I am officially labeling myself a Rivers Solomon fan. This is the third book I've read by them and I love them all. Model Home is such a different take on a haunted house novel and I cannot wait for more people to read it. There are so many aspects to love beginning with our main character, Ezri, who is a gender nonconforming parent to a daughter named Elijah. The pair travel from London back to Ezri's family home in Dallas, TX where they discover their parents are no longer alive. Ezri and their two sister grew up believing the house they spent their childhoods in is haunted and that the house murdered their parents.
The trauma the siblings experienced in the house has shaped their relationships with one another and caused them to be estranged from their parents. We see how they deal with their grief and secrets that are exposed from their past, as well as some of the trauma cycles that have been repeated, The novel explores what it means to be Black in the South, particularly in white neighborhoods, the experience of a person growing up gender queer, how family secrets can be harmful, and how we can protect our children. There is so much to unpack and Solomon's writing and thoughts on the human experience are great as always.

Highly recommend.

I found the premise intriguing and the writing fresh, but I didn’t connect with the characters and overall found it was a bit too much of an anxious, sort of disturbing, read for me. I’ve read some of the author’s short stories and enjoyed those.

“Model home” is a beautifully poetic book, that uses lyrical prose to contrast against the contents of what is essentially a horror novel, with dark themes surrounding tragedy, family ties, race, class and gender.

The plot follows three siblings who are forced to return to their home after the news reaches them about the death of their parents. There is magical realism, unreliable narration, flashbacks and more.

This book is complex and likely not for somebody who is looking to read a surface level horror. There is lots of depth within these pages.
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Thank you, Rivers Solomon, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the EARC!

Pub date; October 1st 2024

I appreciated the lyricism with which Solomon writes, but I spent a large portion of this book utterly confused. This book illuminates issues related to gender and race, and the “grand reveal” offers commentary on trauma (individual and generational) in unique ways, but it was easy to get lost in all of it. I had trouble connecting to the characters and wasn’t as invested in this story as I had hoped to be, likely due to the levels of confusion I felt. Readers should be sure to review trigger warnings.

What a beautifully written book! Don’t let the word ‘beautiful’ fool you, the story itself is far from being beautiful: it’s a sad, tragic story of a family.
This book gave me House of Hollow vibes - 3 siblings, magical realism, similar writing style.
I found the story intriguing but I was often confused - I usually love an unreliable narrator but this book was too complex, full of flashbacks, a lot of characters, dark topics (check trigger warnings!), traumas so a lot of times I didn’t know what was going on.
All in all, it was a fine read, the writing style was lyrical, full of stunning quotes.
3.5 ⭐️ rounded down.
Thank you, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Horror can be unsettling in fear and also reality. This tale does just that what if the thing you’re most afraid of is lurking in what you already know? Story dives into queer identity, sibling, relationships, and the pit of what we fear the most.

4 stars!

Ezri and their daughter Elijah travel to Dallas from their home in the UK to check up on Ezri’s parents. When Ezri find their parents passed away from an apparent murder-suicide, they are convinced it is the doing of their childhood haunted house which tormented their early years. What follows is a tale of family ties, trauma, and grief.

I really enjoyed Rivers Solomon’s prose and the commentary they provided. This novel touches on mental illness, sexual assault, race, gender expression, and death. This was at times a tough read, but the messaging was powerful and worth reading and reflecting on.

I enjoyed the main character Ezri who is deeply flawed and aware of their flaws. They proved to be an interesting POV to follow through and the unreliable-narrator nature of the story added another layer to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The word for this book is disturbing. Every time I picked it up, I was tense, clenching and terrified of what was coming next. The writing is beautiful, the story is disguising and I will be reading Rivers entire backlog.

I have so many quotes that will not see the light of day, but two of my favorite:

“I am not a person, but a place where bad things happen”

“Humans are gods, making worlds, then making miseries of those worlds”

Thank you NetGalley, FSG, and Rivers Solomon for the ARC!

Hauntingly delicious read.

Trigger warnings: Dark content, grief, Racism, trauma

The story is about a black family growing up in a gated white community. Very quickly, strange instances occur , but the neighbors seem nice and polite right? The children grow up and leave, but have to return at the news of their parent's deaths. The truth comes to light as the siblings are forced to enter into it head on.


3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Model Home is a usual haunted house story that tackles trauma, family, racism, identity and isolation. The story is well put together and will force the reader to stare down many uncomfortable moments. While I fully appreciate how well crafted this was, I probably am not the right audience of this.

TW: death of a parent, sexual assault, grooming.

I don't know what to say about this book. I was hooked instantly and I couldn't put it down, but I was also so confused and sad and angry. I didn't understand half of it and the other half spoke directly to my soul.
I love this author. They do amazing work but this is not what I expected. This was truly art.
I need to sit and think about this one for a few days.

This book was strange. It’s not an easy one to review but the one thing I did really enjoy was how unique the plot was. This is a different kind of haunted house story that is created around a realistic family trauma and the horrors that the siblings had to endure growing up. Ezri is the definition of an unreliable narrator. She is quirky and weird in their own right. They are a mess and at times, hard to understand but I feel like I connected with them toward the end of the book. While this wasn’t my favorite, I could see the authenticity of the author’s mind and I would absolutely read more of their work in the future.

Creepy horror turned out in an incredibly unique way. In the 80's I was pretty sure there were no new ways to create horror. Maybe a unique twist or change of setting but the same themes and events. The 2020's however have been the advent of new and inspired stories and a great deal of them have been from African American writers and producers. I had never read Rivers Solomon before and am enchanted! This will not be my last Solomon book for sure!

In Model Home we meet the three Maxwell siblings who have ejected themselves from the very white and wealthy gated home (jail?) in Texas where they spent their childhoods. The three speak via text but rarely see one another and gather again in Dallas when their mother sends out
a communication that they cannot ignore. When the three arrive, what they find leaves them unmoored and speechless. What happened to their parents? Is the house haunted? How much of this has to do with the neighborhood, the community and the systematic racism of the United States? The voice of the story is narrated through Ezri, a non binary character who provides the needed perspective of those who have very little voice even now in contemporary literature. This is a work that will stay with you for a very, very long time. #farrargiroux #MCD #modelhome #riverssolomon

This story was something that I thought would intrigue my interest, enlighten me on areas of history I did not already know and just be overall entertaining.

This part of the description grabbed me:

Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring,

Unfortunately reading this story, it was not for me which sucks because I've never read a book like this so I went into it with an open mind.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. It was definitely a deep dive into family and generational curses. There was such a fine line between Ezri and the house so you spent the whole book not knowing exactly where the darkness was coming from. There are some trigger warnings to take into consideration but all in all this is a solid read that I would recommend.

Solomon is a must read author for me and this one fell short. The depth and richness I expect in faer storytelling wasn't there for me. I appreciate the queerness of this novel, with the variety of characters and genders. As always, fae weave in a social commentary on race into their story and it felt more overt/forced than usual. The build up and haunting didn't happen for me.

Well, I'll just say it: I wasn't impressed. Or simply this book is not for me.
I was indeed curious at first but then I just wasn't anymore. Not sure why, exactly. I could say the writing style didn't work with me - this was also my first time reading a book by this author -, but honestly I guess maybe it was a "bad timing" kind of thing. And I did take m time with this book. Usually I read an ARC in 2 or 3 days, but I've spent almost 2 whole weeks with this one.
This book is only being officially published in October, so until then I might try to read it again, with the audiobook this time - which is actually my favourite format to read books -, so I can come back and possibly leave a more positive review. #fingerscrossed
Thanks, anyway, NetGalley and the publisher for the free eARC.

Lol this is hilarious because as I was reading the book there was a model home being built around my house. Not the point I know but still funny to me. I loved the premise of this book it just didnt hit right for me. I dont know why it didnt. I may do a reread when it gets published because I love this cover.

Ezri and her two siblings drifted away from their childhood home, where they believed ghosts lurked, and from their parents, who were determined not to leave the house, and charted their own paths over time. As adults, they carved their own paths. Now adults, the siblings return home after the surprise death of their parents, which appears to be a murder-suicide. And they don't believe that.

I managed to read this 300-page book in 10 days. It's not that I didn't like it, it's just very intense. It touches on so many topics - family issues, racism, sexism, mental illness, police violence, abuse, grooming, you name it. But with 300 pages, it feels like there's a message hitting you on every page, which can be overwhelming. It's dark and trigger-heavy. Knowing that the author is Rivers Solomon, I expected to encounter a text like this, so it's not like I was expecting an action-packed adventure, but I think, by trying to cover all these issues, the book becomes quite heavy. Definitely not a bad book though. It is pretty good, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a heavy read. I can recommend it, but checking trigger warnings is a must.

Thank you NetGalley, Rivers Solomon and FSG for this ARC

the strangest little book i’ve read in a while. the first third of the book i spent confused, unsure of what was happening, but i was enjoying it while trying my hardest to see the shape of the story. i could definitely see helen oyeyemi’s. “white is for witching”, echoes of riley sager’s “home before dark” and obviously the lurking essence of hill house. the writing as always was excellent. wanted it to be more a little more spooky but was pleased with what i ended up getting. maybe for my next read i should invest in something ooky spooky.

many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for supplying me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.