The Girl in Red

I was very annoyed by this book. The thing I love about little red riding hood is the mystery element. Finding out the grandma is the wolf, but also speaking to the wolf. I love the adaptations that make the wolf something other than the bad guy the most. 

This didn't really even have a wolf element. It was more just every bad guy was an animal or something. It was very mild. The main character was also really unlikeable. She was ‘so much smarter' than everyone else. The whole of the people apparently could not think of all the things she could. Honestly, it was so annoying. 

The whole he/she-ing of the kids was also super dumb. Have you ever heard of the word ‘they' perhaps. For fucks sake. We didn't even get to see the fucking grandma. The ending was anti-climactic and the way the story was told with all the flashbacks also made all the main plot points be right next to each other, even though they were really weeks apart. I didn't like that either. 

3.5 rounded up.

Decent story, vaguely reminiscent of a zombie novel without actually being one. The disability representation (Red is an amputee) was pretty well done as far as I can tell, it's not treated with undue theatrics nor as a throwaway attempt at diversity in which the character's disability actually has no disabling effect it's just a character who also happens to be disabled, that was pretty refreshing.

I had a couple very minor issues with this book but overall, I freaking really liked it. It had great representation with the main character being biracial, the repercussions of being black in a world of prejudice, as well as being an amputee. I loved how her prosthetics, both physically and emotionally were discussed and the trails and tribulations it caused, especially is an apocalypse! Christina Henry did something really special by taking a genre that I love, filling it with diversity that it often lacks, and then combining that with the loved story of Red Riding Hood. This doesn't mean much but it has my stamp of approval!

Dit begon nogal meta, met lockdowns, een snel verspreidend virus en domme mensen die dom zijn. Gelukkig voor ons houden de overeenkomsten daar op. Terwijl wij weer een quasi gewone wereld hebben, stortte de wereld in dit boek volledig in. De tv is uitgevallen, de radio is uitgevallen, geen communicatie, geen instructies van de overheid, afgezien van opgepakt worden in quarantainekampen.

Red is een overdreven pragmatisch karakter en is vanaf haar geboorte volledig voorbereid op een situatie als deze. Helaas voor haar is haar familie dat niet. We volgen Red op haar reis naar haar grootmoeder, met aangrijpende flashbacks naar de dagen van dat begin van de crisis. Ze reist door de wildernis en komt onderweg meer dan alleen wolven tegen, want het lijkt erop dat een dodelijk virus niet het enige gevaar is dat op de loer ligt in de mensheid.

Ik vond dit echt leuk bedacht. Het was verfrissend om te lezen vanuit het perspectief van een personage dat geen idiote beslissingen neemt wanneer de wereld lijkt te eindigen.
De auteur schuwt gruwelijke scènes niet en over het algemeen was dit een meeslepende, interessante lezing. Maar hoewel het verhaal vrij langzaam vordert, heb ik het gevoel dat er wat meer verkenning van wat er aan de hand was, ontbrak. Ja, het verhaal gaat vooral over Red, haar denkprocessen en hoe ze haar bestemming probeert te bereiken, maar ik had echt gewild dat we wat meer hadden uitgezoomd en meer hadden geleerd over de oorzaak van de crisis en hoe ermee wordt omgegaan.
Dus ja, hoewel het boek het verhaal van Red uitstekend vertelt, kan ik niet anders dan toch een beetje teleurgesteld te zijn over het einde.

“She didn't know everything. And she didn't need to know everything. Maybe it was better if she never knew why the Crisis started, where the Cough came from, why there were weird monsters coming out of people's bodies.”

B-but I want to know? Everything about this book is almost perfect but the ending ruined it for me. It seemed like lazy writing to me because there are still many questions left unanswered. I wish there will be a sequel for us to learn more about the sickness and why the government did it.

A thrilling and exciting tale, dystopian (and we know I love a bit of that) maybe a bit premonitory (a mysterious virus killing off indiscriminately) and completely engaging.
Red pulls on a backpack and sets out for Grandmother's house and we tag along while the world gets wilder, weirder and increasingly more dangerous.
Using flashbacks to fill in the blanks, we never quite know exactly what has happened and the pace is kept up.
I'm rounding up to 5 stars because I feel the ending was rushed yet a little slow - important questions were unanswered and I felt a bit underwhelmed as I turned the last page.
But overall it was a most enjoyable read, I liked the movie references and thought Red was a damn fine hero!