A Feminist Red Riding Hood Retelling: "Red Hood" Review

I read this book to complete the ‘Red Riding Hood’ theme for my fairytale reading challenge. Finding something that I hadn’t already read was a bit hard, but I finally settled on “Red Hood” by Elana K. Arnold. 

Sixteen-year-old Bisou lives a peaceful life with her grandmother until the night of homecoming, when she gets her period for the first time. In a rush of embarrassment, she runs away from her boyfriend and through the woods where she encounters a dangerous wolf. She somehow kills it and returns home in a frenzy. The next day, the body of a classmate is found in the woods, and Bisou is left wondering about the connection this might have to the wolf.

Right away, the story is odd. Completely ignoring that the majority of the book is in second person, the author seems to rely almost exclusively in trying to shock her audience before delivering her messages. In my opinion, almost every point Arnold tries to make in this story falls flat. 

Tackling the second person element first, I wasn’t as bothered by it as other reviewers seem to be. The second person can be tricky to pull off, and I didn’t hate the execution of it here. In some books, it’s beautiful and captures the story in the best way. In other books, it comes across as cringey. This constantly skated on the edge of that line. However, I kept in mind that this was a YA (?) read with a teenage protagonist, which of course may lead me to feel this way in certain moments. Therefore, I didn’t see this as a terrible stylistic choice. 

I will admit that the concept was unique to me. For the first part of the book, I kept wondering if maybe our main character was a wolf, but didn’t know it yet. Having these various theories and questions floating around in my head speaks to me that this story was engaging enough to keep me guessing. The downfall, however, was most theories were never answered.

Some of the many points Arnold seemed to be pushing in this were ‘the power of girlhood and friendship’. However, the friendships established throughout the writing felt weak, and the main character appeared to be more concerned about her boyfriend than anyone else. Even when she was confused and scared, her emotions felt very surface level. Additionally, the author wanted to highlight various situations in which girls might feel threatened by not only men but also society in general. I appreciated what the goal was, but I didn’t feel it was executed well at all.

Overall, I would say the most memorable part of the book was the point of view and the fixation on Bisou’s monthly cycle. A lot of questions and details go unanswered or ignored, and there is absolutely no explanation of the magic system. As a feminist fairytale, there is barely any actual discussion of feminism besides a few lines that immediately lead to nothing. Additionally, many groups of women are entirely left out of the discussion this book seems to be having.

I would hesitantly recommend this book to those of us who find ourselves missing some classic YA books or teenage drama tv shows. However, I will warn that while this seems to be categorized as a YA and is written like one, there are more explicit details than I’m used to seeing. If you’re looking for another retelling of ‘Red Riding Hood’, “For the Wolf” by Hannah Whitten is a good read!