Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Model Home

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

59 reviews

spookymartinireads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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pastryghost's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Sad, tense, and dark, with a hopeful light at the end.
An unusual and cerebral writing style.
This didn't click with me, and I have frustrations with the ending, but I think many people will feel this like a punch in the heartstrings.

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thatmeddlingkid's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I’m still digesting this, but it very well might be my book of the year. Dark, surprising, mysterious and poignant. Dealing with racial issues and personal (?) demons.

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jessplayin's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

The writing is so good, underlined a lot but the plot ain't it fam. The ending is so rushed too.

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knkoch's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a blend of horror and social commentary on race in the same vein as Jordan Peele's movies. There were a lot of clever elements, particularly as the mystery of the horror house unfolds as a supernatural version of a Black family moving into a hostile White neighborhood. The thematic parallels to that very real historical (and sadly contemporary) experience are underlined especially in the long-term effects on the novel's three adult siblings who grew up in such a neighborhood. Generational trauma warps not only those directly impacted but also those born outside it, like Ezri's daughter Elijah, who has growth up in the gaps and silences in care her parent Ezri is able to provide.

The complex protrait that Solomon paints of the formidable central family is interesting and subtle, highlighting both weakness and strength. Ultimately, the conclusion had a grotesque aspect I couldn't really get over. I'm not a regular horror reader, so perhaps that aspect bothered me more than it would some. I didn't really like the way

all the supernatural elements boiled down to elaborate but realistic deception by the White neighbors. While it makes sense historically that the White neighbors would be hateful and aggressive, it still took something out of the story for me for everything to be explainable.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the queer representation in several characters and thought the way the author explored the family's move into the neighborhood was compelling.

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cmd586's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

There were pieces of this that I wish I could erase from my memory. Some graphic sexual stuff that was unpleasant for me and not at all titillating. And it didn’t ALL feel necessary to the story.

Otherwise, I loved this.

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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clarke's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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.

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minimicropup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

3.5

This was unexpectedly heavy and spends a lot of time exploring the horrors people inflict on each other. I found it overwhelming, but I’d recommend if you’re looking for a philosophical, slow-burn horror that mixes stream-of-consciousness with grotesque, strange moments.

Energy: Disorienting. Bleak. Confessional.

🐕 Howls The philosophizing around the halfway point (that might be a me thing). Long stretches of reflection that were heavy and sad (this could be a 'tail wag' for many though). Bizarro confusing moments got tiring after a while. Kept mixing up the siblings (probably the similar names, they had their own personas).

🐩 Tail Wags The “wait…what?” moments. Confusing bizarro and grotesque moments. Mix of rooting for and being horrified by the main character. The ‘haunted’ house being a newer build. The nonsensical and unhingedness.

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set mostly in a gated community of North Dallas, Texas, USA

Perspective: Our MC grew up in a gated community in the house that once served as a model home during development. As an adult, they live in England with their 14-year-old child. The death of their parents prompts a return to their hometown and reuniting with their siblings.

We get brief perspective of the MC’s 14-year-old who meets up with a friend they met on social media.

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Foreshadowing. Atmospheric tension. Family and relationship dynamics. Layered secrets. Provoking thoughts and feels. Unpredictability. What happened to our main character in childhood? Why are their parents dead? What does it all mean? Are they going to be okay?

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic surrealism

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Dried flowers. Roasted potatoes. Lemon disinfectant. Sawdust. Grilled hotdogs. French double doors. Greasy pizza. Wide highway. Shopping mall.

Thrown in the story, coming in to focus as we go along
Bizarre, philosophical literary social horror
Strange moments treated as mundane
Haunted house or haunted fam?
Hints of unreliable narrator
Flashback to childhood vignettes
Toxic suburbia
Return to hometown
Heartstring horrors and gut punch endings
Humans are monsters
Philosophical exploration of grief, family dynamics, sibling bonds, parenthood, mental illness, racism, and child abuse

Content Heads-Up: Dissociation. Food restriction (as child). Depression, low moods (symptoms). Ambiguous diagnoses (personality disorder, dissociative, generalized anxiety, complex-PTSD). Loss of parents (as adult). Corpses (discovery of). Racism (graphic; disbelief, threats, prejudice, persecution, mental attacks; hypocrisy). Murder-suicide (implied). Chemical burns, scars. Animal torture, death (off page mention; very brief;

dog, fish, ant farm, guinea pig

). Cancer (brief mention; cervical). Grief. Suicide attempt (recall). Suicidal ideation, planning (discussion; on page). Sexual content (consenting; on page). Homophobic slurs. Grooming, adult/minor relationship. Munchausen by proxy (discussion). Gaslighting. Home invasion. Child abuse, pedophilia (rape, sexual abuse,

female perpetrator

). Fire (building; arson).

Rep: American. Mixed race (Black, White). American British. Cis. Genderfluid. Trans. Hetero. Queer. Lesbian. Dark, brown, freckled, light brown, and ambiguous skin tones. Fat. Jewish convert. Diabetes. Autism. Dyslexia.

📚 Format: Library Hardcover

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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ashtheaudiomancer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

This is my first Rivers Solomon book, and I don't know if they're all this poetic and lyrical, but I was caught by surprise in a good way. Also caught by surprise a number of tropes I normally dislike--child abuse, dysfunctional families, animal deaths, plus the suggestion that the "haunting" might not be supernatural at all--that were handled so well, it still worked. This is graphic, but not gratuitous.

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