A review by foggy_rosamund
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan

3.0

Containing multiple narrative voice, The Red Tree is a haunted house story about a chilling farmhouse located near an ancient, inexplicable red oak tree. Sarah, the principal narrator, is a struggling writing, who comes to stay in the farmhouse following the death of her former partner, Amanda. Isolated and depressed, Sarah becomes obsessed with reading a narrative left in the house by a former tenant, who committed suicide five years before Sarah's arrival. She begins to write her own journal commenting on his work. It's a curious story, full of digressions and dream-sequences. Sarah has a colloquial narrative voice, and at times I was frustrated by her: by her grumpy temperament, her tendency to pick fights, and her repetitions. But as the narrative continues, her voice comes to reflect her struggle to understand her experiences, and her overwhelming fear and despair. This works well as a chilling horror story, leaving much to suggestion, and on this, my second reading, I found it both compelling and entertaining. Sarah works less well for me as a principal character: though she shows strong emotions, it's hard to grasp where she's coming from -- the constant digressions and dream sequences keep her at a distance from the reader, and I couldn't connect with her. I needed to be more fully immersed in her head for the true horror of this book to come across. Still, there is a lot to like in the complex narrative, and it stands up to rereading well.