Book Review: Sorrowland

 

Image: The cover of the book is a artists rendition of a collection of various wild plants. The color scheme is blue with the background of the cover fading from a darker blue to navy blue and the illustration being composed of a spectrum of light blues. The plants look like they could be sea life or above ground, it is difficult to tell. All lettering on the cover is gold. The font is a capitalized calligraphy style. Across the top in a curved banner is the title of the book. On the right side in small letters is "a novel" and across the bottom is the author's name.

I was a huge fan of Rivers Solomon's first novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts, when I had the pleasure of reading an ARC that I chose from a long list on a bit of a whim. That novel set the bar really high for their future works in my mind, which is perhaps why the second novel, The Deep, didn't do it for me. Going into Sorrowland, I had more realistic expectations and was open to it being anywhere on the quality spectrum. I can say that this one is definitely much better than the last.

I have mentioned before that fantasy as a genre does not have a huge appeal to me, though I have been overcoming this recently. This book sits in a fantasy realm, but extends far outside that as well, which made it much more enjoyable to me. I found the way that Solomon handled themes of liberation and oppression throughout the book to be creative and well orchestrated. Solomon captures the complexity of human beings who find themselves attached to different belief systems. The compound in the book mirrors some Black nationalist movements of the past and today and offers a lot of thought provoking content to the reader. Seeing how Vern and others are treated by a system that pretends to have their well being centered shows us that we can all still do great harm even when coming from a marginalized group or with an idea or intention to do good.

Through these creative lenses, Solomon also becomes a historian, weaving pieces of the long and horrific past of the so-called USA- and how that past inspires places like the compound to come into existence. As Solomon's past writings have, this book is full of a lot of creative Queerness. I am often a person who isn't big on long detailed sex scenes in books- I honestly don't know why given my history. But, the few in this book were approached from such a creative standpoint that I did not mind them.

I am very glad that Solomon has continued to write and that smart publishers continue to publish their work. I am looking forward to their next contribution.

This was also posted to my goodreads.