Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

56 reviews

maksipad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

This book was incredible. Gruesome in exactly the way it was intended. I will be thinking about Solomon’s commentary on community, queerness, and the violent legacy of whiteness for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Stalking, Racism, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide, Addiction, Child death, Murder, Body horror, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Slavery

strawberrytheauthor's review

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

lpdx's review

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

greydaze's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It was really great to see an intersex character and the conversations around gender in general were really gorgeous in this book. I thought the characters were vividly drawn and this was an original story.

Things I would have liked: a little more development about the fungus/Cainland origins

Would have loved more scenes with Carmichael 

This book really focussed in on some relationships and I found the romance with Gogo to be complex and lovely but it did mean that Bridget, Howling and Feral faded into the background a lil. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

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

sshabein's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

I saw a short review of this book on some list or another and immediately added it to my library holds. I'm so glad I did! What an unusual, expansive, interesting book! There's so much to say here about Black history in the US, how one forms a family, how one can heal generational trauma, and the intense love a mother can have for her children. With the story's science fiction and horror elements, it very much reminded me of an Octavia Butler novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Suicide and Homophobia

savvy999's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Lyrical and haunting, visceral and exacting, sorrowland explores the vast and connected nature of violence, racism, queer identity, motherhood, healing, and memory. In the dissection of the physical experience and the mental toll of a constant chase, Solomon’s  precise and beautiful language pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Racism, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Body horror

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

d0505's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Child death

Minor: Suicide, Chronic illness, and Pregnancy

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

I'm not really sure what to rate this or how to even start this review so I'm just going to ramble a bit I guess. 

This story is about the medical horrors that Black folks have gone through at the hands of the United States government.

The pace was very slow compared to what I normally read so even though I was entertained I still felt the slowness of the book in the middle of it. I listened to the audiobook and I read along with a physical copy of the book so I could stay immersed there were times where we followed the main character but she wasn't really doing much of anything and the slowness of it all and the feeling that I was reading on and on and nothing was happening was driving me mad. 

I think the horror elements of this book were mainly based on body horror and psychological horror, and generational trauma and those worked well within the book. This was a beautifully told story, I love the way the author writes. This story was also really unique so I want to give the author props for that. 

Overall I enjoyed this read, though because of the slowness, I don't see myself reading this again.

I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Stalking, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Rape, Emotional abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Body horror, Car accident, Gore, Sexual content, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry