Vern flees into the woods to escape the cult she grew up in, heavily pregnant. As she and her babies scrape out a living in the forest, they are pursued by a hellish fiend and the hauntings, visions that afflict her and everyone else belonging to the cult. Her body begins to change, becoming something more, something stronger and faster. When she and her children are forced from the safety of the trees, Vern must reckon with her upbringing and return to the place where it all began.

This excellent Gothic horror novel set in the present day United States features well-drawn characters and a mostly LGBTQ+ and BIPOC cast. Solomon deftly explores themes of identity, transformation of self, human intimacy, and grappling with generational trauma. A salient and incisive addition to the horror genre, this book is a deep meditation on the lasting effects of white supremacy and systemic racism.

For fans of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Changeling by Victor Lavalle, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Kindred by Octavia Butler.

Look for Sorrowland on May 4, 2021.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Some of the characters were unbelievable, but overall, a thrilling adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed this story for its unpredictable story and the unique view of life in America.

I think the title made me think the novel would be more about sorrow and grief, which the book definitely covers, but as the novel progresses, and our main character, 15-year-old Vern, a black albino, discovers she has superhuman strengths, the novel turns much darker. The novel begins with Vern pregnant with twins, escaping the religious compound where she was raised, and tortured physically, sexually, and emotionally, so she hides in a forest where she is hunted by spirits and demons, real or not, that she brutally eliminates, mainly keeping her young twins safe. In the beginning, the pace was slower, and we watched Vern leave behind her twins sleeping soundly while she pursued romance with Ollie, a woman she met out in the woods whose cabin wasn't too far from where Vern was hiding, and as she spends more time with Ollie, she realizes she's one of the evil people hunting her down, and then the pace of the novel picks up dramatically, and at times the prose weakens as Vern's supernatural strengths increase, and I felt a bit more disconnected with the parts I enjoyed more that involved learning about the Lakota women who rescue her, the systematic racism that her religious compound was trying to free them from, and the raising of her two young sons on her own. I get the feeling this novel will not only be read by many, but may be one of those novels that become a film.

I'm regrettably DNFing this one, even though I loved the writing style. I found myself confused more often than not, though Vern is feeling that way as well. I think that my expectations for this book were that it would be more thriller and less horror and so at 50% of the way through, I'm setting it down.

I enjoyed The Deep and was expecting Sorrowland to be similar in its tone and shape. Sorrowland, however, was far darker than I had anticipated it would be. It tackles huge issues, including systemic racism, homophobia, religious cults, domestic violence, rape, and more, and doesn't provide many answers (or at least any satisfactory ones). Ultimately I found it to be well-written and well-structured; but I didn't like it, if that makes sense. Certainly it was worth reading as a follow-up to The Deep. I do plan to pick up Solomon's next work whenever it is available.

I will be very surprised if this isn’t one of the most popular releases this year, I can see this being buzzed about 100%. A true genre mashup that really succeeds in what it is doing.

Rivers Solomon can tell a story and make it feel so real and tangible to the reader. I felt like I was in the woods surviving with these characters, felt like I was running with these characters to an unknown future.

This story is absolutely stunning — with so many threads and themes to be analyzed. I love Vern and her babes so so much, I did not want the book to end and can see myself coming back to this story to spend time with them. This takes its place as my 1st favorite of the year, soooooo good!!

Thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow - Just Wow!

While it's not fair to compare, I was a bit concerned because while I loved An Unkindness of Ghosts, I really wasn't a fan of The Deep - even though it had a great premise and execution. So I was truly hoping this novel would meet or exceed my expectations because my interest was again piqued by the synopsis and my appreciation of the author's writing style and storytelling ability.

I wasn't disappointed - Solomon's story takes us to a world that eerily mimics our own with an eye for its natural beauty and its human shortcomings. This is a fantastical tale rooted in reality borrowing from humanity's shameful past with non-consensual medical experimentation, segregation, and an examination of the influence and abuse of a socio-political-nationalist-religious cult. There are also subtle challenges to conventional thoughts on gender and sexuality; exploring aspects of Native American cultural beliefs surrounding the topics. A personal favorite touch were the homages to Baldwin, Hughes, Le Guin and other literary greats.

At its core is a young mother who escapes from a guarded compound into the surrounding forest to birth and raise her children. We witness her struggle with past/generational traumas (her own and others) via recurring hallucinations that are breathtakingly real. She also struggles with an unknown debilitating physical transformation amid a fight for survival from a beast who is both hunting and haunting her. The journey and resolution regarding her quest for answers surrounding the cult, its leaders, her friends, and family was truly a page-turning experience.

Vern escaped a cult-like commune, yet sinister circumstances continued to surround her. It took me a while to understand what was happening. Once I did, the story was horrifying in a way that I couldn't stop reading. At times, especially at the end, it was a bit too gory for my liking. Still, the writing was sensorial and enthralling.

Holy goddamn fuck, Rivers Solomon. Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC! Five out of five stars, absolutely.

I have only read faer's The Deep before, so while I thought I was somewhat ready to understand that I would be having a total Experience that I was not ready for. Technically, that was correct, but I had massively underestimate the journey I'd be reading in on.

This was a masterwork of a story. Vern is determined, moving through whatever she can, though she's been faced through such hardship. She starts at fifteen and heavily pregnant, running through the woods away from her husband and Cainland, She's young, young in a way that she seemingly forgets throughout much of the book-- she's fifteen only, sixteen, and so on. While Vern looks past her age to take care of her children, to do what must be done, her age is never forgotten in smaller asides and moments-- it hasn't been that much time since she was married off, since she was young and playing with her friend Lucy, who she seeks out.

Vern gains both allies and enemies, one of which floors me because she was there all along! The reveal was agonizing, and the character is so much set up against another, who made so many different choices. Vern's allies, on the other hand are fantastic as well. Invaluable and spectacular, they're vivid characters who are not to be missed.

Solomon's style of writing is incredible, blunt and descriptive and cutting. It strikes hard, burrowing deep, and catching the mind, forcing it to stay. It truly helps the flow of the story, in different tenses, in time-skips, in emotions and in pain, and even in body horror/squick. Horror is not downplayed, simply there and present, caught in Solomon's fantastic prose. This book will certainly stay in my mind for ages!

3.5 stars. This was unlike anything I've ever read. It's hard to describe, but I'll try my best.

Vern is a pregnant fifteen year old, running away from the religious cult she grew up in. She gives birth to twins and hides in the woods as she navigates motherhood and the trauma from her experiences. As she raises her children in the wild, she starts to notice changes, where she starts to become.... something else.
There's three parts to the story. The first part is gripping, the second part slows down a bit and even loses itself a tad before amping back up the excitement, and then third part is the conclusion that I found to only be just okay. I loved Vern's spirit, her search for identity. But the pacing was a real struggle for me.
However, it does touch upon many important topics, it's imaginative, and the story itself is fascinating, and for that I recommend it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This isn't a story but an experience! It is hard to describe how everything happening in this story is as realistic as it is magical. You would not expect things to be both old woman's tale and a non-fiction. Yet Rivers Solomon manages to give you a story of a government funded, totally racist, abusive. cult-like looking social and biological experiment within an area X style personal story of a mother.

Vern escaped from her cult like religious community right before she gave a birth. She thought that just like her dear friend she could find a life outside this place where she was an odd one out with her albinism. She wouldn't fit into the normal world because she was black, but she definitely did not fit into this community because her skin. As she spent more and more time in the woods where she learnt to fend for herself and her babies, she started to acknowledge that she should leave the woods and all of the hauntings happening in there to give a better life for her children. While she was making preparations, she started to see some changes on her body that she could not really understand. And boy.... you gotta read about those changes. Eventually she found a way to get her children out and reach Auntie that her best was talking about. This was supposed to be joyous moment for her, but what came next reshaped her whole existence

This has a lot of triggers in it: police rape, brutality, human experimenting, child abuse, racial profiling, abuse under the name of religion. government related conspiracy theories, homophobia, brainwashing and many many more... It's truly amazing that Solomon put all these piece together in a way that we ended up with a dashing story of a single young mother fighting for her babies and her family.

If you liked Annihilation for the sci-fi aspects of it, Sorrowland will appeal to you. And obviously if you like to read books on race, you'll definitely love this

Sorrowland is such a unique book. I have read Rivers Solomons's "The Deep" and loved its eerie fantastical horror that doesn't distract from the message of the story. Sorrowland has the same essence.

Sorrowland is the story of Vern, a young pregnant girl who escapes from a cult living in the 'Blessed acres of Cainland' made up of Black people. She has to learn to survive alone in the wild woods whilst hiding from her abusive husband and cult leader's machinations, mysterious hauntings, as well the trials of motherhood. Besides her rebellious spirit, her stubbornness, and her albinism that set her apart from the rest of the colony, she also discovers that her body is unique as well undergoing a strange metamorphosis and that there's more to Cainland than just the cult.

The book has three parts. The first completely draws you in with its gorgeous and atmospheric writing of Vern struggling yet surviving. The second get muddled sometimes but it reflects Vern's own hunt for truth and identity. The third was pretty straightforward and mostly predictable but presents a strong social and political message.

Without giving away too much of the plot Sorrowland echoes the era when desperate black people were gaslighted and manipulated and how their bodies were abused for the sake of science. The tales of so-called ' Night Doctors', scientists protected by the government that stole black bodies in the dead of night. Sometimes just in plain daylight. It's also scary how well cult indoctrination is shown in the book. People in power using fear, religion, politics, etc to subdue their victims.

The plot, in my opinion, could've been tighter but it is still a thrilling and emotional rollercoaster. There were tiny plot holes that irked me but in the grand scheme of things seemed dismissable. Like months old children living for days alone in the wild. Scientific liberties like characters using a defibrillator to restart hearts that have stopped hours to days ago. There are excuses if you look hard enough though. The prose starts off beautiful and complicated but simplifies towards the end. Solomon's own strong voice and commentary on racism, gender, misogyny, and transphobia bleed through as the story progresses.

This was super good. I liked the first half a lot more than the second half. It read almost like a fairytale/folk horror kind of thing when they were in the woods running from an unknown monster, and I think it lost something when it got to a more contemporary setting. In fact, the second half actually kind of dragged a bit and felt a little repetitive in parts. It was still a good book, though. It just could have maybe been trimmed a bit more to get it tighter.

Rivers Solomon has an incredible mind when it comes to storytelling, and Sorrowland only reinforces this. At once, this novel is a social and political commentary, a tale of finding love, a story of family, and a story of survival - generational and individual. As is the case with each novel consumed that is written by Solomon, the characters and their interactions are what make the narrative come to life so completely. Vern isn't always likeable, but she is certainly always real, as is the progress of her transformations. Absolutely a new must-read.

3.5 stars (coming out May 4, 2021!!!)

**ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.**
#Sorrowland #NetGalley

Pros: strong, disabled (eyesight difficulty, chronic pain), albino Black MC, gender diverse rep (Lakota winkte/two-spirit & not labeling children), a novel which opens with pregnancy, birth, and motherhood yet has no yucky instances of male-gaze, 2 queer relationship dynamics (she/her + she/her & she/her + Lakota winkte), exploration of systematic abuse and trauma of Black peoples and bodies throughout US history, modern Gothic & cult vibes, AMAZING body horror & transformation (I loved this element so much), Black non-binary author

Cons: pacing problems (super intense action/plot progression scenes were bracketed by sluggish info-dumping which was so unfortunate!!!), loss of strong plot development for the sake of delivering messages, overt info dumping in the form of inter-generational memories (which IS a cool delivery method, but it is STILL info-dumping), rushed and anti-climactic ending

Similar vibes: The Future of the Living God (Louise Erdrich) & Wilder Girls (Rory Power) & Mexican Gothic (Silvia Morena-Garcia)

TW: [basically all of them...] racism, homophobia, human experimentation, hauntings, drugging, being tied down to sleep, murder, drug use, torture, animal killings, body horror, trading sex for transportation, shock control, child marriage, gaslighting, mental and physical abuse by parent figures, religious extremism, self-harm, mass murder, lynchings, drowned children, child abandonment

Picture this: A class on reimaginings of the gothic novel, featuring Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon and Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia! I am so ready for this. Sorrowland, like Solomon's award-winning debut Unkindness of Ghosts, is beautifully written and haunting.

I’m judging a 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

“Viscous cries gurgled up from his throat but died quickly on the bed of Vern’s skin. Her flesh was his hovel, and he was coming to a quick peace with it.”

“His threats had become increasingly pointed of late: a gutted deer with its dead fawn fetus curled beside; a skinned raccoon staked to a trunk, body clothed in an infant’s sleepsuit; and everywhere, everywhere, cottontails hung from trees, necks in nooses and feet clad in baby booties.”

Gah. The prose. Incredible.

This book blew me away!!! I loved how Rivers Solomon is so intentional with her social commentary regarding beauty, race, power, the abuse of black bodies, gender/social norms.
Vern's character is all of us looking to find our way and define our own identity and determine our own destinies.. And choose to flip off whomever doesn't agree or doesn't understand. The characterization in this book is stunning. Both the protagonists and villain(s) are physical and literal and morally gray. The author makes us examine how hard choices have to be made sometimes at the expense of causing pain. I love how change/growth/metamorphosis is interpreted through a very complex character development.
The book (while set in current time) read like historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and even suspense/horror/thriller! So yes the description of being "genre-bending" is a very appropriate description.
Bravo Rivers Solomon!! You have gained another fan!

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for a honest review!

I've heard nothing but amazing things about Rivers Solomon, and I've been wanting to read one of their pieces for a while. Sorrowland exceeded my high expectations - what an amazing, weird book!

Atmospheric from the very first page, this story first leaves the reader with more questions than he could possibly hope to answer. Since almost the entirety of the book is written from the POV of Vern, her preconceived notions and state of mind cloud the narrative, making me question what was real and what was a figment of her imagination for a long time. When the story finally unravels - and boy, it does - it's so very satisfying and fascinating.

The commentary on the treatment of Black people in modern-day America, the abuse of religion to justify racism in the past, on gender norms and on corruption were absolutely mind-blowing. I'll definitely pick up more of Solomon's work in the future, the bizarre concepts paired with brilliant social commentary really left their mark on me.

thanks, Netgalley, for giving me this free eARC in exchange for a review!

I enjoyed this book a lot, in a similar manner to how I enjoyed "An Unkindness of Ghosts." It's very heavy, seems very personal, dealing with issues about like alienation and nature and motherhood. It starts out with Vern, who's escaped from a religious cult, and who's in the middle of childbirth while being actively pursued by people who want to forcefully return her to the cult's land. In general I really liked this book both the events and themes-- there's elements in there about reaching out to people but keeping them at arm's length, about being hurt, and then at the end about finally finding a community that understands you and treats you right. it's very, i mean, sorrowful but touching.

thought this had a lot of elements of "An Unkindness" but in a different way, which at the very beginning, I worried would be a little repetitive but after only a chapter or two I understood to be fairly different. The character of Lucy reminded me a lot of Giselle in "Unkindness," in that she's the only friend that the main character has ever had and she's outspoken and more brash in comparison-- but her role in the story is very different than Giselle, and while Vern is still like the outcast in comparison to her outcast group, she's a different character than Aster in a lot ways-- I think most relevantly because she spends such a large part of the group absent the type of community that Aster has.

i thought Sorrowland did a really good title/name drop at like, whatever it was, 65% through the book, talking about specifically America as being full of the hurts of all the people who suffered in it, but that they could fight back and make it their own (for the first time / again). maybe that's the thesis of the book that I've just rephrased but I liked it.

uh basically- recommend! Thought this was a very good addition to the rivers solomon canon and if you liked faer other books you'll probs like this one