A review by henrymarlene
Redder Days by Sue Rainsford

3.0

In a strange and unsettling time, a mysterious illness is wiping out the population (yep, another dystopian story for me). We do not know where this world is, or when it is either. There is no idea how to stop the illness, how to stop the “red” bloom on the skin. We watch twins Anna and Adam take turns guarding a commune led by Koan, making sure no-one comes close with the redness. Koan was once a scientist, who with Matthew noticed and witnessed the redness as it began to spread. He initially provided sound advice and counsel; yet when we meet him, Koan is very much subdued and malingering. With the desertion of Matthew and his wife, and Eula (mother of the twins), we observe the rwins and Koan waiting for the Storm, the end of all things. There are themes of rebirth through nature, of misogyny and sexism, along a timeline that does not stay in one place. There is protection through Anna's hawk, who soars above her, flaunting its independence. There are interruptions in the present with flashbacks, journal entries accounting for what had happened as well noting what wasn't done as well. We see Anna and Adam, dealing with who were becoming after being left by their mother. We see the red everywhere: not only as a disease but through the life of a woman, the love of siblings, fear and death. We feel the roughness and coarseness of life, and the salt that grinds away the impurities of the unknown. The writing speaks like poetry. Disjointed prose, almost with a deliberate intention to throw you off the scent of what could be happening, and whether there could be hope, or a future to save anyone.

'Carmine, ruby, garnet, puce - when you see it you start running. Salt your hands and wash out your eyes when you see the red man coming.'

Book 102-2021 #redderdays #suerainsford #penguinbooksaus #bookstagram #bookreview #bookblog #instabook #booksofinstagram #suspense #dystopianfiction #aussiereaders #irishauthors #sciencefiction #horrorfiction