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A review by queer_bookwyrm
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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
5 ⭐ CW: (provided by the author) racism, misogyny, self-harm, sucidality, homophobia, animal death, sexual violence mentions, (provided by me) drug use/overdose mention, sex, body horror, medical experimentation
"I like the woods. In them, the possibilities seem endless. They are where wild things are, and I like to think wild always wins. In the woods, it doesn't matter that there is no patch of earth that has not known bone. Known blood. Known rot. It feeds from that. It grows the trees. The mushrooms. It turns sorrows into flowers."
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon is another incredible standalone that I'm probably never going to shut up about. So glad I started my year off with a nonbinary author. Solomon gave us albino rep, disability rep, queer rep, and indigenous rep.
We follow Vern, a vision impaired black albino woman, who is fleeing a Black religious compound known mostly as Cainland. Cainland was a commune created by Black separatists, and shun anything from the white man's world. Vern has been married off to their reverend, and has chosen to give birth to her twins alone in the woods at 15.
Vern is such a badass! She birthed twins alone and then decided to live in the woods with them totally self sufficient. She stays there, until she starts experiencing weird changes in her body since leaving the commune. Now she goes on a mission to figure out her past and what is really happening at Cainland. Suffice it to say we have a religious cult, government conspiracy, and medical experimentation similar to Tuskegee.
Solomon always does a fantastic job of bringing characters to life and making them feel like real people. Even Vern's children, Howling and Feral, have full personalities. They are so cute and honestly the comic relief this heavy book needed. Gogo was a great love interest and gave Vern some depth and softness.
I loved the concept of mushrooms, spores, and mycelium being used in this! Mushrooms as a super power! I'm loving all the mushroom-y things in media. Star Trek: Discovery uses a mycelial network to travel, and The Houseplant by Jeremy Ray uses mycelium as a way for different plants to communicate with each other. Also, we get some serious spicy bits in here 🔥🥵.
We get a lot of themes about choice, freedom, and the much needed criticism of the US. The US has committed so many atrocities and allowed them to happen. The United States is an occupational force on Indigenous land, and this book acknowledges that. Solomon points out to us how someone can become an extremist or be radicalized from severe disenfranchisement.
I may even reread this book at some point, it was that good. Read this book. Read Rivers Solomon in general.
"I like the woods. In them, the possibilities seem endless. They are where wild things are, and I like to think wild always wins. In the woods, it doesn't matter that there is no patch of earth that has not known bone. Known blood. Known rot. It feeds from that. It grows the trees. The mushrooms. It turns sorrows into flowers."
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon is another incredible standalone that I'm probably never going to shut up about. So glad I started my year off with a nonbinary author. Solomon gave us albino rep, disability rep, queer rep, and indigenous rep.
We follow Vern, a vision impaired black albino woman, who is fleeing a Black religious compound known mostly as Cainland. Cainland was a commune created by Black separatists, and shun anything from the white man's world. Vern has been married off to their reverend, and has chosen to give birth to her twins alone in the woods at 15.
Vern is such a badass! She birthed twins alone and then decided to live in the woods with them totally self sufficient. She stays there, until she starts experiencing weird changes in her body since leaving the commune. Now she goes on a mission to figure out her past and what is really happening at Cainland. Suffice it to say we have a religious cult, government conspiracy, and medical experimentation similar to Tuskegee.
Solomon always does a fantastic job of bringing characters to life and making them feel like real people. Even Vern's children, Howling and Feral, have full personalities. They are so cute and honestly the comic relief this heavy book needed. Gogo was a great love interest and gave Vern some depth and softness.
I loved the concept of mushrooms, spores, and mycelium being used in this! Mushrooms as a super power! I'm loving all the mushroom-y things in media. Star Trek: Discovery uses a mycelial network to travel, and The Houseplant by Jeremy Ray uses mycelium as a way for different plants to communicate with each other. Also, we get some serious spicy bits in here 🔥🥵.
We get a lot of themes about choice, freedom, and the much needed criticism of the US. The US has committed so many atrocities and allowed them to happen. The United States is an occupational force on Indigenous land, and this book acknowledges that. Solomon points out to us how someone can become an extremist or be radicalized from severe disenfranchisement.
I may even reread this book at some point, it was that good. Read this book. Read Rivers Solomon in general.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Body horror, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual violence and Drug use