Audiobook Review: Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
Narrated by Karen Chilton
Genre: Horror
Age: Adult
Format: Audiobook
I’m not going to be able to do this book justice in this review, but I’ll do my best. Safe to say this is definitely a book I’d recommend.
After escaping the religious compound where she grew up, Vern – a Black woman with albinism – finds herself in the woods, where she gives birth to twin boys, raising them away from the compound and away from civilisation. Until her body’s changes prompt Vern to leave the woods and look deeper, at her past, the compound, and the violence – historic and present day - committed against Black people.
There’s a fair bit going on, and it all gradually melds together as Vern pieces together what exactly has been done to her. There are elements of body horror combined with gothic, and so many themes covered it’d be hard to remember them all. Solomon does an excellent job of placing the book within the horror genre while creating something that feels different, and which deals with gender, race, feminism and the harms that come with white feminism, abuse, the exploitation of Black people and especially women, as well as motherhood and sexuality. It feels like it should overload the book, but the themes come out in the characters really well.
Vern names her twins Howling and Feral, and Solomon does an excellent job of portraying these two growing up, discovering their own identities as their personalities emerge. They’re also used occasionally as comic relief, offering a slice of light-heartedness among some of the heavier themes. One of my favourite scenes was when Vern was explaining to her twins that they had to leave the woods, with the twins not understanding there was something different beyond the trees. It gives a sense of comic relief, but tinged with something beneath it, and the idea of how unprepared all three of them are, in a sense, for the wider world.
Karen Chilton did excellent work as the narrator, too, really nailing the emotional context as well as adjusting voice slightly for the various characters. I’d strongly recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for horror that examines gender, race and control.
I read Sorrowland for the ‘Written by a trans person of colour’ prompt in our DHR Reading Challenge – check out our Challenge page to find out more and see how you can take part.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
I purchased this audiobook.
