#model home

Ezri is an interesting character. I've read a few of Solomon's books at this point, and so I know what to expect from their sort of character - invariably a Black person with some kind of nonbinary identity and a lot of issues. That's not a criticism, some authors just have a niche. Ezri is explicitly autistic and traumatised from their past experiences with the house, as well as experiencing periods of dissociation. They are trying to be a good parent to their teenage daughter, Elijah, but the death of their parents plus everything with the house being brought up again means that they are struggling, not helped by their sisters, who have their own issues to contend with. Their head is an interesting one to spend time in - they're contemplative, aware of their own faults but not always able to contend with them, wanting to do better but stopped by their own trauma and everything that's gone on in the house. I found them a very engaging protagonist.

This book revolves around the house that Ezri and their siblings grew up in, which they know to be haunted. The story begins with Ezri getting weird texts from their mother; it transpires that the children were often sick, that a woman with no face lived in the attic, that they'd wake up in strange spots around the house, that animals like the class pet were mysteriously and violently killed in the house, that a child went missing one day and never appeared again. All inexplicable, all terrifying. These occurrences have taken a toll on Ezri and her siblings, to the point where all of them moved far away from that house as soon as they could. This is intercut with a profile of Ezri's mother; an imperfect parent, but not a monster. Ezri spends a lot of time contemplating the ways in which they and their siblings were failed by their mother, but never condemns her completely for all that happened. It's a nuanced view of a parent out of their depths with all that's happening, and a very good character study.

The reveal was interesting. As it turns out, there's nothing supernatural about the house at all. The hauntings, the weird things happening - everything that went wrong in the house was orchestrated by their neighbour, Laurie, who was grooming Ezri throughout their childhood. This is something that Ezri has blocked out, because of the trauma they experienced. Laurie is a racist, and wanted Ezri's family out of her community, and in so doing traumatised and gaslit them as well as abusing Ezri, who was forced into a protector position over their siblings. Ezri's parents didn't want to move, though, because of their pride - this community should be open to them, this is their home. But in making that choice, they failed to protect their children. It's a horror not supernatural but mundane, and while in some cases this shift could just seem like a fake-out, I think it really works here. It's a symptom of a larger societal problem, a problem that all Black people have had to face one way or another. But the ending is not all that bleak, and though the siblings are rocked by the revelations, they still have each other in a way they didn't before. They can heal. Their children can heal. And sometimes, that is enough.