Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

34 reviews

clare072's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Gore, Chronic illness, and Body horror

Minor: Confinement, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Colonisation, and Child death

kanj1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Gore, Child abuse, Violence, Sexism, Racism, Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, Grief, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Confinement

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Alcohol, Confinement, Hate crime, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have never read a book like this. I have been wanting to get into more eerie books and this totally scratched that itch for me. If you are a fan of spooky but not horror this is definitely for you. There is a lot of gore and body horror stuff that left me thoroughly unsettled. It reminded me of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. The whole story was dark and brooding with little flecks of hope and the writing made the characters and setting come to life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Pregnancy, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Violence, Addiction, Colonisation, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Abandonment, Suicide, Racism, Police brutality, Infertility, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Racial slurs

mixtercharlie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a wonderful book that I would encourage everyone to read in small parts. It deserves to be enjoyed slowly. There is violence but the violence is paramount to the story, even when it’s visceral and upsetting. A book I could read again and again and always take away something new. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Ableism, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, Genocide, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Self harm

lpdx's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Confinement, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cancer and Medical content

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

absolutely brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Confinement, Fatphobia, Grief, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Addiction, Rape, Animal death, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Domestic abuse

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was a very raw, very honest book that absolutley did not shy away from tough topics. I loved the characters. The first 3/4 were amazing, but unfortunately the last quarter of the book went in a direction that was much less of my thing and I enjoyed it a lot less. Overall though, very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Excrement, Racial slurs, and Slavery

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is nothing like I expected. The beginning was a little slow but once the plot took off it was very fast paced. The ending was so good. This is a movie worthy kind of story. It is really fun, action packed and full of twists. 

The characters do feel a little flat though. They aren’t fleshed out totally and the main character makes some choices that felt a little out of character. It isn’t enough that you are totally taken out of the story but it does make you pause a second. 

Overall it is a really good book, and you won’t go wrong reading it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

martinatan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

An incredibly crafted modern gothic story. This blended important topics and radical themes that I have been captivated by for a long time, and to see them captured in a blend of the gothic, speculative fiction, and Afrofuturist genres is absolutely breathtaking. The exploration of queer love and flawed family is a powerful throughline that really shines in a world where the protagonist could easily give in to the sheer despair of a heartless culture.

Some works of media that I felt this story lives in kinship with:
- Beloved by Toni Morrison, for its part-tender, part-visceral prose and handling of generational trauma and haunting
- The art of Firelei Baez and Wangechi Mutu, for their beautiful blend of human and inhuman, exploring symbiotic and antagonistic relationships between humans and the natural world
- Jordan Peele’s film Nope, in that it provides a uniquely Black perspective on the American attraction to spectacle and exploitation, and for the horror/sci-fi elements
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, for themes of hindsight and memory of an institution after you’ve escaped it

Of course, this is not to say that Sorrowland borrows too much from other works—on the contrary, it is a masterpiece of its own that will make you think differently not just about our country’s history of medical exploitation of Black people, but also the boundaries between different genres, the capabilities of the body under immense pressure, and our relationship to nature and society.

I would be so excited to analyze this book in a university setting and I hope it can be regarded as a rich and provocative text for a variety of disciplines: Race and Colonialism Studies, Gender and Sexuality, History, Creative Fiction, etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Stalking, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Confinement, and Gun violence