Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold (review)

I got familiar with Elana K. Arnold’s authorship when I last summer read ‘Damsel’. ‘Damsel’ is quite a different fantasy read with a different take on the feminist novel but I loved it! So when I discovered Arnold was publishing a new book in 2020 I had to get my hands on it. Continue to read my review of ‘Red Hood’. Be aware of minor spoilers at the end 😉

‘Red Hood’ follows Bisou Martel, who after getting her period experience a wolf attack in the woods. Bisou fights back and saves herself and later on many others. This mini synopsis may seem a bit vague but I don’t wanna spoil anything. Red Hood is a different book and maybe even strange. But it is good. (for a better synopsis look at the one from Harper Collins at the bottom) But ‘Red Hood’ is basically a book about blood, lots of blood, vicious boys and about standing up for yourself and others.

Okay, let’s start with the blood. FYI there is lots of it. The whole book starts off with Bisou getting her period at a not so lucky time…(if that was me I would probably also had run away screaming 😉) But Arnold doesn’t stop at that. She keeps describing how the blood flows and looks. How Bisou bleeds through a pad in the night and how she for the first time uses a tampon. I must admit it is strangely liberating to read about Bisous period because it is described without any constrains or suppression. It is just there, as it should be. The book is continuous with this easy attitude towards blood and periods. I am a fan. And if you read the book, you will discover how Bisou’s period in some way becomes a symbol of strength and power. 

Another thing you cannot bypass is the second-person narrator. I can’t remember if I have ever read a book with that way of narration but now I definitely have. It was a bit bizarre at first but you get used to it quite fast and then the book just captivates you even more because of that. I hope this won’t keep anyone for reading this book. It is uncommon but it is refreshing.

This book is different. I have said that a few times now. I think it has to do with the way that Arnold mixes both contemporary fiction and fantasy. Goodreads has marked ‘Red Hood’ as a fantasy novel and a retelling but I would say it is closer to a contemporary novel with unnatural elements. Which I guess puts it somewhere in the magic realism genre. Anyway, Arnold uses this mixed sphere as a realm for feminism and equality. “Acts” of feminism/equality is both seen in a realistic and unnatural context. In the realistic context, the acts seem quite straightforward and universal, like a sisterhood. But when it happens in an unnatural context, they seem brutal, violent and questionable. But the “acts” are not there to spread violence or inequality but to criticise the existing reality. This is very important and leads me to my next and final point. →

It is not okay to kill men. I have read several reviews that praise the book but state that they don’t like the final message, that: murdering men is acceptable. Let me just get this straight. Murder is not acceptable. But the deaths or killings that happen in this book is not to show that it is acceptable to kill men. It is to show that what these men have done and represent isn’t acceptable. I believe these killings is a metaphor for the fact that toxic masculinity has no place in this world.  The idea that men can use women for what they want is “dead”. In the end, it says “We are the ones who don’t look back”. This doesn’t mean that they are on a killing spree and don’t look back from that. No, it means that they are done with how things used to be and they are welcoming change. <3

I am sorry for this feministic babbling. I hope that my points/readings were clear. How did you read this book?

Best,
Nicoline

Have your read Red Hood or other books by Elana K. Arnold? What were your thoughts? What is your opinion magical realism, yay or nay?

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A dark, engrossing, blood-drenched tale of the familiar threats to female power—and one girl’s journey to regain it. Five starred reviews greeted this powerful story from Elana K. Arnold, author of the Printz Honor winner Damsel.

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.

Synopsis from Harper Collins