Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Model Home

Have you ever sensed that if you and the author were both students in a college creative writing class, the author would spend the entire time arguing with the professor and prevent other students from getting critiques on their work? That was this book for me. A very interesting premise that did not (again, for ME) pay off in the end. Rated 2 stars for some very well-written and evocative turns of phrase.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

WOOF, this was hard to read. I can't really articulate my feelings on it quite yet, but here are some quotations that stood out to me:

BPD (borderline personality disorder), OSDD (other specific dissociative disorder), NPD (narcissistic personality disorder), C(omplex)-PTSD, and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). All those letters, but they spell only one thing: hole. (23)

Mother is God. You're the uninformed void. (101)

I could never know how Mama was going to react to anything, though. I hated tossing the coin. I preferred to keep secrets. If I didn't show her who I was, she couldn't be disappointed. (72)

History repeats and repeats because history is people, and we reproduce only what we know, and we get what we know from our elders. The same mechanisms that facilitate language facilitate the passing of pain. (146)

Look up what a haint is. Many of you say you believe in God, so I am asking you to believe in the devil, too. Please. (209)

Since we moved into 677, I've been hiding. I'm still not ready to be found. (248)

We will all save each other. Or maybe we won't. Maybe there is no saving, only salvaging. Maybe every breath is the triumph, and we must learn to take the win. (280)

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nadiarausa's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

It’s difficult to review this book without spoiling anything, so I’ll just say this: The prose is utterly gorgeous and haunting—Rivers Solomon is an absolutely incredible writer and storyteller.

This could definitely be a triggering book, so please read with care! I didn’t find anything overly graphic or explicit, but there are definitely some disturbing things that occur. The trigger warnings in the “graphic” section I included were because they were themes throughout the story.

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laurajane78's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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siglesias's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was devastating. I cried within the first few pages at how gorgeously it was written. I was so scared throughout the book because I felt like I knew what was going to happen, I just didn’t want to believe it. So I accepted that the house was haunted and that was it. I sat awake reading this book until 2 a.m. The last 50 or so pages destroyed me. I am very sad but not upset that I read this beautifully written (but very tragic) book. It will stay with me, that’s for sure.

I think many reviewers of this book have never experienced the wrath a white person will put upon a person of color over things like land and their “community.” I think this book obviously takes it to an extreme (god, I hope this is an extreme) but it’s by no means unrealistic for a POC to have their life ruined by a white neighbor.

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bessadams's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

I am deeply unsettled, and can never think about kids having imaginary friends in the same way again... but the last chapter was kind of sweet? The last sentence is literally "How sweet it is to be alive."

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packrat00's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is strange and fucked up and made me hold my breath throughout. I read it in less than 24 hours and couldn’t put it away and every free minute I caught myself reading another chapter. It’s thrilling and sad and I should not recommend reading it but I absolutely would. It’s not for the faint of heart.

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babayulia's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Model Home by Rivers Solomon is difficult to write about because I am still processing it, but I don’t know that I’ll ever be done processing it, so I’m writing a review now in hopes that my friends read it and we can process it together.

This is a novel about terror and trauma. The Maxwell siblings are mourning their parents, who died in an apparent murder/suicide pact in their childhood home. But questions keep emerging: what happened to them? Were they killed by the house, long rumored to be haunted? And if the house isn’t haunted, then what could explain the frequent and inexplicable horrors they experienced growing up?

The beating heart of the book is the main character, Ezri, a queer & trans Black human navigating identity, parenthood, family, and trauma. Just as important are Ezri’s family, especially their daughter, Elijah, and younger sisters, Eve and Emanuelle. I love these characters. They are complex, messy, sweet people, fully fleshed out in all their glorious imperfections. They are easy to root for.

Solomon’s writing is also a major highlight of the book. The prose is lyrical and challenging, a pleasure to read and dissect. I highlighted multiple passages to return to. This is a book I would like to read again, knowing what I know now, so I can try to pick up on more of Solomon’s nuanced storytelling, including faer expert use of foreshadowing.

I recommend this book to fans of the horror genre, especially haunted houses because of how it turns this one on its head. I also recommend it as a critical text that depicts the horrors of white supremacist violence in ways that are somehow both shocking and predictable. This book is upsetting and unsettling at its core, and that’s exactly why you should read it. Text me if you do.

Please check the content warnings! Some are included below, with details that could be considered spoilers.

Child sexual abuse and symptoms of CPTSD are common themes throughout the book. Though CSA does not occur on the page (to my memory), it is a core component of the novel. Grooming does happen on the page, focusing on interactions between an adult white woman and a queer Black child. There is also a sex scene between a white adult male and a queer & trans Black adult that is consensual but involves humiliation play and transphobic language and is preceded by racist remarks and a threat of gun violence (proposal of murder/suicide).

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