Hello everyone! For the first Friday Reads of the year I'm starting strong on one of my challenges, the 2014 Review Pile Challenge, since I'm reviewing two ARCs that I managed to finish this week! Still hoping to reach the 80% ratio on NetGalley soon!
Red by Alison Cherry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had heard a very few unhappy reviews about Red, but when I saw it on NetGalley I was still intrigued enough to request it and I'm quite glad that I did.
Red is the story of Felicity St John, a girl with a gorgeous red hair that lives in a town called Scarletville. She has everything cause of her hair, but she isn't sure she's happy with the life she has. Her status is challenged when someone threatens to expose her best kept secret: her red comes out of a bottle.
Red was a very quick read, with plenty of cliches here and there, and some of them were a bit annoying on occasion, but I think the author managed to write a good coming of age story, with a deeper but very tongue-in-cheek criticism. It may seem preposterous that a whole town is dedicated to redheads and that there is a bias towards them, but is it so? Can't we think of many examples of other forms of discrimination? And about the pageant side of the story... I remember seeing some documentaries about those, for little girls and young women, and it's just insane, and I think this book portrayed it very well.
This book deals with very many important themes all wrapped up in a fluffly, cheeky and slightly silly exterior. Discrimination due to hair colour might seem silly, but not less silly than doing so due to skin colour, and not so long ago there were laws that did just that.
The outer wrappings of the book annoyed me a bit on occasion, and it took a while for Felicity to actually grow out of her doubtful self and feel like she can do something other in the world than what others keep on pushing her one way or the other. Her mum really annoyed me, but sadly her character is not as unreal as we'd like to think, plenty of mothers push their aspirations on their children and don't stop to look at what their kids really want. Selfishness is not unique to young kinds and teenagers. The romance is sweet and done quite right, not rushed, no insta love and no love triangle, just teenagers interacting and figuring out things.
All in all, a book I'm glad I've read, but I can understand it might not be for everyone. It's a 3 stars, maybe even a 3.5 stars for me.
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Red by Alison CherryMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had heard a very few unhappy reviews about Red, but when I saw it on NetGalley I was still intrigued enough to request it and I'm quite glad that I did.
Red is the story of Felicity St John, a girl with a gorgeous red hair that lives in a town called Scarletville. She has everything cause of her hair, but she isn't sure she's happy with the life she has. Her status is challenged when someone threatens to expose her best kept secret: her red comes out of a bottle.
Red was a very quick read, with plenty of cliches here and there, and some of them were a bit annoying on occasion, but I think the author managed to write a good coming of age story, with a deeper but very tongue-in-cheek criticism. It may seem preposterous that a whole town is dedicated to redheads and that there is a bias towards them, but is it so? Can't we think of many examples of other forms of discrimination? And about the pageant side of the story... I remember seeing some documentaries about those, for little girls and young women, and it's just insane, and I think this book portrayed it very well.
This book deals with very many important themes all wrapped up in a fluffly, cheeky and slightly silly exterior. Discrimination due to hair colour might seem silly, but not less silly than doing so due to skin colour, and not so long ago there were laws that did just that.
The outer wrappings of the book annoyed me a bit on occasion, and it took a while for Felicity to actually grow out of her doubtful self and feel like she can do something other in the world than what others keep on pushing her one way or the other. Her mum really annoyed me, but sadly her character is not as unreal as we'd like to think, plenty of mothers push their aspirations on their children and don't stop to look at what their kids really want. Selfishness is not unique to young kinds and teenagers. The romance is sweet and done quite right, not rushed, no insta love and no love triangle, just teenagers interacting and figuring out things.
All in all, a book I'm glad I've read, but I can understand it might not be for everyone. It's a 3 stars, maybe even a 3.5 stars for me.
View all my reviews
I've not heard of this one before. Does the book explain why redheads are favored? I'm not sure this one sounds like something I'd be interested in though there are aspects that seem intriguing. I'm glad that overall you found you enjoyed it. Great review Pili!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristen!
DeleteYes, the book does explain why Scarletville was founded, but not very much in depth. I feel it's more an excuse to tell the story than anything else.
This one didn't work for me, but the idea was an interesting one!
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
I can understand, this book won't work for everyone! Thank you, Kate!
DeleteThis isn't my kind of read but I'm happy you enjoyed it. I've seen the icky reviews, so to see that it was done in an over the top yet seemingly believable manner is cool. Happy you enjoyed it ma'am!
ReplyDeleteI never felt that the book was done in a way to think the story was to be taken seriously, but with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, even if the issues can be extrapolated to more serious matters.
DeleteThanks Octavia!