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Sorrowland

A Novel

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Sorrowland

Written by: Rivers Solomon
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
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About this listen

2022 L.A. Times Book Prize

2021 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

2021 Time Magazine Best Books of the Year

2021 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year

2021 NYPL Best Books of the Year

2021 NPR Best Book of the Year

2021 Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year

"Narrator Karen Chilton gives a riveting performance in this genre-defying masterpiece.... The echoes of Chilton's haunting and beautiful narration will reverberate long after this powerful audiobook is over." (AudioFile magazine)

A triumphant, genre-bending breakout novel from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary fiction

Vern - seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised - flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world.

But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future - outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.

Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.

A Macmillan Audio production from MCD

©2021 Rivers Solomon (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
Fiction Gothic Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Scary Emotionally Gripping
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What listeners say about Sorrowland

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible

It was haunting, visceral, and gritty; the author doesn't hold back. The characters felt alive, no stock hero or anti-heros, just real people and real struggle. No rose colored lenses at all. Perfectly balanced between the real world with a touch of SciFi. Disturbing book, in the best way.

The narrator slays it. Just perfection.

If you are looking for a happy read, keep looking. If you want something you can sink your teeth into this is it.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Get ready for lazy tropes and generic stereotypes

First of all, credit where credit is due. The writing itself, the structure and prose, are just fine. And the narrator is quite good.

Where this book fails is it's lazy, propaganda-filled stereotypes and narrative. All the men in the book, every single one, are villains, rapists, or patriarchal subjugators of women. Every significant female character in the book is either an "out" lesbian, or would have been, if not for the subjugation of the aforementioned evil men forcing them to deny their true lesbianism.

There is a cringingly and clumsily inserted cultural reference to the offensiveness of sports team logos. The forced woke-ness in this book is nauseating at times.

These drawbacks are truly a shame because the story idea is quite compelling and the writing style is quite good.

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