kids are going through super hard stuff. However, Better Than the Best Plan manages to be a light and fun read, while not shying away from hard questions like parental abandonment and messy family situations. This was a genuinely fun book to read. I also loved how the book stresses that even though Maritza’s biological mom left, it doesn’t mean that she stopped loving Ritzy. This book is very positive toward both the bio-parent and the foster parents. And it ends in a messy but happy way, which I think is a wonderful portrayal of how the foster care system can sometimes work to create a bigger family rather than splitting up families.

Read this book if you like:

Summer reading, identity searching, non-traditional families

Book Details: