Cleyvis Natera is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Neruda on the Park and the recently published sophomore novel, The Grand Paloma Resort.
At Electric Lit she tagged seven books" "rooted in a person’s relationship to work."
[F]rom views into the lives of a working population during genocidal mandates from the government, to tender illuminations on what it means to be part of a society that fails to count women’s work as labor, to the seduction of wealth and power that lead many of these characters to become complicit in systems that benefit from their own dehumanization, each of these novels offers an unvarnished understanding of an individual’s search for self-actualization through labor.One title on Natera's list:
The Farm by Joanne RamosRead about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.
The Farm is a brilliant debut by Joanne Ramos that follows Jane, a Filipino domestic worker and single mother to an infant daughter named Amalia. When Janeloses her job, her elderly cousin Evelyn “Ate” guides her toward a position at Golden Oaks, a facility referred to as “The Farm” where women serve as surrogates to the wealthy. The payoff for spending the better part of a year to conceive and birth a child is significant. Yet, the sacrifice is to be away from Jane’s own child. The story unfolds in a series of events that help a reader ask profound questions about immigration, class, gender, and race. As Jane’s body becomes commoditized, we understand the interplay between childbearing as an act of survival or the sacred. Ramos does a remarkable job of laying bare the ways that certain paths to progress are closed to immigrants, especially women. It’s a refreshing take on the American Dream.
The Farm is among Sara Flannery Murphy's nine books that explore the weirder side of reproduction.
--Marshal Zeringue
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