– The Farm by Joanne Ramos
– Miracle Creek by Ange Kim
– Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki
The Farm
by Joanne Ramos
I was very curious about this novel because the subject of this book is a sensitive one: Surrogacy.
The book portrays how a company monetizes surrogacy by creating a “farm,” a cross between a wellness center and a hospital for the pregnant women in their employ. The pregnant women will reside there till birth in almost total isolation. Everything is monitored, not only the women’s health and the babies in their wombs.
Despite enjoying reading it, I wasn’t quite 100% sold about the ending, but the writing and characterization was strong throughout the book.
Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim
This novel is intense, or at least, it was the most intense I had read in a while. If you are looking for some light reading, this is not the title to pick.
Miracle Creek deals with autistic children and their families, death, lies, consent, (family) relationships, cultural differences, with facing up to one’s actions and consequences, etc….
This is a courtroom drama and so much more with lots of twists and turns. At times the novel can be confusing but I think it might have been deliberate.
Spring Garden
by Tomoka Shibasaki
I had high hopes for this book about Taro, a lonely man who lives in an apartment block set to be torn down. One of the neighbours, Nishi, is obsessed by the sky-blue house featured in a photo-book called Spring Garden near their block and gets Taro involved in her. Their relationship could have become a friendship but both had to move out.
I have enjoyed how anything can be fleeting, learning about the backstory of the house, the relationships formed and then broken by external circumstances. I found that there are too many lengthy descriptions and that the story becomes a little tedious.
This short novel should have been even shorter.
Picnic In The Storm
by Yukiko Motoya
This is a short story collection and a fast, enjoyable read. Each story is stranger and weirder than the previous one. If you enjoy reading weird, fantastical stories, set in real life, like, for example, a husband made of straws, etc… this collection is perfect for you. I am usually not the biggest fan of this kind of stories, unless they are well written, as it is in this case. It was a fun read (the first three stories are my favorites) with the exception of An Exotic Marriage. It is a well written story but if you love cats as I do, this is a tough one to read. Had I know, I would have skipped it.