Photo by Wil C. Fry, 2021
★★★★★ (of 5)
- Full Title: Sorrowland
- Author: Rivers Solomon
- Year: 2021
- Pages: 355
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Publisher: MCD (Farrar, Straus & Giroux — a division of Macmillan)
- ISBN 9780374266776 (hardcover)
- Author’s Wikipedia page
Summary
After reading An Unkindness Of Ghosts (five stars) and The Deep (four stars), I didn’t hesitate to pick up Sorrowland when I saw it at the local library. It has been described as “a genre-bending work of gothic fiction that wrestles with the tangled history of racism in America and the marginalization of society’s undesirables” (Tor), “a fantastical, fierce reckoning” (Roxanne Gay), and “imaginative storytelling at its finest” (P. Djèlí Clark).
Having escaped from a strict religious Black separatist compound, young woman Vern gives birth to twins in the woods and struggles to survive. Surprised at her increasing strength, resistance to pain, and quick-healing abilities, Vern eventually realizes she is not entirely herself — she has been infected with a “passenger”, something she first identifies as a disease but later realizes is so much more.
Praise
As I said in my review of The Deep, the story was “beautifully and painfully written in clear prose.” It is immersive, engrossing, and powerful.
The “genre-bending” description above is accurate. The story has to qualify as science fiction / speculative fiction due to the nature of Vern’s physiological alteration. Parts could be considered YA (since Vern is a minor when she escapes the compound) or a coming-of-age / Bildungsroman (because Vern matures from a scarred adolescent to a powerful adult). I also found strong strains of romance within — the false starts of relationships that turn out to be harmful, eventually replaced by what might turn into true love. And, of course, the “tangled history of racism” mentioned above plays a large role. The author manages to suffuse the entire story with this history (and current manifestations) without once sounding preachy or didactic. These parts flow easily from the backstory of Vern’s home compound, from her fears and drives, and from the nation around her — a nation built, as the author’s note clarifies, on stolen land.
“No story of the so-called United States is complete without an understanding of its foundation on genocide and dislocation, nor without acknowledgement of the Indigenous people still here fighting the ongoing occupation.”—Author’s Note
As someone who has personally experienced recovery from intense religious brainwashing, the parts about Vern remembering some of her past fondly while also hating it was described exactly as I feel it today, fearing yet loving some individuals, now horrified by incidents that I remember enjoying at the time, and still working to unroot and redirect mental habits formed in those precious early years. Undoubtedly, my exit was not as dramatic or intense as Vern’s fictional escape, but every bit of it rang true.
Points Off For...
I could find no reason to withhold the fifth star on this book. From beginning to end, it was without fault.
Conclusion
I wrote in 2019 that “I have no doubt” that author Rivers Solomon “will quickly be recognized as a modern-day sci-fi juggernaut.” Sorrowland did nothing to sway my original judgment of Solomon’s prowess. The intensity, the passion, the realness of these works is astounding. It is also evident, especially in this one, that tons of research went into the background formation, though the author skillfully made this information flow naturally in the story.
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