Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Model Home

Model Home is so much more than a haunted house story and I would not recommend this to someone looking for your classic ghosts and supernatural phenomenons in a house.

Model home is about racism, hatred, and childhood trauma. How we run from the things we can’t face until we can’t run anymore, haunted by the moments that shaped and plague us.

Amazingly diverse representation in this novel, heartbreaking prose, and characters you feel you know. This one was a difficult read and it went to so many places I didn’t expect. This reminded me a lot of White is for switching, where the house itself may or may not actually be the issue here….

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jkeybeane's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

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ellbell1017's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

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shanaelyse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was a lot.

And I mean that in both good and bad ways.

There is some absolutely stunning writing that is done in Model Home and that's the greatest part this journey honestly. Rivers Soloman truly is a master of words and it's highlighted throughout this entire story. Although the writing is spectacular some of the formatting isn't something I particularly enjoyed, specifically when reading through flashback scenes. The only way for me to pick up that it was something that was happening in the past or even "off-stage" were the lack of quotation marks around dialogue.

Many of the subjects that are in this book are very heavy, and I highly encourage everyone that picks this up to check them out before diving in.

I do love a twist on the haunted house idea and this is exactly that. I found that where I thought this novel would go is completely opposite of what I had initially thought. And the way that I felt about that was 50/50.

I'm a lover of horror and I understand that the genre of horror doesn't always have to be supernatural elements. And in a lot of instances, I don't mind it when the big twist is "hey it's not haunted it's actually this". But for some reason Model Home falls into the category of times when I don't enjoy it not being supernatural elements.

There is a lot of representation that goes on. Ezri is a wonderful main character whose flaws are a crucial point of the storytelling as well as the flaws of their siblings. However, with the flaws of the main character being a huge plot point, I feel like the ending, and the twist that comes with it to tie everything up in a little bow, end up falling flat. We're left with an unsatisfying conclusion that to me doesn't make sense.

Allowing Lilly to walk free because of "what she could do to those in jail" is honestly asinine to me. And Ezri, as a parent who's literally had their entire life shaped by a predatory woman, should have been the one to make the decision. Allowing a woman to walk free who is in the process of grooming my child only to allow her to go on to groom others seems insane to me.

All in all, this was a good read that sat with me for a while after I finished. There is great commentary in here about racism and incredible representation of how to parent non-binary/genderfluid individuals in here as well as neurodivergent representation. However, I find there are just so many moving parts within the novel that it begins to get clunky and a bit of a trudge.

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cheesy_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

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

3.75

I feel like this is hovering between 3.75-4⭐️?

I’m trying to not rate this against what I was expecting but it’s hard! I was hoping for a spookier story and what I got was still really interesting, it was just different from my expectations!

The writing is so lyrical and beautiful and I really enjoyed just the whole vibe of how it read. The story is heartbreaking and honestly I was shocked by the end and devastated to learn what entity was haunting this family.

A really harrowing story that confronts racism, homophobia, and transphobia and how ugly the world can really be.

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qiseijuu's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow. So sad. The twist at the end was a little anticipated but hit hard. Such a good book.

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firmandplanted's review against another edition

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sad medium-paced

1.75

This is not a horror book. The plot of the novel was underwhelming. The author deficiently explores themes

of racism, homophobia, and pedophilia

. I would not recommend this book.

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wamorrison95's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-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

4.5

This book is a hard look at the truth behind the ghosts that haunt us and how generational trauma can cycle. It’s beautifully written but can be brutal to read. I overall enjoyed it and the hopeful message it contains.

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