Ezri and their two sisters grew up in a haunted house, a cursed house, a house that believed they didn't belong there and was sure to make that fact known. Now, a couple decades later, the siblings must reunite in the wake of their parents' suspicious deaths that the house surely caused. Meanwhile, tensions brew between siblings, Ezri struggles with a lot of mental health issues, their young daughter deals with her own set of issues. This novel is rife with generational trauma, the effects of racism, so many things that honestly, this book is really hard to summarize but I can say it's super horrifying and you should definitely read it.
The mix of flashbacks, Elijah's perspective, and Ezri's own semi-unreliable narration makes this occasionally hard to follow, but in a good way. A way that leaves you unsettled as the siblings are. The horror is palpable. The number of times I felt just terror was nearly too many, but it was so satisfying. This book was also heartbreaking. The relationship between siblings and parents and just the mess? A little too relatable, very well-written. Solomon's writing is really incredible, vivid and fantastic and anyways I loved it.

Rivers Solomon’s Model Home is a haunting, thought-provoking, and daring exploration of the legacy of racism, trauma, and family dynamics. A twist on the traditional haunted-house novel, Solomon turns the genre on its head, blending elements of horror with sharp social commentary.

The story follows the Maxwell siblings—Ezri, Eve, and Emanuelle—who grew up as the only Black family in a lily-white gated neighborhood outside Dallas. Their childhood home was a place of unsettling, unexplainable events, with terror and trauma lurking behind its walls. As adults, they each escaped, but the death of their parents brings them back to confront the horrors they left behind.

Through Solomon’s evocative writing, the house itself becomes a symbol of the ghosts of segregation and the weight of a painful history. The novel doesn’t shy away from exploring the trauma passed down through generations, the insidious nature of racial injustice, and the haunting effects of trying to assimilate into a system that has always marginalized you.

Model Home is an unflinching and raw narrative, driven by its deeply compelling characters, who struggle to navigate their grief, identity, and the legacies of their past. It’s a chilling and emotional journey, as the Maxwells face not just their family’s dark secrets, but also the supernatural forces tied to their history.

Solomon's narrative is daring, raw, and unapologetically bold, offering a fresh and unsettling look at what it means to fight for your place in a world that has never fully accepted you. It’s a powerful and unforgettable read that blends horror with hard-hitting social critique, making it a unique and compelling addition to the genre.

This book was incredibly creepy and had a bleak tone and setting from beginning to end. I was interested in the story the whole time, but I felt like I wasn't given the opportunity to really know and care about the siblings. I enjoyed the writing style and setting of the book (but I did expect more of a haunted house vibe to the story), but at times I struggled to really feel grounded in the story. I think this book can be a hit or miss for people and is definitely worth checking out.

‘Mother is God, and we are here.’

This novel unfolds in such a dreadfully lyrical way that has you questioning everything you’re reading all the way through. The story revolves around the Maxwell siblings, primarily Ezri, as they are forced to confront the harsh realities of their childhood & home. Some of these areas included abuse, both physically and emotionally, mental health trauma, rape, and racism. While incredibly bleak, I am a sucker for dysfunctional families drama and anything that has me questioning which character is worse. Creeping up on the ending and that final twist had my jaw on the floor. I can confidently say, that that was one of the more disturbing twists I’ve read in a while.
This was one of my more anticipated reads of this fall and it did not disappoint. Thank you very much to MCD x FSG publishing for my gifted copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Model Home was my favorite book of 2024. Beautiful writing, characters so well developed I wanted to hug them. Will read more from them for sure.

This was a beautifully written novel that drew me completely in. It is classified as a horror novel, specifically a haunted house trope, but it is not your typical one. Model Home tells the story of the Maxwell sisters returning to their childhood home after their parents tragically die. Their home is in a predominantly white, gated suburban area outside of Dallas. The main character, Ezri, remembers it as a house of horrors, enduring frightening and downright creepy episodes while growing up there. Ezri is also dealing with gender dysphoria and raising a teenager as a single parent. The true horror of this book is the cruelty that people inflict upon each other consistently and without reason. Rivers Solomon is a phenomenal writer and I will be reading more by them.

I'll start by saying the Sorrowland is one of my favorite books of all time, and I also really love The Deep (though I know that is not just Solomon's work). And because I'm a fan of horror, Model Home was one of my most anticipated books of the year.

I started the audiobook and had to pause about 20% in because I was desperate to annotate a physical copy of it. The writing is simply sublime. That pause ended up lasting a couple of months, because it took me a while to be in the headspace again to dive into a dark story about the things that haunt us.

Model Home is creepy, unsettling, devastating. It is also somewhat predictable and a bit heavy-handed. My mental health is grateful for that pause I took, but I am not sure if I would have enjoyed this more or less if I had just kept going the first time I picked it up, because I do think that the pause is part of what made it so predictable to me. And because I had a sense of where we might be going, some of the tension dissipated and part of me was simply eager to get to the end.

I can absolutely see why this book doesn't work for a lot of people, and I can also see why many have it as one of their favorites of the year. I seem to have had both of those sides warring within me, so I get it!

It's also hard to recommend this book without spoiling it, which is a bummer. Absolutely seek out content warnings for this one, and I'll go ahead and call out sexual assault of a minor as a big one.

I have sat with my thoughts on this book for a couple of weeks now, and I think time is making me appreciate this more than I did when I first finished. I was probably at a 3 or 3.5 when I finished, but between the writing, the general eeriness, and the way this book is still swirling around in my head, I am firmly at a 4 now. A re-read might bump that up or back down.

This was a heart-wrencher of a book. I found the characters to be engaging and the plot to be interesting enough to keep my attention all the way through. More than anything, I know this was a book worth reading because I'm still thinking about it months later.

What constitutes a haunting. You go into this book expecting one thing but getting a completely different one. Sometimes we are haunted by our choices or the choices of others.

I have only missed one of Rivers Solomon’s books so far, and that one’s on my tbr too. When the Maxwells moved into the gated community outside of Dallas, they were the only black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors were nice enough at first, but then disturbing things started happening in the house. The 3 children thought the house was haunted. Years later, they must return to the house after the death of their parents. They think it was the house that killed them, but they’ll have to face up to the trauma of their past and uncover the mysteries they blamed on ghosts.

Buckle up! This one’s intense. Like Solomon’s other books, it deals with generational trauma, has great characterization and relationships, and has plenty of mysteries to uncover.

Rivers Solomon's Model Home is a haunting exploration of family, identity, and the lingering shadows of the past. The novel follows Ezri Maxwell, a nonbinary individual who returns to their childhood home in a predominantly white Dallas suburb after the mysterious deaths of their parents. As Ezri and their siblings confront the eerie occurrences that plagued their upbringing, Solomon masterfully intertwines elements of horror with poignant social commentary on race and class. The narrative delves deep into the complexities of familial bonds and personal trauma, making Model Home a compelling read for those who appreciate thought-provoking and atmospheric storytelling.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I love a good haunted house story, but I will say this one is a lot deeper than the typical haunted house story. It's definitely literary horror, but subtle literary horror (if the word "horror" scares you because you think of blood and gore and jump scares, don't worry; that's not here).

I think this one is the kind of book you should go into blindly, so I don't want to spoil too much about the plot. I'll just say it's about siblings returning to their childhood home upon the death of their parents. They grew up as a Black family in a predominantly white neighborhood and throughout the book, we get lots of flashbacks to their childhood.

This is also the kind of book I think I would have enjoyed better in physical form. The writing is really beautiful and there's an eeriness to it that just wasn't captured on audio for me (no fault of the narrator; more my fault due to how I am as an audiobook listener). I do want to check out more books from Rivers Solomon as this was my first!

Model Home was a refreshing take on haunted house stories and I appreciated its originality. I found myself loosing interest in certain parts of the book but it finished strong. Model Home was my first Rivers Solomon book and I plan to read more of their work!

MODEL HOME is an easy five star for me. Rivers Solomon is always so impressive in their writing, and I loved the dynamics of parenthood and siblinghood that were discussed in this book.

Actual Rating 3.5

TW: Pedophilia, Abuse, Graphic Sex Scene

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this one. It certainly isn’t your typical horror but was certainly horrific, with an emphasis on psychological horror. The author’s writing contributed much to the darkness of this read – they didn’t hold back from writing aggressively, yet still lyrically and at times horrendous. It was an odd combination that worked really well for this book.

Similarly, the author doesn’t shy away from dark topics, some of which were difficult to read about (check TW). The characters are all messed up in their own ways, which added to the heaviness of this read. The incorporation of childhood and repressed traumas added much to the characters and the book as a whole. I really liked the relationship between the siblings and how well the author highlighted the complexity of those relationships.

If you’re interested in a dark, psychological horror that explores themes of race, identity, gender, childhood trauma, guilt, family, and more, then you’ve come to the right place. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Wow. This book was *a lot*. It's the first I've read from Rivers Solomon and while I don't know that I would jump right into another of their books, I will definitely be open to reading more from them.

This is the story of a family who have drifted apart over the years, especially Ezri, who has moved to another country, after they grew up in a haunted house in an affluent suburb of Dallas, TX. They all return home when they are having trouble getting in touch with their parents, who still live in the haunted house.

This is a really dark book, and I strongly encourage folks to check the CWs, because even for myself, who is not easily triggered, it was a lot.

Somewhat similar to how Chuck Tingle writes horror, in that homophobia and a homophobic society are the horror, in Model Home the real events and racism of the Maxwell family's past are the horror. The book does an excellent job of revealing just enough as the story goes along to keep you guessing right up until the end.

I'll be honest, after reading Rivers Solomon's other book, The Deep, I did not expect this to be so dark and honestly kind of frightening. It did have a really good message and the storytelling was phenomenal all the same.

I am so glad I received and audio arc of Model Home because it really felt like it took the creepier elements of the story to the next level!

3.5 stars rounded to 3! I will start this by saying I am a SUCKER for haunted house novels. Anything haunted house related, sign me up. Add in LGBTQ representation and we have a winning combo. The writing in this is what sort of threw me for a loop. In some moments, I adored the way the story unfolded and at others I was a little thrown off. I do think that that is more a fault of my own and not the authors, however. Overall, this was a wildly different take on the haunted house trope and the ending was wild!

Quick blurb from publisher: Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life.

Thanks netgalley for the ARC/ALC!

This one wasn’t for me but this author is a talent. I will still recommend their work without hesitation.

So, I really liked some of this: the "woman without a face" imagery, the horror of a black family moving into a white neighborhood, the trauma of being in abusive household, and, also, just the relationships between the siblings. But ultimately, this book was not for me. I had a hard time following it sometimes because it jumped around so much, and because the narrator went on several long rants. My ADHD does not take kindly to getting side tracked like that. Also, honestly, I hated the ending. The reveals changed the story from ruminations on interesting topics to a ridiculous thriller, in my opinion. Also, some of this just made me uncomfortable, but that's definitely a me-problem. There are some storylines that I don't like reading about and this had one of them.

No complaints about the narrator though. They did a good job with the material.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.