Sorrowland

Solomon’s writing is beautiful, visceral, and haunting

I recently read Rivers Solomon's short story, "Blood is Another Word for Hunger," and loved it, so I was doubly excited to read the Netgalley ARC of Sorrowland. Sorrowland also counts for Jen Campbell's Disability Readathon which ran over the month of April. I did not think far enough ahead in my TBR creations to actually plan a disability TBR (even though I should have). By a happy accident, a few disability books ended up in my lap during April anyway.

Solomon's writing is beautiful, visceral, and haunting and I really enjoyed this book. The main character, Vern, a Black woman with albinism, escapes from the compound of a strict religious cult while heavily pregnant and the book follows her survival journey with her twin sons. Vern comes across several other characters through her journey, for good or bad, and it shapes the way she continues to live. As the story continues, Vern starts to notice that maybe her body isn't entirely "normal."

Sorrowland is a creepy and unsettling story for many reasons, including weird body stuff (absolutely for fans of The Beauty and Follow Me to Ground), but also in the way patriarchal oppression intersects with civil rights work. Solomon includes a lot of commentary on the way white supremacy and western imperialism have shaped our world and our relationships to physical bodies.

“‘There’s a word for that, you know. In English.’
’I’d rather not know it, then,’ said Vern.
Gogo nodded. ‘Why not?’
’Because without a name for it, it’s just something I am. A part of life. Once it’s got a name, I know that means someone has studied it, dissected it, pulled it apart. When something has a name, they can say it’s bad,’ said Vern, and she didn’t want to hear anybody else’s thoughts on what was bad anymore.”

If you read Wilder Girls and were disappointed with the "explanation" of the tox in that story, then I think you would enjoy Sorrowland more in terms of the "weird body stuff."