Scan barcode
A review by katiedoodle
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
4.0
This book was surprisingly good. I sometimes get a little hesitant about fairy tale retellings because I expect them to be a little too hamfisted, but this had a very loose connection to Little Red Riding Hood, allowing it to really be its own story.
I enjoyed the author's writing style, particularly the use of narrative interjected occasionally with stream-of-consciousness thoughts from the protagonist. It felt realistic and helped me connect with her.
I do have a couple minor gripes with the protagonist. She is a serious know-it-all, and I understand that this is kind of addressed at the end as something she needs to work on, but it felt a little like it was hurriedly tacked on. The fact is that Red is correct about most things throughout the story, although she really shouldn't be, in my opinion. She strikes me as so over-the-top paranoid about every possible obstacle that it would be unreasonable to expect any of her misgivings to play out in most circumstances. And she has such an in-your-face attitude about it that it got a bit exhausting at times. My irritation with this is bolstered by the fact that she seems to be informed largely by being genre-savvy. She is pretty smart, so it feels like she should know that things don't just happen like they do in the movies. It's not a big deal but I think a little more reflection on her part demonstrating that this isn't super helpful might have been nice.
Relatedly, Red is also framed as a character who is kind of quirky because she... likes movies and books. Or at least her brother seems to think this is weird and gives her no end of grief for it. Not that unreasonable for a sibling to do, but kind of hard to believe that anyone would find it out of the ordinary to like two of the most popular forms of entertainment. And not even obscure stuff, but mainstream stories like Alien and Silence of the Lambs.
Despite this, I found Red relatable overall. There is depth to her character. She is smart and organized but her plans don't always pan out, and she sometimes lets her pragmatism get in the way of understanding others' emotions. She is willing to protect herself, but she doesn't enjoy violence and reacts with disgust when it is necessary. Yeah, her hubris annoyed me, but she feels like a real person, and her interactions with different characters were pretty believable.
Based on this book, I think I would read more from this author in the future.
I enjoyed the author's writing style, particularly the use of narrative interjected occasionally with stream-of-consciousness thoughts from the protagonist. It felt realistic and helped me connect with her.
I do have a couple minor gripes with the protagonist. She is a serious know-it-all, and I understand that this is kind of addressed at the end as something she needs to work on, but it felt a little like it was hurriedly tacked on. The fact is that Red is correct about most things throughout the story, although she really shouldn't be, in my opinion. She strikes me as so over-the-top paranoid about every possible obstacle that it would be unreasonable to expect any of her misgivings to play out in most circumstances. And she has such an in-your-face attitude about it that it got a bit exhausting at times. My irritation with this is bolstered by the fact that she seems to be informed largely by being genre-savvy. She is pretty smart, so it feels like she should know that things don't just happen like they do in the movies. It's not a big deal but I think a little more reflection on her part demonstrating that this isn't super helpful might have been nice.
Relatedly, Red is also framed as a character who is kind of quirky because she... likes movies and books. Or at least her brother seems to think this is weird and gives her no end of grief for it. Not that unreasonable for a sibling to do, but kind of hard to believe that anyone would find it out of the ordinary to like two of the most popular forms of entertainment. And not even obscure stuff, but mainstream stories like Alien and Silence of the Lambs.
Despite this, I found Red relatable overall. There is depth to her character. She is smart and organized but her plans don't always pan out, and she sometimes lets her pragmatism get in the way of understanding others' emotions. She is willing to protect herself, but she doesn't enjoy violence and reacts with disgust when it is necessary. Yeah, her hubris annoyed me, but she feels like a real person, and her interactions with different characters were pretty believable.
Based on this book, I think I would read more from this author in the future.