What Red Was by Rosie Price

Trigger Warning: Rape

Time flatlined; she knew then what red was. She was on Zara's bed, she saw the ribbon in [his] collar. But this red was not a colour, a warning sign or provocation, the bull's rag; no, red was the filter through which she apprehended everything; it collapsed the time between her present and that moment that refused to remain in her past, so that her whole being, from the dilation of her pupils to the rhythm of her breath and the ice in her chest, recalibrated to respond to the sign of the world through it. And she saw then that if she had been so wrong about what a colour could be, then there was little about the world that she had understood correctly. 

~fr. p. 111 of Advance Reader Copy, What Red Was -- some changes may have been made to the final print version, which was released in August of 2019

What Red Was by Rosie Price is a story of a friendship, trauma, and family dynamics as well as the aftermath of the trauma. Kate and Max become lifelong friends. But, when Kate becomes the victim of a violent crime while visiting Max's family, the trauma invades every corner of her life and becomes a part of who she is. Will she ever feel whole again?

I loved the way What Red Was began. Kate is a person with an average background and a mother she wants to escape while Max is very wrapped up in family and he comes from a fabulously wealthy background but is very casual about it. They meet when Max is locked out of his room in what I presume is a co-ed dorm, Max knocking on the door to ask for help in nothing but a towel.

Kate has just moved to university and she's lonely; Max is vivacious and cheerful. She loans him some of her clothing to run across campus for a duplicate key and when he returns with her clothing, they talk. The friendship is comfortable but never romantic. Eventually, Kate finds out that Max has casually left out the information that his mother is a very famous filmmaker, but when Kate meets the family she finds they're relaxed and nonjudgmental; it's clear where he got his personality. If Max likes Kate, she's part of the family, too. Max's family does have a complication involving his grandmother, which is kind of a secondary storyline but important.

I'm not quite sure where I got What Red Was, but I think a publicist contacted me (as opposed to it being a book that I "won" via Shelf Awareness). It fell to the back burner when I was forced to take time off — and I was already behind, so I missed reading and reviewing by the August, 2019 release — but I'm glad I was able to finally get to it. My thanks to Hogarth and whoever sent the copy my way.

Recommended - While I didn't feel like What Red Was was wrapped up in a very satisfying way, I found the story so compelling that it was almost impossible to put down. I think the author did a particularly great job of showing how deep trauma runs, how difficult it can be to get help or even speak about what's happened, how the way people react (both to experiencing trauma and being told about it by someone who has experienced it and needs help) is not consistent in any way, and how family dynamics can be confusing, wonderful, or awful.

My biggest problem with the book (besides the ending) was the way Max became heavily involved in drugs and alcohol, mostly because he started hanging out with the wrong guy. But, at the same time it appeared that he was ignoring how Kate was falling apart, I had to wonder (and I think this was implied, if not overtly stated) whether Max was, in fact, so close to Kate that he picked up on her trauma and turned away because he couldn't face the obvious fact that someone he deeply cared for was in trouble. I have seen this happen so while I hated that part of the storyline, I also thought it rang true in its own way.



 ©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi

I purchased Woman at Point Zero to read as part of my personal Feminist Reading Challenge after reading an award-winning author's description of it as one of her all-time favorite books. A book described as "fictionalized nonfiction", it tells the story of a woman who grew up in Egypt and was calmly awaiting her death when the author met her. It's a rough read and hard to even think about, but when I wrote about it at Goodreads, I felt like I needed to spill. What happened to the subject of this book, Firdaus, happened because of the culture in which she lived. And, she was tough but it was a horrible life.

My review may contain spoilers. Please don't read it if you're concerned about spoilers. 

Firdaus grew up poor, with a father who insisted on being fed every night, even if that meant the rest of the family starved, and an uncle who would stick his hand up her skirt while he sat beside her, reading. After her parents died, Firdaus moved in with her abusive uncle and eventually was sent away to boarding school, where she proudly received her secondary school certificate (the equivalent of a high school diploma). When she returned to her uncle's home, she overheard him saying he didn't want to spend the money it would cost to send her to university.

Without a university education and with nobody to recommend her, Firdaus had few options. She tried to make it on her own and was repeatedly raped and abused. She learned to dissociate when she was forced into prostitution. She tried working a regular job and found herself constantly sexually harassed and even poorer than she had been as a prostitute. Eventually, she killed in self-defense. By that time, she was well aware that the odds were stacked against her and always would be. She was ready to die and rejected offers to help her escape the death penalty.

I found Firdaus's story shocking and powerful. Have things changed in Egypt since the book was published in 1976? Are women still routinely abused and held back? I don't know. It was not that long ago that American reporter Lara Logan was shoved to the ground and sexually assaulted in Egypt, so I'm guessing the answer is no. Woman at Point Zero is a stunning story of how a lack of education and resources combined with dangerous misogyny can create a society that perpetuates its own horrors. A stirring reminder of why women in the Western world must keep fighting to maintain and expand our rights to equality and the ability to choose what happens to our bodies.

Highly recommended - I gave Woman at Point Zero 5 stars but on reflection I think I'd lower it to 4 stars, if only because I recall the dreamlike quality of the writing; it's beautiful but the story is brutal. That is a style issue, though, and I liked it as I was reading it. The subject matter is powerful as it shows just how dangerous it is to let men dictate how women are treated. When women don't have a say, they're less likely to be educated, more likely to be abused, less likely to be able to find a way to support themselves and live independent lives. Firdaus was simply doomed to a horrible life, no matter what she did to try to improve it. Difficult as Woman at Point Zero is to read, it's a thought-provoking book that gives insight into what a male-dominated society in which abuse of women is commonplace looks like. If you've experienced sexual assault and are easily triggered, I recommend avoiding Woman at Point Zero. I have a feeling it could send even the hardiest survivor into a depressive tailspin.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.