Entertaining debut with humorous social commentary and a fun read for fans of speculative fiction.
In a world where employee efficiency still dictates human necessity, Natalie is stuck in a dead-end job logging complaints at a workplace harassment call center. Burdened by debt, lacking dental insurance to pay for treatment, and selling her own plasma to get by, she spots a flyer at a local blood bank that changes everything.
She's recruited to The Company, a huge conglomerate launching a pilot program: to provide corporate funded surrogacy so their female execs don't have to juggle pregnancy and childbirth with the demands of their job. The deal seems like a dream as The Company provides Natalie with everything including an apartment, food, exercise and health programs, as well as a huge amount of money in exchange for carrying pregnancies for its top executives. Natalie enthusiastically accepts and the arrangement works for six years with transactional precision. However, during her final contracted pregnancy, a restructuring at The Company ends her comfortable routine. The shift in her lifestyle is full of surprises as she tries to figure out what she wants and recovery her own autonomy.
This novel is definitely one to make you think about current reproductive politics and modern work culture. What perks might be offered to keep the capitalist machine running at full force. I found this book insightful and with many topics to discuss making it ideal as a book club choice. I liked Natalie even though she's so disarmingly honest about her lack of ambition, desire not to work, and her attitude about what she needs to have a nice life. Her cynical voice makes her journey to self discovery both hilarious and relatable. I was much more interested in her surrogate life than in the communal environment because she didn't seem to fit with any sort of that minimalist mindset and I wonder if she substituted animals for all else that she lacked in her personal life. I also thought the book ended rather abruptly.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Natalie Naudus, did a great job of voicing the mostly all female cast of characters. She handled some accents and tried to make each voice distinguishable. Her tone and pacing was well done and the production added to my enjoyment of the story.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre and tags: female reproductive rights, surrogate pregnancy, workplace culture, social commentary, self determination
