Sorrowland

Esta fue una lectura dificil para mi, no se porque, no logré enganchar desde un principio, empecé en agosto y termine leyendo muchos libros entre medio antes de retomar. No es el primer libro de la autora que leo y recuerdo que también me costo enganchar con el otro, aunque si me terminó gustando.

Si creo que trata temas super interesantes, como el racismo, la homosexualidad vista como una enfermedad o algo sucio, machismo, cultos religiosos, esclavitud y experimentación con personas vulnerables, por parte del gobierno.

El inicio se me hizo lento y tedioso, desde la mitad en adelante se va poniendo interesante, sobre todo cuando empiezan los cambios físicos de la protagonista y se va revelando lo que pasa. El final no me gustó para nada, creo que hubiera sido mucho mas impactante si hubieran dejado las muertes, se me hizo demasiado irreal que de la nada ella pudiera traer de vuelta a literalmente toda la comunidad de la muerte.

i loved the social commentary and the darkness and grittiness of this story. this is the first fungal fiction i've actual enjoyed! i just wish the pace of this story was a bit faster because it dragged for me a lot. maybe if this was a novella i would have enjoyed this even more.

There's.. a lot of things to say about this book. Few of them very good. I will say, this book is high camp. A lot of it is so absurd and wonkily fleshed out that you can't help but keep turning the page. There are some sections of prose that work very well, and the schematics of the plot are intriguing and sort of work in the form of a back-of-book blurb.

The actual book itself? Yeah, no. This book goes all over the place. Fungus, AIDS ghost sex, wolf allegories, native healing, secret lovers, biker bars. The pacing is insane and hard to latch on to, making this book both way too short and way too long. If anything, the first section could work reworked to a short story form. The rest is just insane. Some of it made me audibly laugh. I have been live tweeting this book because of how strange and off kilter it is.

So many questions: why does Vern bitch out literally everyone with no consequences? She is remorseless, uncaring, and unkind, and continues to have the worlds best favors thrown at her every 10 pages. How does Vern elicit no reaction at any “electricity” human places/stores—FUNGUS EXOSKELETON WINGS ASIDE—despite coming in to each one looking like a feral human/serial killer survivor (bc shes kind of both)? Did no one worry about her covered in blood and sweat and ripped clothing at like, the 7-eleven? What is the point of the twins as plot device? Nothing interesting happens to them beyond page 70. Why is this story claiming a “woke” Native character representation, despite Gogo playing into the exact same healer “in tune with nature” stereotypes always used for Native characters?

If you want an artful campy book about a cult, read Arcadia by Lauren Groff. If you want something more intellectual and about genuine emotion behind lived queer experience, read the James Baldwin novel name dropped in thjs book a thousand time, Giovanni's Room.

Don't pick Sorrowland up if you have real books to read, or can get it for free from the library. It reads like a high schooler's rushed Nanowrimo piece. I'd be pissed if I paid 27 dollars for this.

Do not read this for any reason beyond having fun.

4.25 !

This book is gorgeous! The actual writing is beautiful. The characters are just themselves, which doesn't fit into a box and that's a good thing. As they are just being the best self they can be, they find danger, betrayal, love and family.
I love the way the plot develops and we learn a little bit at a time as to all that is going on. So every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on, it changed and I learned something new.
The story is twisty. The characters are complex. The writing is gorgeous.

The forest didn't mind illiterates and mad girls. Didn't mind that screaming was sometimes a person's only language.

disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. Quotes have been taken from the advanced copy and may differ from the final publication.

This was my first Rivers Solomon and I hate to say it but I was definitely disappointed. I went into this pretty cold and wasn't really expecting the extreme fantastical elements – which I'll admit is on me. It's definitely a book that some people will love, but it was a little too out there for me. I had difficulty following some things and just didn't get along with the writing in general. I did appreciate how queer this was, though, as well as the messages Solomon was conveying. I have a copy of The Deep which I'll definitely also be trying out.

Like “An Unkindess of Ghosts” this will likely sit with me for a long time, but unlike it I actually really enjoyed this work. It took me a little bit to get into the story and interested in our main character, Vern, but by the half way point I was all in. There's so many good reviews out that explain what this is about way better than I could, I recommend checking them out...and I do recommend this book too.

This is such a beautiful book! Truly it has everything:

-cults
-ghosts
-mushroom/mycelial networks (Hey, Star Trek: Discovery fans!!)
-human plants? (hey, fans of the Southern Reach books!)
-totally badass yet vulnerable characters
-COINTELPRO
-the most gorgeous writing

Seriously, if you like any of those things you should read this! It can be sad but so worth it.

What a strange, but beautifully written book. This is a deeply atmospheric and haunting read. There is so much behind the writing with this one, truths written into fiction, realities hidden within the words, and horrors of experimentation hiding behind religious liberties.

This is a different type of reading experience and one I highly recommend.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley providing me with an E-Book. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

CW: child abuse, teenage pregnancy, body horror, gore, homophobia and transphobia (challenged)

I just saw the wonderful cover of this book and the author, and didn't even bother with the synopsis before requesting the advance copy. Because gothic horror is not my thing at all and the author's fierce and unbridled writing makes for an unforgettable but difficult read.

The writing is truly gorgeous right from the get go. Despite the difficulty of the subject matter, I was engrossed completely and didn't wanna put it down at all. The author perfectly captures the unforgiving atmosphere of the woods as well as the dread that follows Vern in the form of the far reaches of the cult Cainland she is escaping. There are also lots of horrifying and unexpected twists and turns, which kept me on my toes, always wondering what was gonna happen next. But the ending did feel quite different from the rest of the book and I still don't know how I feel about it.

Through Vern's harrowing struggle for survival with her two little boys, the author explores many themes like identity, motherhood, gender, sexuality, misogyny, race, and what it means to crave connections - either with humans or the nature. At the same time, the author also shows a mirror to the darkest parts of American history, especially how the exploitation and experimentation of Black bodies forms one of the major sources of progress for this country.

The writing is very straightforward, giving us unflinching truths through Vern who doesn't know any pretense and is full of rage and grief. Her kids Feral and Howling literally grow up in the wild without knowing other humans but they are sharp and tough, with lots of love for their mother even if their relationship doesn't feel very conventional in societal terms. Gogo and Bridget are great side characters, full of compassion and caring, who finally show that there is still some hope left in this cruel world. On the opposite spectrum, we get to see some of the members of Cainland and experience the horrific results when naked ambition for power at the cost of humans meets religious fanaticism and misogynistic entitlement.

To conclude, this is not a book for everyone and I'm not even sure to whom I can recommend it. Pick it up if you are ready for stunning atmospheric writing, an unflinching look at history which is also very much relevant to our contemporary times, and a group of characters who may be on the fringes of society, but their capacity for survival and love is boundless.

I was inspired to write this review in memory of Jenny (Reading Envy) Colvin.

Vern's story is very traumatic but she is worth your time. Some of the book was difficult to read but keep on it.

#JennyGuyColvin

I received this ebook ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for a fair review.

This book had so many things going for it. A fascinating concept, queerness, it's occasional imagery, anger. I really loved the concept, all of it. It's the tale of Vern, a young girl in a cult devoted to the God of Cain. It's ostensibly a Black Power movement, a total excoriation of anything deemed white. They grow their own food, partake of only Black media, and are almost completely insular. The down side is that they are also conservatively, religiously patriarchal. So Vern, being upset about the disappearance of her best friend and first love, and embittered at her forced marriage to the leader of the cult (because she needs a man to help control her deviant proclivities), decides–in her pregnant state–to run away. So she does one night, leaving behind her family and all she's ever known. She gives birth in the woods and is tracked by an unknown person who leaves threatening messages in the form of bloodied baby clothes. Vern spends nearly three years in the woods.

Vern is also albino and very nearly blind. She bears twins, one Black and one albino. Howling and Feral, respectively. She runs off one day and begins an affair with a strange white woman, which will haunt her throughout the novel.

Speaking of hauntings, she has those too. Nearly everyone in the cult has night terrors, but Vern starts seeing things at any given time of day. And some of them, as the book progresses, can see her right back.

Eventually, she tries to hunt down her friend Lucy, and she winds up in the family of Lakota woman Bridget and her niece Gogo, with whom Vern begins a relationship. As things come to a head, Vern learns about who she really is, what the cult really is, and what she will become.

So again, some great elements. Cults, government conspiracy, LGBT+ character representation, Indigenous characters of importance who–spoiler–don't DIE. This book has some great things going for it! Like, really great things.

So why three stars? Because the elements of semi-magical realism don't quite work for me. Nor did Vern, really. Her children are just a little too precocious and advanced for their years. They don't talk like the kids they should be throughout the book. I didn't believe them. And, once Vern is in the woods, I was boggled. This is strangely a book based somewhat in reality, but her years in the woods are like a strange fairy tale. She wasn't so very far from civilization, but she refuses to leave the woods and becomes sort of feral? For three years? I think if the book had had a more dreamy quality that would have worked for me, but it really doesn't. So I spent most of the book not believing the story. Which made me sad, because I wanted to be invested. I wanted to really love it. There are so many awesome things going on with this book, but the execution for me just fell a little flat, a little unfulfilled; the pacing a little unbalanced. Still, some of the things going on are truly cool, and I would have liked more exploration of those things.