Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold Published by Balzer & Bray on February 25, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings
Pages: 368
Source: Edelweiss, Blog Tour
My content rating: Mature YA (Themes of murder and sexual assault; Violence; Sexual content)
My rating:
You are alone in the woods, seen only by the unblinking yellow moon. Your hands are empty. You are nearly naked.
And the wolf is angry.
Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She’s kept mostly to herself. She’s been good. But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks. Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.
Elana K. Arnold, National Book Award finalist and author of the Printz Honor book Damsel, returns with a dark, engrossing, blood-drenched tale of the familiar threats to female power—and one girl’s journey to regain it.
Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Google
This book is a dark, brutal retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, an unflinching exploration of the victimization of women. It is not for the faint of heart, and I’m honestly a little unsure if I’d recommend it to the average YA reader. If you’re going to read this book, you need to know what you’re getting into. Not only are there many triggers in it, but Arnold pulls no punches when she depicts sex and violence (and menstruation, which is a big part of the story and is often described in vivid detail). That being said, it’s also incredibly powerful and will most certainly leave an impression. And the storytelling itself is masterful—I found myself flying through the book, eager to find out how the events would unfold. I was also surprisingly fond of the second-person narration (meaning that the story is told with “you” as the pronoun, as if Bisou is telling herself the story—and putting you right in the main character’s shoes).
I loved the way that friendships were highlighted in this book, showing that girls are so much stronger when they support each other. I also really appreciated that, in the midst of a lot of horrible situations involving men, Arnold also depicts Bisou’s thriving relationship with a wonderful guy who loves and supports her unconditionally (along with including a few other upstanding male characters). This was a breath of fresh air in a book that could have felt like it was saying all men are evil. I’ll confess that some of the themes and messages in this book left me unsettled—I’m still not exactly sure how I feel about all of it (I can’t go into detail without major spoilers). But the book opens up room for important dialogue, and it certainly got me thinking. That right there is enough to feed my fiction addiction.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via Edelweiss and FFBC blog tours in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About the Author
ELANA K. ARNOLD is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
(Also check out the second giveaway on Instagram.)
Win 1 copy of RED HOOD by Elana K. Arnold (US Only). Ends 3/3/20.
I think this is probably too intense for me but I just posted a list of YA books about sexual assault and rape culture and I’m going to add this one!
Yes, this definitely belongs on that list!!
Wow, that sounds really exceptional. I like retellings and this sounds like a good one.
I think you’d really like this one!
I can’t wait to read this one.
From what you’ve told me about your admiration for Arnold’s other books, I think you’ll appreciate this one too.
great cover. i like a book that unsettles me
Well, this one fits the bill!
While I have seen this book around, this is the first time I am truly seeing a review for it and uh, it sounds so dark and grim. I am surprised that it is second person narration and also that menustration is such a big part of it. I am glad it has strong female friendships and uplifting of other girls. I have to admit, because you said it was so dark and unsettling that is the exact reason why my interest is piqued…
Ha! Well, if dark and unsettling piques your interest, this is perfect for you!
I’m curious about this book now! A little curious about why menstruation would take such a large role in the book, though.
It’s related to the paranormal storyline—something that doesn’t happen with the main character until she gets her period for the first time.
Aaaaand as usual I could not agree more! I loved the messages in this book (for the most part hah) especially the whole thing about women being stronger when we work together, and that not ALL men are evil, but evil men are evil and need to be handled as such. Wonderful review, glad you liked iT (well- not “liked”, but appreciated, I feel like it would be weird if we “liked” it haha)
Yeah, it’s definitely odd to say you “like” this book with so many messed up things happening, but I know what you mean.
Sounds like a great read. Thanks for the chance.
You’re welcome. Good luck!!
I was on the fence about this one, but your review has me very much needing to read it now! Great review!
Glad I could push you over the edge! 🙂
It’s great to hear you enjoyed this one. It sounds like there is a lot to love about it! I especially love the role of female friendships and the unflinching exploration of the victimization of women.
Yes, there is a lot to love!
I just finished this for a review soon. I found it quite the compulsive read too even though I was a little disgusted by all the menstration references, some very juvenile and some just gross. There was a huge proponent of man hating like you said. But these don’t necessarily outshine the mentioned. Though her relationship with her boyfriend revolved around sex and doing things she didn’t really want to do to make him happy.
Hmmm… that’s an interesting perspective on her boyfriend. I didn’t get the impression that their relationship revolved around her doing things she didn’t want to do for him. (Though I do think maybe she did go to the dance to make him happy? I didn’t feel like it seemed like a pattern, though. There are always instances where we do something to make someone else happy, right? But maybe I missed a broader pattern.)