A review by dustghosts
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Sorrowland had a little bit of everything that I wanted from the other horror books I read this past October. Visceral and mysterious body horror intertwined with a really compelling and (unfortunately) timeless, unflinching look at the mycelium of systemic racism (colonialism, human experimentation, systemic poverty and the lengths it might drive someone to, religious bigotry, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia and interphobia— etcetera). I think this should be a must-read for people who lean too heavily on “blaming the system” while turning away from personal responsibility for the way that participation in those systems hurts people specifically. Vern is a complicated protagonist with mostly uncomplicated motives— and she compelled me more than anything else about this book. The supernatural “twist” to the story doesn’t soften the issues at hand, but underlines it. At times, it this read a bit too blunt/heavy-handed for me— but by and large this felt like a purposeful narrative choice, so it’s splitting hairs. The horror and the sorrow and the misery of it all is balanced, all the way through, by a thread of tender togetherness that I think will stay with me for a long time.
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