Reviews

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is a story of transformation as well as atonement. Masha lost her young son 12 years ago and has never fully recovered. Grief has paralyzed her and she holds on to it as a way to assuage the guilt she feels for Gabriel losing his life. While Masha is alive and fully functional, she is merely going through the motions of living. She takes her dog Hazium for walks in the cemetery where she converses with the dead. Masha aspires to be a cemetery guide and she makes up stories about the individuals buried there. There’s a trio of women she calls her “worry dolls” and she tells them all her troubles. In fact, throughout the story, Masha introduces us to individual characters she affectionately calls her “family on the other side.”

If it isn’t clear yet, Masha is obsessed with death — she tries to feel what drowning is like when she goes swimming, she has a collection of books about death and dying, she contemplates sudden death, etc. Yet I did not find this book to be maudlin or morose and I attribute that to the writing skills of Ruth Hogan. Furthermore, I found Masha to be a likable character and the reader cannot help but feel sorry for her. She knows she has to change but it isn’t until she meets Sally Red Shoes in the cemetery, who gives her valuable advice and dances with her, that she feels she can. Her new friend Kitty also plays a significant role in her transformation when she tells Masha about her own past tragedy and how she coped with it and successfully moved on with her life.

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes is a touching story that will break your heart and then heal it. I had trouble getting into it and becoming engaged with the story but patience paid off and I am glad I stuck with it.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

falgelednl's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I found it hard going to get into this book and had to go back and re-read some reviews before I really ‘got’ it.
The story focuses on the death of her son and is predominantly told from Masha’s POV; however, it is interspersed with narrative by Alice and, initially, the two stories seem to have no connection.
I made the link about halfway through and, at the end, was proved correct.
This book is certainly worth persevering with. It has a cast of eclectic but well-written characters. Masha is well-loved by her curious band of friends and there are some fabulous scenes with her in the cemetery.
I’m glad I kept going and quite like, now I’ve got used to it, the lack of detail at the end.

super_cooper's review against another edition

Go to review page

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

frustratedlibrarian's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

trishl's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Charming, funny & sad in equal measure. I thought it was a slow start & could've got to know the characters better and quicker than happened, but I was soon invested in the story & overall really enjoyed this book

angelica_jardinerica's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

In my review of 'The Keeper of Lost Things' I wrote that there were moments when it was in danger of slipping into the realms of trite chick lit. The problem with this book is that it did just that a bit too often. I found too much of the storyline predictable, the comic scenes and the love interest embarrassingly clichéd and the vocabulary an inappropriate attempt to lift it out of that framework. Ruth Hogan shows she can write well, particularly in her descriptions of Victorian attitudes to death, but the rest of the novel remained unconvincingly two dimensional for me.

fionadinw's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

More...