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emperorcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
From the "don't judge a book by its cover" department... yikes, that looks like the heroine of a terrible 2000s teen horror movie, right down to the ubiquitous white tank top. That is not the vibe of this book AT ALL, it's about a 40something novelist, and this is definitely not for teens. It's like if a Stephen King book had a Dawson's Creek cover.
I loved the Rhode Island setting! I lived there for many years and being such a small state, you get to know everything by name even if you've never been there. So I recognized a lot of the towns and things in this book, even if I wasn't familiar with the area. This took me slightly longer to read than normal because I got so caught up in nostalgia, looking at things on Google maps, etc. There were some places I dearly wish I'd been when I lived there, such as the wildlife refuge with the mysterious cairns!
That said, this book was also a bit slow. The subject matter was interesting and of course I was completely immersed in the setting, but the writing style felt unnecessarily long. Different sort of voice, but it reminded me of the issue I had with "My Heart is a Chainsaw" where the narrator rambled on and kept going off on tangents. The style was intentional in both books, and I don't mind it to an extent but some of it could have been cut for brevity. It made an otherwise good story a bit of a slog. (or a bog. because Rhode Island)
I was still gonna give this a 3.5 or 4, but the ending kinda lost me. I don't mind unreliable narrators, and I think I understand what happened, I just would have liked a little more? I mean, less tangents, more meat. (so to speak. heh.) I'm still glad I read this and I definitely recommend it to Rhode Islanders!
I loved the Rhode Island setting! I lived there for many years and being such a small state, you get to know everything by name even if you've never been there. So I recognized a lot of the towns and things in this book, even if I wasn't familiar with the area. This took me slightly longer to read than normal because I got so caught up in nostalgia, looking at things on Google maps, etc. There were some places I dearly wish I'd been when I lived there, such as the wildlife refuge with the mysterious cairns!
That said, this book was also a bit slow. The subject matter was interesting and of course I was completely immersed in the setting, but the writing style felt unnecessarily long. Different sort of voice, but it reminded me of the issue I had with "My Heart is a Chainsaw" where the narrator rambled on and kept going off on tangents. The style was intentional in both books, and I don't mind it to an extent but some of it could have been cut for brevity. It made an otherwise good story a bit of a slog. (or a bog. because Rhode Island)
I was still gonna give this a 3.5 or 4, but the ending kinda lost me. I don't mind unreliable narrators, and I think I understand what happened, I just would have liked a little more? I mean, less tangents, more meat. (so to speak. heh.) I'm still glad I read this and I definitely recommend it to Rhode Islanders!
logarithmic's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mferrante83's review against another edition
5.0
H. P. Lovecraft was a writer who managed to overcome his faults (frequently racist overtones and often stiff language) and evoke an atmosphere of dread and despair that turns even the hottest summer day into something dark and chilling. Many writers have written works based on the mythos of Lovecraft, many others have written clever homages to his fiction (see “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” by Neil Gaiman) but few, if any, manage to capture or even expound upon the atmosphere of horror and fear of the unknown that Lovecraft so handily elucidate. At least that is what I though before having first encountered Caitlin R. Kiernan’s novel Threshold. And while I haven’t followed every bit of fiction she has written still remains the only author who manages to truly evoke those same sensations of dread while at the same time managing to do so in a voice entirely her own. If Threshold only hinted at this fact, then The Red Tree reveals it to be true in the most, dare I say, cyclopean of ways.
Full review here
Full review here
bookwyrm55's review against another edition
5.0
There are few things that terrify me more than the thought of my brain ceasing to function properly. I can imagine dozens of truly horrifying situations and experiences I might be forced to endure, but I know from simple moments where I can’t remember a name, or a word that I should be intimately familiar with, that if I had to question my own sanity, or worry that others were questioning it, I’d be off the ledge and free-falling pretty quickly.
In The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan delivers exactly that fear through the words and thoughts of her protagonist, Sarah Crowe. Sarah has left behind a life crippled by the suicide of her lover, whose name we never learn because when she writes about her, she calls her by another name. She has retreated to a small house in Rhode Island to write her next novel and get herself together. The author also manages to make you care that both of these things, in fact, happen. The author is not to be trusted.
Sarah finds that the previous tenant of her new retreat was an author – a parapsychologist researching the murky history surrounding a huge Red Oak tree. That tree stands within easy site of the windows of her new home, and the history is a crazy one filled with hints of ancient evil, sacrifice, and lycanthrope. That previous tenant committed suicide. There’s a lot of that in the novel. Sarah finds his manuscript hidden in a basement that is not exactly a basement…sometimes.
This is the point in a review I hate. I have a lot to say about this book, but a lot of what I’d like to say gives away too much. The point is, everything that happens to Sarah feels very real. You get an almost Lovecraftian sensation of worlds overlapping at some mystic portal. You can feel the ancient “ley lines” rippling beneath the foundations of the old house, and through the roots of the tree. The stories, the reports of strange happenings surrounding this arboreal menace throughout history, add to the sensation of other-worldliness, and strengthen either the reality of the events in the book – or the foundations of the insanity invading Sarah’s brain.
The thing is that there’s a very fine line involved in this story. It’s possible that it’s the story of an eroding mind, locked away and unable to cope with a string of events that began decades earlier when the protagonist witnessed a traumatic event. It’s also possible that it’s a detailed narration of one person’s encounter with unknown, unknowable forces. There may be a girl named Amanda, and another named Constance…or it might be a story written and typed by an author no longer in any type of contact with reality. It might be the rendering of insanity into words, created in solitude.
And at its core, that’s what this book is about. Solitude. Loneliness. Different characters deal with these issues throughout the novel, all through the filter of Sarah’s mind and the words she types. These words include a story she doesn’t even remember writing, and yet believes that she did write. We never know if she did, or did not, if the events in the story are real, or merely a version of some similar event in Sarah’s past – the relationship that drove her to isolation and despair – it’s impossible for the reader to tell.
The true terror is in the fact that, in the case of many things that either happen or do not happen during the course of the novel, the protagonist finds herself unable to separate one from the other. If it’s all happening, the world as she knows it is a lie. If it’s not happening, she’s going (or has already gone) insane. Even the source of that insanity – external from the oak tree or internal – is in question. As I said, the author is not to be trusted. The book, though? It’s amazing.
I’m not going to belabor a point that I have covered in the past, or that others have covered more eloquently. Genre fiction is littered with mediocrity. It’s much easier for an “okay” author to write weird fiction and get away with it. Following trends and writing to the cliché of the day is the norm. Caitlin Kiernan marches to the beat of her own drummer. She is literate, educated, and in touch with the levels of her mind that shift images to words with precision and power. This is not a “horror” novel, it’s a Caitlin Kiernan novel – and to my way of thinking that’s a much more precious thing. There are only a handful of authors of whom you’ll hear me say that.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone, but in particular to fans of Lovecraft or Ramsey Campbell, The characters are very real, but the world is surreal and untrustworthy enough that it might take multiple readings to get everything straight in your mind.
In The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan delivers exactly that fear through the words and thoughts of her protagonist, Sarah Crowe. Sarah has left behind a life crippled by the suicide of her lover, whose name we never learn because when she writes about her, she calls her by another name. She has retreated to a small house in Rhode Island to write her next novel and get herself together. The author also manages to make you care that both of these things, in fact, happen. The author is not to be trusted.
Sarah finds that the previous tenant of her new retreat was an author – a parapsychologist researching the murky history surrounding a huge Red Oak tree. That tree stands within easy site of the windows of her new home, and the history is a crazy one filled with hints of ancient evil, sacrifice, and lycanthrope. That previous tenant committed suicide. There’s a lot of that in the novel. Sarah finds his manuscript hidden in a basement that is not exactly a basement…sometimes.
This is the point in a review I hate. I have a lot to say about this book, but a lot of what I’d like to say gives away too much. The point is, everything that happens to Sarah feels very real. You get an almost Lovecraftian sensation of worlds overlapping at some mystic portal. You can feel the ancient “ley lines” rippling beneath the foundations of the old house, and through the roots of the tree. The stories, the reports of strange happenings surrounding this arboreal menace throughout history, add to the sensation of other-worldliness, and strengthen either the reality of the events in the book – or the foundations of the insanity invading Sarah’s brain.
The thing is that there’s a very fine line involved in this story. It’s possible that it’s the story of an eroding mind, locked away and unable to cope with a string of events that began decades earlier when the protagonist witnessed a traumatic event. It’s also possible that it’s a detailed narration of one person’s encounter with unknown, unknowable forces. There may be a girl named Amanda, and another named Constance…or it might be a story written and typed by an author no longer in any type of contact with reality. It might be the rendering of insanity into words, created in solitude.
And at its core, that’s what this book is about. Solitude. Loneliness. Different characters deal with these issues throughout the novel, all through the filter of Sarah’s mind and the words she types. These words include a story she doesn’t even remember writing, and yet believes that she did write. We never know if she did, or did not, if the events in the story are real, or merely a version of some similar event in Sarah’s past – the relationship that drove her to isolation and despair – it’s impossible for the reader to tell.
The true terror is in the fact that, in the case of many things that either happen or do not happen during the course of the novel, the protagonist finds herself unable to separate one from the other. If it’s all happening, the world as she knows it is a lie. If it’s not happening, she’s going (or has already gone) insane. Even the source of that insanity – external from the oak tree or internal – is in question. As I said, the author is not to be trusted. The book, though? It’s amazing.
I’m not going to belabor a point that I have covered in the past, or that others have covered more eloquently. Genre fiction is littered with mediocrity. It’s much easier for an “okay” author to write weird fiction and get away with it. Following trends and writing to the cliché of the day is the norm. Caitlin Kiernan marches to the beat of her own drummer. She is literate, educated, and in touch with the levels of her mind that shift images to words with precision and power. This is not a “horror” novel, it’s a Caitlin Kiernan novel – and to my way of thinking that’s a much more precious thing. There are only a handful of authors of whom you’ll hear me say that.
I highly recommend this novel to anyone, but in particular to fans of Lovecraft or Ramsey Campbell, The characters are very real, but the world is surreal and untrustworthy enough that it might take multiple readings to get everything straight in your mind.
jasonsweirdreads's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of Caitlin R. Kiernan's best. Also, judging from what I have read of her blogs, possibly her most autobiographical.
When Sarah Crowe moves from Atlanta to a secluded farm house in New England, she finds a manuscript detailing the strange and sometimes horrifying events surrounding a large red oak tree on the property. Kiernan's mastery at playing with reality as Sarah takes her own journey into madness and the haunted woods surrounding her are top notch, showing her followers great maturity while introducing new readers to a fantastic imagination.
This book gave me the chills many differet times. Highly recommended prose from one of today's best, The Red Tree invokes the spirits of H.P. Lovecraft and Shirley Jackson. Buy this book, read it, and you'll see what I mean.
When Sarah Crowe moves from Atlanta to a secluded farm house in New England, she finds a manuscript detailing the strange and sometimes horrifying events surrounding a large red oak tree on the property. Kiernan's mastery at playing with reality as Sarah takes her own journey into madness and the haunted woods surrounding her are top notch, showing her followers great maturity while introducing new readers to a fantastic imagination.
This book gave me the chills many differet times. Highly recommended prose from one of today's best, The Red Tree invokes the spirits of H.P. Lovecraft and Shirley Jackson. Buy this book, read it, and you'll see what I mean.
jsmithborne's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book because I've been meaning to for a while and someone recommended Kiernan's later book, [b:The Drowning Girl|11515328|The Drowning Girl|Caitlín R. Kiernan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348120961s/11515328.jpg|16451704], so I decided I needed to read this one first. I really liked this book--and I feel like I really need to read it again. There is so much going on, the narrator is so unreliable--this book will reward a careful second reading, I'm sure. Just have to find time....
mariocomputer's review against another edition
4.0
Very creepy! In the end, I wish it had been MORE scary, but I did love her writing and her "intertextuality", as post-modernists like to say. She is well aware of the genre and the ideas she's exploring. It's very Lovecraftian and she must have mentioned Lovecraft at least 5 times in it. It's also a very easy read, and really compelling. I read it in three days. All I wish for is a greater, more horrifying impact at the end (following true Lovecraftian tradition).
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, and Animal death
Moderate: Murder, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, Alcohol, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Infidelity
Minor: Racism, Colonisation, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Drug use, Vomit, Child death, Rape, Lesbophobia, War, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, and Incest
Unreality. Seizures. Smoking.pocketspoon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was a strange one. Interesting premise and structure, but it felt a little slow and very convoluted. I feel like I probably missed something.
chloraminecolles's review against another edition
4.0
I'd just like to add my voice to the chorus, and confirm that the butt-ugly cover has nothing to do with the book itself, and the mismatch is astounding. As for the novel, it's by no means perfect -- the language is so-so, I had the impression that the author wanted to create atmosphere through descriptions, but they often fell short and felt uninspired, for example -- but altogether it's a deliciously weird and unsettling read, and it gets more and more engrossing as it goes on. Recommended.