Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Oh my gosh, what a week! It's been non-stop hasn't it? I had been at the doctors (migraines, yuck) and I had just finished filling out my Bumble BFF profile when all those nutters stormed the capitol. I guess backwards America invaded America so then America had to invade backwards America to get America back on target. The plague kept America at home! 

In all seriousness, it's pretty messed up. I read the capitol has not been invaded since 1814 when the British (technically, Canadian) troops torched it. I'm glad that so I don't know anyone who was part of the insurrection...although when I posted a meme from it (obviously against these people) my cousin liked it...until she saw that part where I called them treasonous scum. Then she unliked it. I don't talk to that side of my family anyways (mostly because of other reasons pre-Trump). The only thing they ever gave me for Christmas was whatever they couldn't sell from their various MLM schemes. It's not a loss. 

Whatever. Trump is gone in two days. Although I'm sure he'll seethe in south Florida. Lucky them. 

I picked this book up a long time ago. It's been sitting on my TBR shelf for awhile (because I'm slooooow) but with the "Great Reading" of 2020, I picked this up. It's based off a movie. The movie is based off the fairy tale. 

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Title: Red Riding Hood
Author: Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (novel), David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (screenplay)
Page Number: 352 (paperback)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Publisher: Poppy, an imprint of Little, Brown, and Co. (Hachette)
​Year: 2011

The blacksmith would marry her.
The woodcutter would run away with her.
The werewolf would turn her into one of its own.

Valerie's sister was beautiful, kind, and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.

After her sister's violent death, Valerie's world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them--it could be anyone in town.

It soon becomes clear that Valerie is the only one who can hear the voice of the creature. The Wolf says she must surrender herself before the blood moon wanes...or everyone she loves will die.

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There is a movie tie-in cover, but I have the book without. I think I bought it before the movie was finished (?) so that could be why. I tend to avoid the tie-in covers for the most part. I don't think they look as lovely as most cover art. That's a personal thing. I'm not sure I knew much about the movie connection (like, I probably assumed the book came first) as the blurb on the front only mentions it in an overall sense. 

The book was written after the screenplay. The screenplay is by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (who's written for Orphan, Wrath of the Titans, and Aquaman amongst others) and the book was written by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (who works for the Chicago Review of Books). It was also based on a idea of Leonardo DiCaprio (who was the producer for the movie) and the book has an introduction by Catherine Hardwick (who directed the movie). This book is very connected to the movie. Looking back at the book image, I'm really surprised that Blakley-Cartwright's name isn't on the cover. It's weird. 

Much of this information is in the introduction by Catherine Hardwick (who's directed Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, and Twilight) who talks about why Blakley-Cartwright was chosen, how the idea came to be, and how the book came second to the movie (the idea of the book was secondary that is). I didn't write much other than the it took me awhile to remember the movie (I don't even remember if I watched it...but that's because my memory is useless) and then a snarky comment on DiCaprio jazzing up fairytales for his childlike girlfriends (they're all under 25! It's super creepy and pathetic). I'm sure Hollywood has done a dumber on him but still, ew. 

So the general plot follows the movie exactly. If you've seen the movie, none of this will be shocking. I'm honestly on the fence rating wise. It has so much potential to go further in the book, but I'm not sure how restrained the author was. I truly started skimming near the end. If you liked the movie, this book would be a great addition. I will say that I loved the design of the book. It was so pretty and the book edges were deckled (which I don't mind). The narration is third person. The ending is a choice. 

​The story follows Valerie (who lives with her parents, grandmother, and sister) and her live in a village. It takes awhile to get going as we're introduced to everyone, including Peter (woodcutter) and Henry (blacksmith's son). Valerie loves Peter and plans to run away with him (we're skipping ahead a lot...because it takes forever to get things going) but Valerie's parents have arranged for her to marry Henry. 

There's a type of love triangle between Valerie, Henry, and Peter. Which it says on the back. I don't really like these things, but they are a popular trope and it does say it on the back. So that's on me here. 

There's a wolf/werewolf that stalks the village, and it kills Valerie's sister. This sends the village into turmoil and the decision to bring in an outside witch-hunter (because I guess a witch-hunter communes with werewolves?) in. He's called Father Solomon and spends quite a lot of time interrogating people, and putting people in an iron elephant (which is a torture device). He's quite the dick. 

Eventually, the wolf is unmasked (just to Valerie and one of the boys) and Valerie has to decide who to marry and what to do about the wolf secret. 

Overall, I thought the story was an interesting concept (except for the stupid multiple semi-love interests, but that's personal) but overall it fell flat (in the movie too). I think it's mostly because the story here is so script like, but lacks the actors to bring any emotion in (an issue I have with many scriptwriters who decide to write a novel). The translation from script to novel is not quite as emotive as I'd like, so the build up of romance, horror, or action is lacking. 

If you like retellings, this isn't bad though. It's fun enough. It's beautiful to see, the movie probably fleshes out a lot of the missing emotion in the narrative. 

The ending is a problem. It's a choice...but it's an issue. I was unprepared, so when I got to it...I was pissed. Let me explain. I've labored through this pretty long book only to get to an ambiguous non-ending and a link to a website (this is not a link to the website). I'm not going to write the website, as when I typed it in Google freaked out and would not let me move forward. I have fairly stringent privacy stuff on my computer, but still...that's not great. It's also a problem with having something that you might not maintain in perpetuity in the book. What's the actual ending? Who the freak knows because the website doesn't work. So I looked around and discovered the book's ending but oh, it made me SO mad. I legit docked a whole star rating for this nonsense. 

The reason why they did this was because they didn't want the movie to be ruined. There are so many options and the one they picked was not good. It was a cheap marketing trick that left a bad taste in my mouth. 

I'm just a sucker for a fairy tale.