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Sarahland
"Queer, dirty, insightful, and so funny" (Andrea Lawlor), this coyly revolutionary debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists—almost all of whom are named Sarah.
FINALIST FOR THE GOLDEN POPPY AWARD FOR FICTION
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * LAMBDA LITERARY * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29 * COSMO * THE ADVOCATE * ALMA * PAPERBACK PARIS * WRITE OR DIE TRIBE * READS RAINBOW
In Sarahland , Sam Cohen brilliantly and often hilariously explores the ways in which traditional stories have failed us, both demanding and thrillingly providing for its cast of Sarahs new origin stories, new ways to love the planet and those inhabiting it, and new possibilities for life itself. In one story, a Jewish college Sarah passively consents to a form-life in pursuit of an MRS degree and is swept into a culture of normalized sexual violence. Another reveals a version of Sarah finding pleasure—and a new set of problems—by playing dead for a wealthy necrophiliac. A Buffy-loving Sarah uses fan fiction to work through romantic obsession. As the collection progresses, Cohen explodes this search for self, insisting that we have more to resist and repair than our own personal narratives. Readers witness as the ever-evolving "Sarah" gets as a bible-era trans woman, an aging lesbian literally growing roots, a being who transcends the earth as we know it. While Cohen presents a world that will clearly someday end, "Sarah" will continue.
In each Sarah's refusal to adhere to a single narrative, she potentially builds a better home for us all, a place to live that demands no fixity of self, no plague of consumerism, no bodily compromise, a place called Sarahland .
FINALIST FOR THE GOLDEN POPPY AWARD FOR FICTION
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * LAMBDA LITERARY * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29 * COSMO * THE ADVOCATE * ALMA * PAPERBACK PARIS * WRITE OR DIE TRIBE * READS RAINBOW
In Sarahland , Sam Cohen brilliantly and often hilariously explores the ways in which traditional stories have failed us, both demanding and thrillingly providing for its cast of Sarahs new origin stories, new ways to love the planet and those inhabiting it, and new possibilities for life itself. In one story, a Jewish college Sarah passively consents to a form-life in pursuit of an MRS degree and is swept into a culture of normalized sexual violence. Another reveals a version of Sarah finding pleasure—and a new set of problems—by playing dead for a wealthy necrophiliac. A Buffy-loving Sarah uses fan fiction to work through romantic obsession. As the collection progresses, Cohen explodes this search for self, insisting that we have more to resist and repair than our own personal narratives. Readers witness as the ever-evolving "Sarah" gets as a bible-era trans woman, an aging lesbian literally growing roots, a being who transcends the earth as we know it. While Cohen presents a world that will clearly someday end, "Sarah" will continue.
In each Sarah's refusal to adhere to a single narrative, she potentially builds a better home for us all, a place to live that demands no fixity of self, no plague of consumerism, no bodily compromise, a place called Sarahland .
199 pages, Hardcover
First published March 9, 2021
114 people are currently reading
10523 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 554 reviews
April 18, 2021
weird and nasty queer girls and gays
August 14, 2022
these stories are dark and dirty and magical and weird, super-gay with almost-fairytale vibes and a vague late-90s/early-00s flavor. they're all about different sarahs. or do some stories feature the same sarah again?
▴▴▴
some notes on some of my favorite stories:
sarahland - quietly depressing. the land of sarahs is infested by boys who will do harm, but our sarah is complacent. being used is the norm. this is just the way things are. and the jealousy after near-miss sapphic awakening is also sad as hell.
▴▴▴
naked furniture - really a dark fairytale, as this sarah is a dorothy figure who stumbles into a strange land of sex work. it's candid and ugly and dirty and real. what does it mean to be good at being dead?
▴▴▴
exorcism, or eating my twin - as soon as they dropped the phrase "parasitic lesbian relationship" i was ready, but i thought sarah would be the host, not the parasite. it's a really fucking sad breakup allegory. the desire to morph and become one with your beloved, to consume them entirely. when exorcism isn't possible, cannibalism is necessary. also, it's kind of quincesty.
▴▴▴
the first sarah - this one held my attention in its fist. a reimagined bible tale, sarah and abraham? i don't know the original, but i adored the telling of this one, a misguided love story that's casually trans. it's funny and written in a simple biblical sort of style. and it's sexy, too, all earth and lust and nature's fruit. and mother nature is "a fat, furry, and oozing dyke" who's not a big fan of god. and mother nature's laws are governed "only by hunger and love."
▴▴▴
becoming trees - a middle-aged sapphic couple decide to become trees, which is apparently technologically doable. they've done everything they want to do as humans, and want to grow inside the earth. bittersweet, as the earth is dying, and once they are trees, do they have more or less power to save the earth?
▴▴▴
all the teenaged sarahs - a girl longs to go to horse camp, an idealized place that may or may not exist. years pass and she goes to college and she still feels 12 years old, still longs for this dream of horses and friendship. there are tests and allies and enemies, and maybe the real world of indepence and ugly queer camaraderie is more valuable than the imagined horse fantasy anyway.
▴▴▴
so many sarahs. so many lost girls.
anyway. i loved it.
▴▴▴
some notes on some of my favorite stories:
sarahland - quietly depressing. the land of sarahs is infested by boys who will do harm, but our sarah is complacent. being used is the norm. this is just the way things are. and the jealousy after near-miss sapphic awakening is also sad as hell.
This is what eating leads to. You start recklessly putting things into your body and you just become permeable. When I become a dolphin, I will eat only raw fish, catching them in my teeth as they swim by.
▴▴▴
naked furniture - really a dark fairytale, as this sarah is a dorothy figure who stumbles into a strange land of sex work. it's candid and ugly and dirty and real. what does it mean to be good at being dead?
▴▴▴
exorcism, or eating my twin - as soon as they dropped the phrase "parasitic lesbian relationship" i was ready, but i thought sarah would be the host, not the parasite. it's a really fucking sad breakup allegory. the desire to morph and become one with your beloved, to consume them entirely. when exorcism isn't possible, cannibalism is necessary. also, it's kind of quincesty.
▴▴▴
the first sarah - this one held my attention in its fist. a reimagined bible tale, sarah and abraham? i don't know the original, but i adored the telling of this one, a misguided love story that's casually trans. it's funny and written in a simple biblical sort of style. and it's sexy, too, all earth and lust and nature's fruit. and mother nature is "a fat, furry, and oozing dyke" who's not a big fan of god. and mother nature's laws are governed "only by hunger and love."
She believed that lesbian mothers would thwart the building of nations, that from here on out, humanity would be gawping up at tree limbs, slicing and grilling cacti, cumming all over each other in the sand, eating the magical mushrooms she'd strewn around for them so that they could talk to the plants.
▴▴▴
becoming trees - a middle-aged sapphic couple decide to become trees, which is apparently technologically doable. they've done everything they want to do as humans, and want to grow inside the earth. bittersweet, as the earth is dying, and once they are trees, do they have more or less power to save the earth?
I watered tomatoes, peonies, oregano, basil, summer squash. The plants seemed full of conflicting desires. They wanted to burrow into the cool black loam and also to reach into the sun. They wanted to keep their process secret in a tight little bud and then unfurl all at once, pink and glorious. I'd always felt pressured to identify as an introvert or an extrovert. As butch or femme. I never got over wanting to have my cake and eat it, too. No one told the plants they had to be one thing or another.
▴▴▴
all the teenaged sarahs - a girl longs to go to horse camp, an idealized place that may or may not exist. years pass and she goes to college and she still feels 12 years old, still longs for this dream of horses and friendship. there are tests and allies and enemies, and maybe the real world of indepence and ugly queer camaraderie is more valuable than the imagined horse fantasy anyway.
▴▴▴
so many sarahs. so many lost girls.
anyway. i loved it.
May 30, 2022
❀ blog ❀ thestorygraph ❀ letterboxd ❀ tumblr ❀ ko-fi ❀
Kinky, offbeat, and playful, Sarahland is a madcap story collection. Most of the stories focus on queer Jewish young women who are named or rename themselves Sarah. Their quest for identity and love leads them astray from traditional notions of femininity and adulthood. They become entangled in parasitic relationships, lose and regain their sense of self, use fanfiction to cope with heartbreak and alienation, indulge in their fetishes, and decide to become trees in order to transcend their human bodies.
These narratives are smutty, experimental, and surreal. The characters are fluent in internet-speak and fandom culture, they blur the lines between fantasy and reality, use films/tv shows/musicians as a way of exploring their identities or to reflect on their relationships.
In the first story, which is aptly named 'Sarahland', we follow a Sarah who is a university student in an all Jewish dorm. She has become part of a clique of Sarahs, with Sarah A. and Sarah B., and the three function almost as a multi-conscious entity (which of course brought to mind Mona Awad's Bunny). Cohen's take on the Jewish American Princess in this story, while not particularly subversive, is playful and self-aware. The story shows how our Sarah is forced into adopting a lifestyle she doesn't particularly care for, but breaking away from it isn't an easy process. In the second, 'Naked Furniture', we have a Sarah who begins working at a brothel, where she finds contentment by being spanked or by playing dead for a client with a necrophiliac streak. She begins to have sex with another girl from the brothel and the two engage in some kinky slightly-fucked-up shit (baby play). In the third story, 'Exorcising, Or Eating My Twin', a Sarah comes across her 'twin' which she renames Tegan in honour of Tegan & Sarah. But as time goes by Tegan doesn't seem keen on sharing an identity/life with Sarah. Later in the collection, we get a Bible retelling of Sarah's story (Abraham wife/sister) where Cohen juxtaposes a historical setting with modern colloquialism.
After the first couple of stories, these narratives did tend to blur together as they all revolved around Sarahs with the same type of personality. They are alternative, obsessive, and clingy. They are not thin or straight. Their attempts at counterculture were a bit...so what?
I don't know but the more stories I read the less entertaining I found Cohen's style. Her treacly prose, which brought to mind authors like Awad, is best handled in small doses, otherwise, its stickiness feels sickening almost. At the end of the day, the collection seemed more about sex and not much else. While the Sarahs' narratives are laced with a ribald sense of humor, Cohen is not quite in the same league as Ottessa Moshfegh or Jen Beagin. There were certain descriptions (such as labia=snails...), scenes, and elements that tried too hard to be 'subversive' and 'zany'. Out of the 10 stories we get I actually only ended up liking the first one, the rest were all flash and no substance. The humor too was very hit or miss for me (many of 'ah-ah' moments relied on the use of the word patriarchy or 'cis white male' jokes which were not particularly original).
Still, if you are a fan of Awad or Melissa Broder you might find Sarahland to be a more satisfying collection than I did. While to begin with I appreciated how weird and campy these stories were ultimately too samey. Cohen is nonetheless a promising writer and I look forward to reading her future works.
Kinky, offbeat, and playful, Sarahland is a madcap story collection. Most of the stories focus on queer Jewish young women who are named or rename themselves Sarah. Their quest for identity and love leads them astray from traditional notions of femininity and adulthood. They become entangled in parasitic relationships, lose and regain their sense of self, use fanfiction to cope with heartbreak and alienation, indulge in their fetishes, and decide to become trees in order to transcend their human bodies.
These narratives are smutty, experimental, and surreal. The characters are fluent in internet-speak and fandom culture, they blur the lines between fantasy and reality, use films/tv shows/musicians as a way of exploring their identities or to reflect on their relationships.
In the first story, which is aptly named 'Sarahland', we follow a Sarah who is a university student in an all Jewish dorm. She has become part of a clique of Sarahs, with Sarah A. and Sarah B., and the three function almost as a multi-conscious entity (which of course brought to mind Mona Awad's Bunny). Cohen's take on the Jewish American Princess in this story, while not particularly subversive, is playful and self-aware. The story shows how our Sarah is forced into adopting a lifestyle she doesn't particularly care for, but breaking away from it isn't an easy process. In the second, 'Naked Furniture', we have a Sarah who begins working at a brothel, where she finds contentment by being spanked or by playing dead for a client with a necrophiliac streak. She begins to have sex with another girl from the brothel and the two engage in some kinky slightly-fucked-up shit (baby play). In the third story, 'Exorcising, Or Eating My Twin', a Sarah comes across her 'twin' which she renames Tegan in honour of Tegan & Sarah. But as time goes by Tegan doesn't seem keen on sharing an identity/life with Sarah. Later in the collection, we get a Bible retelling of Sarah's story (Abraham wife/sister) where Cohen juxtaposes a historical setting with modern colloquialism.
After the first couple of stories, these narratives did tend to blur together as they all revolved around Sarahs with the same type of personality. They are alternative, obsessive, and clingy. They are not thin or straight. Their attempts at counterculture were a bit...so what?
I don't know but the more stories I read the less entertaining I found Cohen's style. Her treacly prose, which brought to mind authors like Awad, is best handled in small doses, otherwise, its stickiness feels sickening almost. At the end of the day, the collection seemed more about sex and not much else. While the Sarahs' narratives are laced with a ribald sense of humor, Cohen is not quite in the same league as Ottessa Moshfegh or Jen Beagin. There were certain descriptions (such as labia=snails...), scenes, and elements that tried too hard to be 'subversive' and 'zany'. Out of the 10 stories we get I actually only ended up liking the first one, the rest were all flash and no substance. The humor too was very hit or miss for me (many of 'ah-ah' moments relied on the use of the word patriarchy or 'cis white male' jokes which were not particularly original).
Still, if you are a fan of Awad or Melissa Broder you might find Sarahland to be a more satisfying collection than I did. While to begin with I appreciated how weird and campy these stories were ultimately too samey. Cohen is nonetheless a promising writer and I look forward to reading her future works.
Read
May 18, 2021I am flattered to be included with Sarah Paulson but other than knowing exactly which book Sam was referring to, I really didn't get it. Perplexed but thank you.
January 4, 2021
👑👑👑👑👑 (five stars as rated in crowns because "Sarah" means PRINCESS, y'all! Don't @ me cuz it's true.)
I was given a free advanced reader copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, I was really hoping to love this book. But, people, I LOVED this book. I laughed, I cringed, and I related to SO, so much. This is a book for anyone who has experienced an awkward phase/decade/existence. I really can not recommend it highly enough. I would give five stars to every story minus one that, truth be told, actually really bothered me. Next to all the other, wonderfully progressive tales, I was very disappointed and disturbed by that one. Like, REALLY disturbed. THAT BEING SAID, the rest of the book was marvelous. So much so that I didn't dock any stars for the one bothersome one.
Content warnings for these stories: antisemitism, alcohol, drinking culture, college culture, underage drinking, body shaming, questionable sexual consent, forced surrogacy, forced servitude, slavery, sex, disordered eating, sex work, depression estrangement from a parent, toxic relationships, codependency, bullying, cliques, bdsm, abduction, self harm, breath play
January 26, 2021
So smart and so funny, yet somehow also found myself crying from all kinds of complicated emotions many times while reading this book of short stories. I loved how I was surprised by where every sentence went -- every narrative, page, and phrase was its own adventure, and the prose is just so so so alive. I feel a lot more thoughtful, educated, and empathetic about femme identity, Jewish identity, queerness, being a girl, being a woman, being a human, being a part of nature, being responsible for our world and the communities in it, after reading. I am trying to wait the right amount of time before reading it again, but I am really excited. The ending is so good that I want to spoil it here but I won't.
March 19, 2021
Incredible. Magical. Brilliant. One of the best collections I’ve read.
Real-life Sarah certified.
Real-life Sarah certified.
April 19, 2021
What a great read. I loved the different ways Sarah was casted. Funny, creative and captivating. I highly recommend.
4.05 · Rating details · 139 ratings · 47 reviews
"Queer, dirty, insightful, and so funny" (Andrea Lawlor), this coyly revolutionary debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists—almost all of whom are named Sarah.
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * LAMBDA LITERARY * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29 * COSMO * THE ADVOCATE * ALMA * PA ...more
GET A COPY
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Hardcover, 208 pages
Published March 9th 2021 by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN1538735067 (ISBN13: 9781538735060)
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Feb 07, 2021Micielle marked it as to-read
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Average rating4.05 · Rating details · 139 ratings · 47 reviews
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4.05 · Rating details · 139 ratings · 47 reviews
"Queer, dirty, insightful, and so funny" (Andrea Lawlor), this coyly revolutionary debut story collection imagines new origins and futures for its cast of unforgettable protagonists—almost all of whom are named Sarah.
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2021 BY THE MILLIONS * OPRAH MAGAZINE * LAMBDA LITERARY * ELECTRIC LITERATURE * REFINERY29 * COSMO * THE ADVOCATE * ALMA * PA ...more
GET A COPY
Kindle Store $11.99AmazonStores ▾Libraries
Hardcover, 208 pages
Published March 9th 2021 by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN1538735067 (ISBN13: 9781538735060)
Other Editions (4)
Sarahland
Sarahland
Sarahland
Sarahland
All Editions | Add a New Edition | Combine
...Less DetailEdit Details
EditMY ACTIVITY
Review of ISBN 9781538735060
Rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Shelves to-read edit
( 20970th )
Format Hardcover edit
Status
February 7, 2021 – Shelved
February 7, 2021 – Shelved as: to-read
Review Write a review
comment
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Recommend This Book None of your friends have reviewed this book yet.
REVIEWS FROM PEOPLE YOU FOLLOW (1)
Micielle
Feb 07, 2021Micielle marked it as to-read
Like · comment
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Ask the Goodreads community a question about Sarahland
50864557. uy100 cr16,0,100,100
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Average rating4.05 · Rating details · 139 ratings · 47 reviews
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March 29, 2021
These stories were somehow gently and extremely weird all at the same time. There were moments in some of them that were so off-putting to me, but I literally could not stop reading. I found myself reading with my mouth gaping open in surprise at times, and completely memorized by the beauty of the writing. I mean how can something so pretty and fun be at the same time so disturbing?
What is great about these stories is that I never know where they are going. A lot of times with short stories, very quickly in I get "it" and then start digging for subtext, already knowing where the writer is taking me. This is NOT what happened here. . . These stories took me all sorts of places and I had no idea where I was heading. So they call for rereading because each and every story elicits, exacts, and provokes thought. I read one story a day, letting them sink in . . . and now I'm going to go back and dip in and out randomly.
What is great about these stories is that I never know where they are going. A lot of times with short stories, very quickly in I get "it" and then start digging for subtext, already knowing where the writer is taking me. This is NOT what happened here. . . These stories took me all sorts of places and I had no idea where I was heading. So they call for rereading because each and every story elicits, exacts, and provokes thought. I read one story a day, letting them sink in . . . and now I'm going to go back and dip in and out randomly.
December 1, 2021
Long review to come, but yeah, this was 100% FOR ME, BABY!!! Best book I've read in two months. 4.5 stars rounded up.
September 22, 2023
By far the weirdest book I’ve ever read
May 8, 2023
I want to study this book. I want to pick through with a fine-toothed comb and try to figure out how it accomplishes so much in such little time. These stories are sincere, compelling, strange, life-affirming, confusing, magical, and so so much more. I just don't know how she did it.
There's a story in here where two people find a machine in the back of a nearly abandoned mall that allows them to act out a script between two famous Sarahs (Michelle Gellar, Jessica Parker, Silverman, Schulman, among others) while their faces are digitally altered on a screen and they are taught to imitate the voices of their chosen Sarahs. There's another about a horse girl who's developmentally frozen at the age 12 and only realizes who she is after the aide of Buffy's mom from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and after dating one of the girls from The Craft. There's not one but two references to Tori Amos.
These stories are told with such love and sincerity and are so so beautiful and I just want to compulsively be able to pick up this book and reread them over and over and over again.
There's a story in here where two people find a machine in the back of a nearly abandoned mall that allows them to act out a script between two famous Sarahs (Michelle Gellar, Jessica Parker, Silverman, Schulman, among others) while their faces are digitally altered on a screen and they are taught to imitate the voices of their chosen Sarahs. There's another about a horse girl who's developmentally frozen at the age 12 and only realizes who she is after the aide of Buffy's mom from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and after dating one of the girls from The Craft. There's not one but two references to Tori Amos.
These stories are told with such love and sincerity and are so so beautiful and I just want to compulsively be able to pick up this book and reread them over and over and over again.
March 30, 2021
This book had me alternating between:
1. Laughing out loud,
2. Thinking “I might not be smart enough to understand this,” and
3. Howling "OMG THAT IS EXACTLY HOW THAT IS!"
Brief summary:
Sarahland (by Sam Cohen) is a twisty (and in places, surreal) collection of stories that each contain a Sarah. Queerness, gender, religion, (the acceptance/rejection of) culture norms, and identity are all themes touched on throughout.
I had a really good time reading this collection, but I think my two favorite stories were “Naked Furniture” and “The First Sarah”. I also really loved “Gossip” and “Becoming Trees”. And “Dream Palace”. And “The Purple Epoch”. I mean- there wasn’t a dud.
Any time I felt myself wondering if this was going to be a collection that would stick with me (or if I could handle another Buffy reference that would float right on over my head), Cohen would drop a line that had me in stitches. The writing is truly funny.
Like this, from “Becoming Trees”:
“I heard you. It’s a fucked-up story. Two dudes fighting over their shooting skills aka cock size and this poor river bitch Daphne just happens to be there.” “I know,” I said. “It’s like everything.”
And from “Gossip”:
“Are you okay?” Ada asked. It was weird, for a person with her ass in the air to ask this, but also appropriate. It’s appropriate to ask a dead-eyed lover if they’re okay.”
Many stories have an element of a character (or characters) attempting to figure out what’s at their core. From “Naked Furniture”:
“There had been a store in Sarah’s hometown called the Naked Furniture Store and this is how Sarah felt, like naked furniture, like something embarrassingly unfinished, something that could be anything.”
and:
“It wasn’t that Sarah didn’t want to be her own person, it was just that she couldn’t figure out how other people became specific like they were.”
There was also so much to relate to. I mean who hasn’t done this (from the title story, “Sarahland”):
“Sarah B. gets margherita, which she daubs with napkins until there’s a pile of see-through napkins on the table and the cheese looks putty-dry.”
Or maybe felt like this, from “”Exorcism, or Eating My Twin”:
“How I felt was, my heart shrunk to walnut size, like a scared snail, like a cold testicle, like I don’t know, something that shrinks very fast in response to a frightening stimulus.”
And here, from “Becoming Trees”:
“I realized my heart had been scrunched up tight in my chest, because right then it expanded. It made me think of those plastic capsules, the ones you’d put into water and they’d turn into dinosaur sponges. So that was how it started. My heart turned into a dinosaur sponge.”
And, finally, because THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT IS, also from “Becoming Trees”:
“We believed in a future in which women used soft power to stop men from using their phallic drills to siphon the earth’s blood, to plumb nonconsensually into it and steal its powerful black energy-juice in order to make their penisy Lamborghinis go faster.”
Highly recommend this collection.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the review copy!
1. Laughing out loud,
2. Thinking “I might not be smart enough to understand this,” and
3. Howling "OMG THAT IS EXACTLY HOW THAT IS!"
Brief summary:
Sarahland (by Sam Cohen) is a twisty (and in places, surreal) collection of stories that each contain a Sarah. Queerness, gender, religion, (the acceptance/rejection of) culture norms, and identity are all themes touched on throughout.
I had a really good time reading this collection, but I think my two favorite stories were “Naked Furniture” and “The First Sarah”. I also really loved “Gossip” and “Becoming Trees”. And “Dream Palace”. And “The Purple Epoch”. I mean- there wasn’t a dud.
Any time I felt myself wondering if this was going to be a collection that would stick with me (or if I could handle another Buffy reference that would float right on over my head), Cohen would drop a line that had me in stitches. The writing is truly funny.
Like this, from “Becoming Trees”:
“I heard you. It’s a fucked-up story. Two dudes fighting over their shooting skills aka cock size and this poor river bitch Daphne just happens to be there.” “I know,” I said. “It’s like everything.”
And from “Gossip”:
“Are you okay?” Ada asked. It was weird, for a person with her ass in the air to ask this, but also appropriate. It’s appropriate to ask a dead-eyed lover if they’re okay.”
Many stories have an element of a character (or characters) attempting to figure out what’s at their core. From “Naked Furniture”:
“There had been a store in Sarah’s hometown called the Naked Furniture Store and this is how Sarah felt, like naked furniture, like something embarrassingly unfinished, something that could be anything.”
and:
“It wasn’t that Sarah didn’t want to be her own person, it was just that she couldn’t figure out how other people became specific like they were.”
There was also so much to relate to. I mean who hasn’t done this (from the title story, “Sarahland”):
“Sarah B. gets margherita, which she daubs with napkins until there’s a pile of see-through napkins on the table and the cheese looks putty-dry.”
Or maybe felt like this, from “”Exorcism, or Eating My Twin”:
“How I felt was, my heart shrunk to walnut size, like a scared snail, like a cold testicle, like I don’t know, something that shrinks very fast in response to a frightening stimulus.”
And here, from “Becoming Trees”:
“I realized my heart had been scrunched up tight in my chest, because right then it expanded. It made me think of those plastic capsules, the ones you’d put into water and they’d turn into dinosaur sponges. So that was how it started. My heart turned into a dinosaur sponge.”
And, finally, because THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT IS, also from “Becoming Trees”:
“We believed in a future in which women used soft power to stop men from using their phallic drills to siphon the earth’s blood, to plumb nonconsensually into it and steal its powerful black energy-juice in order to make their penisy Lamborghinis go faster.”
Highly recommend this collection.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the review copy!
May 25, 2023
4.5 / just the most fantastic & unique stories!
fav quotes:
“I guess I do want to change the world, to make it void of money and boys at least.”
“The plants seemed full of conflicting desires. They wanted to burrow into the cold black loam and also to reach into the sun. They wanted to keep their process secret in a tight little bud and then unfurl all at once, pink and glorious. I’d always felt pressured to identify as an introvert or an extrovert. As butch or femme. I never got over wanting to have my cake and eat it, too. No one told the plants they had to be one thing or another. I slipped off my sandals and stood barefoot in the garden. I imagined the soles of my feet growing little hairs, then tentacles that reached down and multiplied outward. Suddenly, I had never wanted anything so much”
“‘I was a horse kid, too,’ they say. It feels cool to hear them say this, like there are secret horse kids interspersed throughout the population of the world, like being a horse kid meant something.”
fav quotes:
“I guess I do want to change the world, to make it void of money and boys at least.”
“The plants seemed full of conflicting desires. They wanted to burrow into the cold black loam and also to reach into the sun. They wanted to keep their process secret in a tight little bud and then unfurl all at once, pink and glorious. I’d always felt pressured to identify as an introvert or an extrovert. As butch or femme. I never got over wanting to have my cake and eat it, too. No one told the plants they had to be one thing or another. I slipped off my sandals and stood barefoot in the garden. I imagined the soles of my feet growing little hairs, then tentacles that reached down and multiplied outward. Suddenly, I had never wanted anything so much”
“‘I was a horse kid, too,’ they say. It feels cool to hear them say this, like there are secret horse kids interspersed throughout the population of the world, like being a horse kid meant something.”
May 9, 2022
this was weird. elaboration to come.
sarahland is a collection of stories based around queer sarahs. every story features a new person named sarah and their increasingly weird stories about queerness and what ever else sam cohen wanted to include.
the idea is genius and so much fun, but some of the stories were so weird that it was a slight turnoff. i ended up skimming the last 60 pages just because i was a bit bored and had met my weird quota for the book.
i will say that “the first sarah” is my favorite story in the whole collection. it took a story that i grew up hearing (sarah and abraham) and made it queer and so much fun. i’m still thinking about this story days later.
there were others that were definitely memorable too. sarahland is for sure the most unique short story collection i’ve ever read.
sarahland is a collection of stories based around queer sarahs. every story features a new person named sarah and their increasingly weird stories about queerness and what ever else sam cohen wanted to include.
the idea is genius and so much fun, but some of the stories were so weird that it was a slight turnoff. i ended up skimming the last 60 pages just because i was a bit bored and had met my weird quota for the book.
i will say that “the first sarah” is my favorite story in the whole collection. it took a story that i grew up hearing (sarah and abraham) and made it queer and so much fun. i’m still thinking about this story days later.
there were others that were definitely memorable too. sarahland is for sure the most unique short story collection i’ve ever read.
March 21, 2023
UPDATE: 5/5 || the most conceptually cohesive & inventive short story collection I’ve read. literally reinvents itself with every read
4.75
Inventive, poignant, tragic, funny, unstable, excessive, full of desire and dolphins
“Whatever was going to happen to me was going to happen here, I decided, on a barren hill on my screen where information from Tegan arrived, on my screen where I typed stories to make Tegan love me, in the hills where it was okay to be an ugly animal.”
.
.
“I love my memory of Tegan, or my invention of Tegan, and I hate the new Tegan, the real Tegan, who is probably not even named Tegan anymore, or rather, what Tegan was named before I named them Tegan.”
4.75
Inventive, poignant, tragic, funny, unstable, excessive, full of desire and dolphins
“Whatever was going to happen to me was going to happen here, I decided, on a barren hill on my screen where information from Tegan arrived, on my screen where I typed stories to make Tegan love me, in the hills where it was okay to be an ugly animal.”
.
.
“I love my memory of Tegan, or my invention of Tegan, and I hate the new Tegan, the real Tegan, who is probably not even named Tegan anymore, or rather, what Tegan was named before I named them Tegan.”
March 14, 2021
oh my god I loved this — it is so bizarre and fucked up and queer and sad and funny and just TEEMING with life on every page.
probably my favorites were “naked furniture” and “exorcism, or eating my twin” and “the first sarah” and “gossip” but obviously I really can’t pick, I genuinely loved almost every one.
probably my favorites were “naked furniture” and “exorcism, or eating my twin” and “the first sarah” and “gossip” but obviously I really can’t pick, I genuinely loved almost every one.
Read
July 22, 2021"I love this book with everything in me- which is more than what was in me before I started reading this book" - my sarah
December 5, 2022
dang what a good time
October 3, 2024
I loved this freaky little lesbian short story Sarah collection 😂
January 15, 2023
YES. Yes and (did I mention?) YES!!! Gay, Jewish, hot, smart, magical as hell, and utterly hilarious— my very favorite things. I loved every single one of these stories (is that even possible?!) with unwavering intensity. I want to eat this book and all the beautiful people in it.
March 19, 2021
Rated and reviewed only for the story "All the Teenaged Sarahs," which it is possible to read here if you wish to. This story is very, very good at what it does and I wish I hadn't read it, honestly. It needs... a very long list of CWs, that I'm not actually going to look back through the story to list, but consider yourself fairly warned. The author's compassion for the main character is clear from how effectively the POV is written, but this is a very difficult story to inhabit, even briefly.
October 2, 2023
“She had seen that life could be an endless parade of tiny coffees and cigarettes, that people didn’t have to walk around with shitty plastered cheer that only advertised the shame they felt at their own dissatisfaction at living in a life-destroying system.”
Honestly one of my top books of 2022. Cohen has a way with words and it was truly refreshing to read this. Witty, kinky, gay fantasies fill the pages, and are accompanied by a masterful combined balance of irony, humour, and juxtaposition. Her writing style and tone work perfectly to curate characters and stories of life, death, lesbianism, and sex. It was unlike anything I have read. This book is the definition of “for the girls and the gays”. I’d love to gatekeep this book but I also want everyone to read these stories. Words cannot accurately describe the experience of consuming this novel. If you’re looking for something fun, gay, and mystical to read go pick this up!!
Honestly one of my top books of 2022. Cohen has a way with words and it was truly refreshing to read this. Witty, kinky, gay fantasies fill the pages, and are accompanied by a masterful combined balance of irony, humour, and juxtaposition. Her writing style and tone work perfectly to curate characters and stories of life, death, lesbianism, and sex. It was unlike anything I have read. This book is the definition of “for the girls and the gays”. I’d love to gatekeep this book but I also want everyone to read these stories. Words cannot accurately describe the experience of consuming this novel. If you’re looking for something fun, gay, and mystical to read go pick this up!!
March 10, 2025
Stories about quirky Jewish lesbian Sarahs. Very kinky. Very Buffy-obsessed.
There’s a story about a Buffy fanfiction writer who writes about Giles and Faith making out and I AM DONE, it had an interesting progress that kept me wondering what would happen (and I wish it had been longer). 'Naked Furniture' lowkey traumatized me, it's about women who work as prostitutes pretending to be dead for people who are into necrophilia.
Not bothering with a review but it was a fun quirky read. 3.5*
There’s a story about a Buffy fanfiction writer who writes about Giles and Faith making out and I AM DONE, it had an interesting progress that kept me wondering what would happen (and I wish it had been longer). 'Naked Furniture' lowkey traumatized me, it's about women who work as prostitutes pretending to be dead for people who are into necrophilia.
Not bothering with a review but it was a fun quirky read. 3.5*
August 1, 2022
I have a ton of admiration for these bold, hilarious, totally fearless stories. Sam Cohen has perfect comic timing and deadpan delivery, but she's also completely earnest in her deep exploration of gender and sex and sexuality and a queer universe beyond society's parameters. Sarahland starts off somewhat traditionally--coming-of-age stories of college dorms and lost graduates--and gets increasingly kaleidoscopic and ambitious: elaborate queer retellings of Bible stories; partners beginning the delicate process of transforming themselves into trees; post-apocalyptic Sah-wahs wandering the blasted landscape on six talon legs.
Cohen is equally good at all of it. Her college and post-college stories--about discovery and ruin and sexual violence and the search for a coherent identity--land like thunderclaps. Her more challenging stories are gleefully experimental. Underneath it all is Cohen's murderous wit. For all its serious subject matter, Sarahland is surprisingly accessible--probably because Cohen's writing is always wildly entertaining. Debut collections like this make me jealous.
Cohen is equally good at all of it. Her college and post-college stories--about discovery and ruin and sexual violence and the search for a coherent identity--land like thunderclaps. Her more challenging stories are gleefully experimental. Underneath it all is Cohen's murderous wit. For all its serious subject matter, Sarahland is surprisingly accessible--probably because Cohen's writing is always wildly entertaining. Debut collections like this make me jealous.
September 8, 2022
This was INCREDIBLE!!!! I am a well-known short story anti, I have never before enjoyed a short story collection or anthology as much as I loved Sarahland. Did I pick it up because I'm watching Buffy for the first time and I'm obsessed and one of the short stories is about a sapphic relationship between two Buffy fanfic writers? Yes! But this blew me away completely, not least because three of the short stories mentioned or included Buffy/Sarah Michelle Geller in some way or another! My favourite of the stories were Sarahland, Naked Furniture, Exorcism or Eating My Twin, Gemstones (hit very close to my own reality!), and All the Teenaged Sarahs. The Purple Epoch closed the collection off so well and I love how aspects of each story are displayed on the cover (RIP my gorgeous physical copy that got soaked when we attempted to go camping!). Cannot recommend this one enough, my only wish is that there was less fatphobia from the characters (though it did fit in with their characterisation). Definitely a new favourite of all time!
July 23, 2024
This book was made for me!! Every story had characters named Sarah, it was weird and fun and queer — just so entertaining. Yay Sarah's of the world!!
January 11, 2025
Altogether this collection is so so interesting and thoughtful. It has a very approachable style while staying perfectly weird and strange at times. It plays with perspectives in a very fascinating way. I was looking for all the Sarah's and they weren't always who you thought.
I really appreciated all of its sapphic, trans, political and environmental explorations.
I really appreciated all of its sapphic, trans, political and environmental explorations.
December 16, 2024
this is exactly what it’s like to be named sarah
January 20, 2023
weird and queer and cohesive and thoughtful!! like This is a short story COLLECTION
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