Model Home tells the story of three siblings, haunted by the horrors they were subject to in their childhood home. In the wake of their parents' death, the siblings are forced to confront the memories that plague them.

Rivers Solomon weaves a bleak and devastating tale of trauma and grief, and how such grief causes not only the trauma to resurface but also all that you wished could be. Each sibling is continually affected by the events that transpired, haunted in difference ways: Ezri, a non binary parent with a host of mental health diagnoses, whose teenage daughter has to fend for herself when they dissociate; Eve, a wise and bossy perfectionist yearning for control; Emmanuel, masquerading as functioning, even successful, despite being a neurotic clusterfuck of emotion. No one believed them when they said their house was haunted. No one helped. No one came to save them. The siblings splintered due to their childhood experiences, suffering with mental and physical scars. In the wake of grief, a family can fracture and re-form. As I'm discovering in my own grief, you discover things you wish you knew earlier, and things you wish you could forget. Model Home tells a story of generational trauma, history repeating itself, and what can be learnt from examining our ghosts. Though the torment can be familiar, especially with a mother for whom you were never good enough, we realise that anyone has the capacity to hurt us and it's important to reckon with the intersection of torment this young, black family was subject to. It's devastating and cruel and destructive. It's pervasive, even if you didn't know what it was. It haunts. It leeches away life. Does it feed on what it takes? In the end, what's left of us? I deeply understand the doubt of not knowing what's real, the fear of being unable to remember, and the hurt when people blame you. Things may go bump in the night, if only they stayed there.

"Instead, I’m a vessel of ghosts, the me’s that died, the me’s that never could be, unbound by time, by social graces."

It's important to note the serious issues tackled here: abuse, grief, and racism, among others. Rivers Solomon handles these topics with care, which is something I have now come to expect. From the two books of theirs I have now read, they write LGBT+ characters (and characters in general) extremely well. They depict trauma, mental illness, and grief expertly, weaving a story with poetically relatable prose (yet another book full of highlights). I have only given 4 stars as I found it was largely interpersonal dynamics, relationships, and conversations, with a slower pace than I prefer. I did also note many speech marks missing which made it harder to read. As is typical for me, I wanted more overt horror, but I enjoyed the story overall. As you progress, the dread mounts because you know what's going on, you know the trauma and the abuse that's occurred but has been pushed down to cope. Pushed down so deep you can barely reach it. It doesn’t matter that you can see it coming. It will still hit you like a train.

"The realization that validation of the pain will never come from those who inflicted the pain has the power to obliterate. Did it happen? If they’re not apologizing, if they’re not admitting they’ve done it, did they do it? What is real? What is true? Is my life a fantasy? Then let me wake up by dying."

Sometimes people are what haunts the house. Sometimes people are the monsters under the bed.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book is amazing. It draws you in and holds you captive. It's dark and creepy, and gives you hints in so many directions that it's hard to know what's really happening. The main character is broken in ways that make them sympathetic, but also clearly unreliable as a narrator. Be ready for one hell of a ride.

I’m not into slasher horror. I’m more of a mind fuck horror type of reader. And I am deeply DEEPLY disturbed by this book in the best way.

A black family moves into white suburbia. Into a haunted house.

Now, the children are adults and discover their parents the victims of what looks to the police like a murder-suicide. But the siblings know different. They know it was the house that killed their parents. And it’s not letting go of them either.

I knew throughout the book that everything wasn’t as it seemed. It was never supposed to be. The air of mystery and the Easter eggs left throughout the plot were obviously leading somewhere. But definitely not where I expected. It’s so hard to surprise me with a plot twist, my pattern recognition picks it up every time, but I was FLABBERGASTED. 

I’m a big Rivers Solomon fan already, but this one is their best yet!!! The way that they discuss systemic racism and queerness in such an insightful way that fits perfectly into the plot is  unmatched. If you’re a horror fan, be warned that this book has so many triggers, but it is an absolute must read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! Model Home releases from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux on October 1st, 2024 in the US.

Rivers Solomon's Model Home is a master class in literary horror, exploring intergenerational trauma, race, queerness, and survival, framed within the confines of a suburban model home that serves as both literal and figurative battleground. This novel invites readers into the haunted life of Ezri Maxwell, a fat, genderqueer protagonist grappling with the horrors of their childhood home after the sudden deaths of both of their parents. Through Ezri’s journey, Solomon weaves a narrative that transcends the conventional boundaries of genre, offering a raw and daring portrayal of queer identity, intergenerational trauma, and the quest for healing.

From the start, Solomon subverts the traditional haunted house trope by transforming the Maxwell family’s suburban mansion into a symbol of inherited trauma and racial violence. The house itself, nestled in a predominantly white, gated community outside Dallas, becomes a suffocating metaphor for the structures of racism, segregation, and abuse that have shaped Ezri’s life. As Ezri returns to this childhood home with their sisters Eve and Emanuelle, they confront not only literal ghosts but the deeper, more insidious hauntings of secrets and unresolved pain. Solomon uses the setting to highlight the false promises of suburban utopia, exposing the violent undercurrents of a society built on racism and white supremacy.

At the heart of the novel lies Ezri’s emotional journey. They are both tender and hardened by the traumas they have endured, making their emotional turmoil palpable throughout the story. Solomon masterfully portrays Ezri’s struggle to navigate their gender identity, their body, and the burden of their family’s expectations. Ezri’s battle with dissociation and their need to unlearn the binary constraints of gender and self-worth are rendered with raw, visceral clarity. As Ezri grapples with the ghosts of their past, they are forced to confront the painful truths that lie at the heart of their own identity—a journey that is as harrowing as it is ultimately liberating.

The prose in Model Home mirrors the themes it tackles—fragmented, lyrical, and deeply unsettling. Solomon’s use of rich metaphor brings the house and its walls to life, anthropomorphizing them into symbols of the oppression that Ezri cannot seem to escape. The novel wrestles with the contradictions of survival—how to carry on in a world that both demands and denies one's existence. Ezri’s story is not one of sweeping salvation but of incremental triumphs, of surviving even when healing feels out of reach.

In Model Home, Solomon offers no easy answers, but instead, a meditation on survival and the small victories won in the face of trauma and oppression. This novel is as much about family bonds as it is about the secrets that erode them. It is a testament to resilience, queerness, and the fight to carve out a space for oneself in a world that seeks to diminish and erase. Solomon’s portrayal of trauma is brutal, but their vision of survival is equally powerful, forcing readers to confront the ghosts that haunt both the book’s characters and our world. Like Solomon’s previous works, Model Home is a book that demands not to be just read, but felt. Thank you, Rivers, for another searingly brilliant book. I can’t wait for the next one.

Content Note: Readers should be aware that while the sexual assault scenes are very mild, not very descriptive, and mostly implied, that childhood sexual assault ultimately serves as a key plot point.

Both Ezri and their daughter are groomed and assaulted by adult white women.

This is a poignant and critical antiracist critique, but it may be triggering for some readers.

📖 Recommended For: Fans of literary horror, readers who appreciate explorations of intergenerational trauma and queer identity, anti-racist advocates, lovers of Carmen Maria Machado and Octavia Butler.

🔑 Key Themes: Intergenerational Trauma, Queerness and Gender Identity, Racial Violence and Suburban Politics, Survival and Resilience, Family Secrets and Healing.