Baby Factory
Suleiman Ocheni
★★★☆☆
Aleeza is a new mother celebrating the life of her newborn daughter with her friends and family when the unthinkable happens: the child dies. As a Nigerian Muslim, her faith doesn't permit a mother to see the body of a deceased child, but she is swayed by her intuition and what she sees launches her into a search for answers.
This was one of the first books that I was approved for on NetGalley - and despite being published over a year ago (the date provided to me was slightly off), I endeavoured to read it and provide a review.
The cover of this book was the first thing that drew me in - and reading a bit more of the author, I wanted to include it in my TBR in order to diversify my shelves. This novel attacks a lot of big ticket items: relationship tension (between parents and partners), human rights issues, crisis of faith and taking risks to seek truth.
The premise of the book is absolutely heart-breaking and builds off of the real-world tragedy of Baby Factories. These factories and operations are found throughout the world, but "child-harvesting" typically occurs in third-world countries. Locations such as Nigeria and the Philippines are subject to these cruel practices, where children are bred/taken, trafficked and sold to developed countries. Teenagers are coerced to provide children in exchange for money in order to survive in under-developed societies. The author does a wonderful job of pulling this scenario into a developed country, but does well to carry the same sense of panic and fear throughout the realizations of the novel.
Secondary to these events, Baby Factory focuses largely on relationships. The first instance we see this is with Aleeza and her mother, where their relationship is strained and their point-of-views often differ. Her mother can be seen as an oppressor and controlling figure, constantly reminding Aleeza of the restrictions of their faith and continuing to discount Aleeza's fears and suspicions surrounding the death of her daughter. I found it easy to dislike Zahara, as many aspects of her character remind me of parts of my relationship with my own mother, but through the intense journey of grief this family undertakes, they are able to see eye-to-eye in the end.
The other important relationship is between Aleeza and Richard, her baby's father, albeit he doesn't know until the child is already gone. I do believe this was an vital truth in the novel, however, I did feel that the first part of the book dragged in the description and characterization of their coupling. At one point, Aleeza mentioned writing letters to Richard shortly after their break-up, and promptly moves through each letter in detail - this gave the first part of the novel a fractured approach with information that wasn't all-to important to the plot and drive of the narrative.
As Aleeza and her family/friends dig deeper into the disappearance of her child, they start entering the underbelly of investigative practices: spies and ultra-secret contracts. This provided a good amount of suspense and action, but I did feel that it was a bit unrealistic in the depiction.
I did find this to be a very quick and enjoyable read. I started and finished it in the span of an evening. If you do intend on reading it, please review the trigger warnings associated to the novel, including, but not limited to, the following: child death, child abduction, torture (some graphic), and gun violence.
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