I love Rivers Solomon and they write some of the best horror sci-fi fantasy novels out there. They know how to take a subject we know and take it in a whole different direction. This book was no different. The concept of a haunted house how been so over done that I didn't think there was anything new to add but Solomon proved me wrong. This was amazing! Just when I thought I was getting a handle on things and that it couldn't get worse Solomon pushes it just that much further. I don't want to say much more as it best to be surprised with this one but just know you are going to really enjoy this one.

Rivers Solomon can take all of my money. Period. This book is so much more than just a haunted house story. It has a depth that is so high—it's crazy. The book touches on so much, racism, segregation, the entire black experience—oh! it's so good. And, this review is coming from someone who does not read a lot of mystery/thriller. Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Publishers for the early copy of Model Home.

3.5⭐️

In a narrative woven with haunting lyrical prose, "Model Home" delves deep into the scars of childhood trauma. We follow Ezri and her siblings as they return to their childhood home following the horrifying deaths of their parents. The police rule it a murder-suicide, but Ezri suspects the house itself harbours sinister secrets. As the plot unfolds, Ezri and her siblings confront the dark past that haunts their family. This intense tale keeps readers on edge with the chilling grip of a home that never let go.

Many thanks to NetGalley, MCD, and Rivers Solomon for the opportunity to read and review "Model Home" prior to its publication date.

“How cruel that our parents, unexorcisable, go on inside of us. How cruel that we cannot disimbricate their ghosts from our being.”

I think this is one of those stories where the less you know the better so I’ll keep this review short and sweet.

When Ezri gets a text from her younger sister telling her that she needs to come home immediately—back to her parents’ Texas estate—she enters back in to a house of horrors that she hoped to never return to. This is literary horror at its finest. It provides an enticing, fresh new twist on the haunted house trope, using the house as a vehicle to explore deeply buried trauma.

Luscious, lyrical prose brings this intense, gritty story to life. Beautifully haunting, the dread and tension palpable—nothing ever feels quite right—it’s a highbrow, fever dream of a story that is guaranteed to knock readers off of their feet.

Meditations on racism, mental illness, complex familial relationships and generational trauma, and queerness—specifically transness and gender fluidity. I can’t recommend this book enough.

“It is me who haunts, me who is the ghost?”

Thank you Farrah, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review! Available 10/01/2024! Posted to Goodreads. *Quotes are pulled from an advanced reader copy and are subject to change prior to publication*

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Model Home.

I love scary stories, especially haunted house stories (who doesn't) so I was an eager beaver to read this.

But Model Home isn't a straight forward scary story. It's scary, but not in the horror, supernatural way.

It's a domestic drama filled with triggering content that include horrific abuse and violence and the vile things terrible humans do to each other.

I wasn't prepared for that since I was expecting horror, ghosts, even a demon or two would be preferable.

Also, I greatly disliked the way the author's writing style. It was very purple-y, full of metaphors and exaggerations.

I found this type of writing very distracting and difficult to read. That's why it took me so long to finish reading this.

I don't mind books with a social message or commentary but Model Home was too much.

I'm not the right reader for this.

this book is an interesting take on the haunted house story. i found the writing very hard to get into. i would maybe recommended this if you like unique writing.

There’s nothing I love more than a haunted house and generational trauma but be forewarned: this book is heavy. Please please check the trigger warnings before jumping in but the dive is worth it. I’m scared to say too much about the plot itself and give anything away but the pops of humor were an unexpected yet pleasant surprise, also I guess the only thing I’ll say since it’s not really important to the story is I too used to ice skate at the Galleria. I forgot all about that memory until I read it. Anyway this was my first Rivers Solomon book and it definitely lived up to the hype! I took one star off just because I don’t personally vibe with the stream of consciousness style of writing, in my opinion it’s difficult to follow. But just my opinion, of course!

Thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and MCD for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this would be more of a horror story but sadly it's not. I had high hopes for the book after the reviews but i found it lacking.

The description of this book hooked me - I love a good haunted-house novel. This book, however, missed the mark for me. It was more of a family drama with some 'haunted house' elements, but not the book I was expecting. While I appreciate the LGBTQ and anti-racism themes in the book, I felt like they overshadowed the book itself and it took forever to get through it as I really did not enjoy the read.

Model Home is a beautifully written novel about siblings dealing with the death of their parents. When their mom and dad are found dead from an apparent murder suicide, the siblings must come together to determine if the haunted house from their childhood was the true culprit.

I cannot stress enough how gorgeous the writing in this novel is. Rivers Solomon is a true master at weaving together unique and stand out sentences that pack a punch.

The only issue I have with this book is that the middle feels incredibly long, but the ending moves by too quickly. I would love to drag out the end and really learn more about the haunted house resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was brilliant! It kept me guessing all the way. Haunting and beautiful without being pretentious. Some dark themes, that were addressed so well.

Thank you to Net Galley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an advanced reader copy.

Listen, are we doing quotation marks, or no? I’m too stupid to keep switching back and forth. I understand it serves a purpose and it’s *artistic* but I just want to have a good time. I can’t have a good time without quotation marks :’(

I went back and forth deciding if I enjoyed this book or not. I feel like when it’s this much of a mental debate, I can’t give it five stars, so it’s a three star for me. I think this book will absolutely speak to some people, but the writing style wasn’t working for me personally. I found myself frequently confused.

It definitely had some pretty, poetical sentences (“Consider the Holocaust, how it could be so, how such a sad thing could be so—and yet, it is so. Genocide is to humankind like water, air.”). There are also some darkly humorous things which I chuckled at (“she’s going places. I’m going to die”). I can’t decide if I liked the prose. They gave a different vibe. The sentences were frequently succinct, which often feels juvenile to me. However, this book gave adult chaotic-neutral vibe in short sentences. I’ve never read anything like that. Absolutely unhinged experience being in that mind. This was definitely a new experience for this avid reader, so for that – well done on the author.

Here is a not necessarily comprehensive list of things I enjoyed: 1) the rep, I loved following a trans character, and that gender wasn’t used as a method of villainizing any characters (well, except from Mother, but she seemed super vile so…). That puts the bar pretty low; perhaps I need to read more books with trans representation. 2) 677. That house was creepy asf. How do you make a modern house in a subdivision creepy? This book succeeded. I wouldn’t set a single foot in that house. 3) Dude, that cover is so cool. Simplistic and ominous.

I feel like this review comes across as glowing; like it should be a five star. There are many very well-done things here, that I truly enjoyed. The reason this was three stars for me is because I feel like I missed something in these pages. I struggled to follow along and grasp what was happening.

This had me from the opening monologue. It's a gothic haunted house story, but the haunted house is a mid townhouse in a Dallas suburb with a shitty HOA, and the ghosts of childhood trauma vis a vis dominating parents, and maybe our main character a bit. Who can say? How this unfolds is absolutely amazing to watch, and there will be several points at which you will probably go "holy fucking shit" at what just went down. This leans heavier into the suspense of knowing there's something else in the dark hall with you, and trying to desperately ignore it. Pick this up when this comes out in October, it's absolutely a perfect fall read.

Gosh, this has to be the hardest review I've ever written. The reason is that there is so much to unpack, but I am also having problems processing the story, which largely follows Ezri's thoughts.

Right off the start, we found that Ezri was having some mental health issues. After a while we can understand that Ezri's problems can be traced back to Ezri's family home. Here, let me introduce you to the horror that's the Nightmare Mother:

'I haven't heard from my real mother in months, not since an email she sent last October asking to talk, but Nightmare Mother, Ghost Mother - always there in Mama's absence - texts me now. Children, the message reads, I miss your screams. Come play.'

And oh, there's something about a woman without a face, and sulphuric acid bathwater... *new fear unlocked*

Now be warned: while I rated this book highly, I don't think it is for everyone. This book is so hard for me to read. The story is meandering, switching back and forth in time. The lack of quotation marks for the dialogues made it worse. At times I find myself rather lost, and looking at a few other reviews for this book, that seemed to be the general consensus. However, rather than thinking of it as a weakness, I actually thought it was brilliant. Through this somewhat messy narration, we see the the chaos in Ezri's mind, and I can't help but to emphatize. After a while I thought, "No wonder Ezri needs a therapist!"

Ezri is an unreliable narrator, out of an inability to process the trauma and understand what happened. Ezri, Eve, and Emmanuelle just knew that things were off in the house, but could never fully explain the how's or the why's. During a game of hide-and-seek as a child, Ezri ended up in the attic, a feat that should not be possible given Ezri's height. Or how a boy who entered the house on a dare disappeared without a trace; Ezri's explanation that 'the house ate him good and proper' didn't help. Ezri was also deemed capable of performing disturbing deeds, such as writing a poem with ink made from the blood of a dead dog, and hence was often a convenient scapegoat.

If you read this book as just a horror story with a haunted house, it is frightening enough (disclaimer: I'm not the bravest person around so take this as a subjective evaluation of how scary it is). However, the true horror behind it is worse than the supernatural occurrences, in my opinion: this is a story of segregation, racism, of childhood trauma, sexual assault, gender identity, and pedophilia. Given all that, I might possibly prefer inexplicable slamming doors and unexplained wads of hair in the bathroom over the actual monsters in this story.

There is a twist towards the end of the book that explained so much, but also somehow made it more horrifying. Did I see that coming? Not at all; I was rather preoccupied with the missing child and the dead animals (oh, right, trigger warning: something tragic happened to a guinea pig. And fishes. Something about ants. Look, it's a lot, okay?).

I did find some subplots in this book to be rather unnecessary. Given that we are already saddled with a jumbled narration where we never once feel like we were standing on solid ground, the subplot of Ezri's daughter, Elijah, and her 'friend' felt a little too much. I kind of understood that there was a correlation between what happened in the past and what is happening to Elijah, but by that point I was just tired. There were also moments in the story that felt stagnant; no one knew where to go or what to do, and so they just sort of hung around grating on each other's nerves, which got draggy.

I have only read one other Rivers Solomon book, 'The Deep', which left a lasting impact on me. This book will join its counterpart in the bookshelf of my heart, for I am certain I will keep thinking about the woman without a face for a long time. *whimpers*

Thank you @netgalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giraud for the ARC!

#bookstagram #bookreview #bibliophile #booklover #bookaholic #bookaddict #reading #readinggoals #netgalley

Model Home by Rivers Solomon is a really clever, thoughtful rework of the haunted house genre. Solomon holds us at arms length the entire book, letting the slow burn haunt of the home make readers question just exactly what is going on. The novel doesn’t even take place in the house, which is a unique choice - much of the haunting is done through flashbacks and current processing of the main characters.

I think this is a book for people who enjoy slower, contemporary horror. The writing is really beautiful, carving out the clear trauma main character Ezri has lived through. As a reader, we don’t quite know what the trauma stems from or how Ezri has become the person they are in the present day. Solomon asks you to trust that they can take you on this journey, and that the story will bring you to the side of understanding. They do not overindulge or over inform; I really respect an author who can maintain that balance of leaving readers confused while also still moving the plot forward in a way that will eventually make sense.

While there are some tangential parts of the book that I think could have been edited down, I think the content itself is brilliant and unique. It’s hard to talk too much about the plot without giving things away; this is one best experienced blindly, although if you are sensitive I’d recommend checking trigger warnings.

I am grateful to have read an eARC, and excited to purchase a physical copy once it comes out! Solomon is absolutely someone to watch. Also, a major shout out for their authors note, where they remark on how pointless things feel given the current state of the world, specifically commenting on the need for a freed Palestine. I am grateful they finished this book, but also grateful to know this is an author not afraid to speak truths about the world.

I struggled with the writing style in this one and unfortunately ended up not finishing it. I think the themes are important, always timely and there’s masterful creativity here, I just don’t think I’m the right audience. I am pretty confident it will hit home for a lot of other readers. Thank you for the arc.

I am a fan of Rivers Solomon and have enjoyed their previous works, which made me excited to read Model Home. Solomon's writing style is, as always, impeccable despite a few grammatical errors. However, while I thought the book is marketed as horror, it felt more like a deep dive into family drama and the personal demons of the MC. The plot meandered with too many twists and turns, ultimately losing focus. As a result, it didn't quite meet my expectations. I rate this arc 3/5 stars.

4.25 stars

Thank you to Farrar, Straus, & Giroux + NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Mother forgot her own advice. She’d told me that white supremacy operates under a logic in which everything whiteness does can be rationalized as good, and everything Blackness does can be rationalized as preternaturally evil.”

“Against the house, I am nothing. I drag the flat palm of my hand along the doorframe. The rigid bumps of texture give the impression of bone. The glassy silk—slightly sticky with age—of the finish reminds me of veneer. I put my hand on the knob. Cool. A tiny skull.”

“The only easy intimacy I’ve ever had in this life is with my sisters. Only when I’m touching them can I convince myself my hands are not blades.”

The Maxwell Washingtons, a Black family from Brooklyn, move into a large home in Texas, surrounded on all sides by white, rich neighbors in their HOA neighborhood. They are an unwelcome addition and the neighbors make it known continuously. All 3 siblings, Ezri, Eve, and Emanuelle, have been estranged for sometime from their parents due to being traumatized from their home and their childhoods before finding their parents dead in the backyard.

Ezri is nonbinary, autistic Black person with diabetes and there are moments of inner dialogue where Ezri discusses all of these aspects about themselves. Elijah is also autistic + diabetic, and both of them actively check and monitor their insulin throughout the book. I really appreciated seeing this amount of representation in a book. There are also plenty of moments where Ezri’s sisters correct others of Ezri’s pronouns and calling them a siblings instead of sister/brother. I also loved moments where other family members where aware of insulin levels dropping and helping to take care of Ezri in those moments.

This story was so brilliantly haunting, strange, and engrossing. Through the prose and plot, I was trying to figure out how the story would end up until they entered the house for the last time.

There is such a blunt obviousness to what occurred at 677, but Solomon continues to keep the reader guessing due to Ezri being somewhat of an unreliable narrator—not trusting their own mind and thoughts to be true. Solomon does an incredible job of using every single word on every single page to consume you into feeling just as suffocated, terrified, and confused as Ezri feels. There are constant themes of racism, white supremacy, and intergenerational trauma at play and their affects on the entire family.

Finding out the truth was like slowly unraveling everything Ezri knew to be true, to keep them sane enough to stay alive and take care of themselves and Elijah, their daughter. I am now appreciating the ending a bit more as I am reflecting on it. I won’t say spoilers. But the way that it ends, in a way, is full circle moment from how their parents handled the realization of their past and how Ezri is choosing to continue on in a very similar situation.

This book deals with some heavy topics, and it should be read with care.

CW: racism, homophobia, transphobia, pedophilia, sexual content, death/death of a parent, mental illness, grooming, sexual abuse, violence

BRILLIANT. A haunting and well-written story, with vibes of Them (the TV series) mixed with Kiersten White. I would recommend that readers start with a different Rivers Solomon work first, as I recognize the writing style is not for every reader.

Original story, but the writing was just too purple for me at times, almost to the point of being corny. I would still recommend this to horror fans if they are looking for something different than the usual stuff.