A Sorrow Named Joy, by Sarah Chorn
The Book
Synopsis:
Joy desires nothing more than her husband's happiness. She spends her days creating the perfect life for him in their idyllic suburban home. Everything is neat, predictable, and in its place.
When Joy finds a picture that hints at a past she cannot remember, the facade cracks. As secrets are revealed, Joy realizes her blissful life is crumbling and to find herself, she must first lose herself.
Perfect, after all, is only an illusion.
My Review
A Sorrow Named Joy is a science fiction novella written by Sarah Chorn. A relatively short piece but as you can know at this point from any Chorn's fiction, a highly emotional and impactful book.
Joy's only desire in life is her husband's happiness; a perfect life dedicated to him, but a bit predictable, routine defining it. But one day, she finds a picture of past she cannot remember; and the reaction of her husband ends unleashing the secret behind Joy's own existence, which will need to readjust to the new reality.
A novella which puts the focus on emotions, with a concept that vaguely remembers to some of the Westworld's premises; however, I found the own Joy character to fall a bit plain in comparison with what I expected (especially closer to the end).
Said that, if you want a taste of what Chorn can do with so few pages, this novella is a good entry point to her writing; it's impactful and definitely, not the last piece I will read from Sarah Chorn.
Disclaimer: This novella has been read as part of the SFINCS. This review/rating only represents my personal opinion and it might differ with what the team decides.
The Author/s
Sarah Chorn
Sarah has been a compulsive reader her whole life. At a young age, she found her reading niche in the fantastic genre of Speculative Fiction. She blames her active imagination for the hobbies that threaten to consume her life. She is a freelance writer and editor, a semi-pro nature photographer, world traveler, three-time cancer survivor with hEDS, and mom to two. In her ideal world, she’d do nothing but drink lots of tea and read from a never-ending pile of speculative fiction books. She has been running the review blog Bookworm Blues for over ten years, has been editing books for four, and has been a published author since 2019.