Book Discussion: Why We Didn’t Like Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Erika (Jawas Read, Too)

I read this very differently than you did and saw some of the more positive aspects of the book, but! I do pointedly remember the passage you pick out (the second one) and being very, very confused. I re-read it to make sure I wasn’t misreading it as I tend to read until I zonk out, but in the end, I do feel bad for not remembering to include my response to that passage in my review.

I’ve still been a bit conflicted over how I feel, months after finishing. Your review reminds me that there were some things in the book that did not sit well with me and I think still do not sit well with me. :\

Kate

I understand your way of thinking and I have to admit when I read it I did not even think of that interpretation. What I thought of was Scarlett being jealous. She is disfigured and is obviously jealous of her sister and others who are just pretty. When people are jealous they do say things and feel things that aren’t always appropriate.

And I think when Silas said something, it was more to get a rise from Scarlett, he probably saw the way that she was looking at the girls.

Everyone is free to their own opinions. I just never thought of these passages being so negative, I was more on Scarlett’s side thinking that she wanted to be like them but couldn’t.

Amy

Great point about the ‘asking for it’ thing. Kinda turned my stomach as well. I still enjoyed the rest of the story though. I’ve been noticing more and more now that I am paying attention the lack of healthy relationships and / or gender ideas in young adult paranormal.

Estara

Nice set-down.

Two things sprang to my mind: I have heard good things about Jim Hines and his take on female fairy-tale characters and he’s got an assassin Little Red Riding Hood, so not too shabby.
Red Hood’s Revenge.

Regarding rape apologism I was recently linked to this very valid article about Nice Guys and why they can be toxic: Nice Guys and Behavioural Conditioning

kg

It’s always good to see the occasional review that manages to say something completely different from what the mainstream reviews are saying. Thank you for writing this, and for showing an important viewpoint of the scene outside the club. Ana, good comments on the subtleties of rape culture.

When I read this book, I felt that one of the great aspects was the honesty and transparency with which the thoughts of the characters were conveyed. I had imagined that part of Scarlett’s hero complex required a feeling of distance from and perhaps even vain superiority to those she was rescuing, and it’s certainly on display in that scene. Part of Scarlett’s development in the story is to respect other modes of living; though I doubt that she will ever have much respect for those she calls “dragonfly girls”.

In some sense she’s not a perfect hero. As pointed out here, she’s condescending and blaming of the victims. I even got the feeling that her crusade is less about saving others and is instead very personal, and that grisly hand-to-hand combat with the traditional red-riding hood hatchet gives her release and satisfaction.

Thea, I have a personal bias toward love stories, and feel that all good stories are love stories. But I felt like the true love story here was between the sisters. I think of the story this way when I hear the author read the beautiful passage in the Sisters Red trailer on YouTube, or read the bittersweet epilogue.

It’s greatly encouraging to see that you’re yearning for YA literature without a romantic interest for female characters. Interestingly, I think that the author of Sisters Red might agree with you on this point and might bring you such a story some future day.

KMont

*I did read till the bitter end..*

OK, I missed that totally, don’t know why I thought the book was a DNF for both of you. Well, now I know for sure not to get this one. That’s not a character trait I want to read about.

Kait Nolan

I’m about a third to halfway through the book (not sure, it’s on audio) and I’ve definitely hit the wall with repetitive, dull, and just this morning was thinking “seriously? Nobody thinks it’s weird that they’re running around in red cloaks in ATLANTA?” I mean, c’mon. I like cloaks just as much as the next girl but I get that nobody WEARS them unless they’re at a Renn Faire. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to finish this definitely hasn’t encouraged me.

janicu

I keep rereading those passages you excerpt. I am more in the same frame as Thea – the first one doesn’t bother me – it just makes Scarlett sound bitter. The second one – yeah. First it makes me feel uncomfortable that this author specifically made THOSE kinds of girls what the wolves go after. Like THOSE girls DESERVE to be hunted by terrifying creatures.. vs. OTHER girls who don’t go to clubs and flirt (?boggle?), and then these hunters who are supposed to be protecting them (you’d think), are judging them from afar because of how they dress and act. 😕

Sam Sykes

So, with me being fully aware of our treading on delicate ground here, I’m interested in this discussion on rape culture, particularly as it pertains to fantasy.

There’s been a tremendous increase of awareness of just how common this act is in a lot of fantasy stories, and frequently with how lightly it’s tossed around, used as an excuse for motive or what have you. Rape being the horrific act that it is, we rightfully get irritated when it’s treated with the improper handling. However, there’s no denying that the act does happen in real life and it does shape how a victim perceives things.

My question then is whether or not there even IS a proper/improper way to handle the action. Is it such a sensitive and delicate subject that it can never be adequately handled in a fantasy book? Or can it occasionally (I use the term loosely) “work?”

Ana

I wish I could be eloquent enough to express myself but here it goes my two cents:

I think that the first thing is to realise that you are talking about two different things. Rape culture is one thing, depicion of rape in fiction is another.

‘Rape culture’ and all of those terms aren’t just about the act of rape and how it’s portrayed. It’s about the ATTITUDE that pervades society in which rape and other sexual violence are commited and condoned by way of for example sexist jokes,rape apology, blaming the victim. It is I think about normalising something that shouldn’t be.

When it comes to fiction, I think the main problem when writing about rape is how this “norm” ends up permeating, invading the sub-text.

I think Jim Hines says it better when he says that usually rape is use as shortcut to characterisation.

I recommed reading his post: Writing about rape

Sam Sykes

Very interesting stuff. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

My sister very recently left an abusive “Nice Guy” fiancee. It’s amazing to see the psychology behind it.

danielle

I’ve been hearing about that passage all over the place, but I was kind of hoping it would be one of those situations where someone would just WTF it and slap a bitch. Apparently not?

This is dissapointing.

Jo

Uh…. just got this from the library today (it’s still in my bag). Perhaps I’ll just return it and come back to it at some other point? Very interesting review — and thanks for the link, too!

Rosey

I didn’t care too much for it. There were parts/ideas I did like but overall I didn’t like it and that passage you posted did upset me a lot :x. I was really hoping it would have been better since I love retellings.

I like Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguié

Hannah

Thank you for addressing the victim-blaming in Sisters Red — it’s a difficult issue to confront and I have nothing but admiration for you both for bringing it up, and with that Peter V Brett book as well. I know to tread carefully if I read this book, now!

KarenS

I’m a big fan of reviews that point out “simple” passages in books that have the power to change the way a person views women/men/people. I wasn’t a fan of As You Wish and had no intention to read Sisters Red, but the passages you’ve shared with us would have bothered me as well.

“Do you really think they’d dress and act like that if they knew it was drawing wolves toward them?” is the incriminating like here, for me. In other words, if they knew their place they would…dress differently and act in a more appropriate manner?

One of my greatest annoyances in fiction is the holier-than-thou attitude some characters have because they read “literature” and aren’t beautiful. It’s almost as bad as the attitude that a boy just has to be gorgeous and bad to be a perfect love interest, despite his actions and personality.

alana

In the end it doesn’t really matter if the author was only talking about monsters (vs rapists) or how noble her sentiments are. The fact is rape culture is a huge problem in our society and messages like the one in this book, whether or not it was meant to, contribute to that problem. Does that mean the author or anyone who enjoys this book is a horrible person who thinks rape victims deserve to be raped? Of course not. But that also doesn’t excuse the fact that this message adds to the already deafening roar that tells women (because even though men are raped as well these messages are always directed at women) that every person but rapists are to blame for people being raped. Far too often the conversation resorts to controlling women through fear by telling them what they’re allowed to wear, how much they’re allowed to drink, who they’re allowed to sleep with, and how even if they dress conservatively, never drink, and remain chaste some men still won’t be able to “help themselves.” But vulnerability does not cause violent crimes. Personal responsibility and blame is not the same thing, though rape culture makes it virtually impossible to have one without the other.

By itself this particular line of thinking in this particular book may not be the end of the world, but coupled with the other messages out there it’s pretty shitty to say the least.

Great review.

Rachel Bateman

I usually love Book smuggler reviews and use them as a barometer as to whether I should give the book a shot or not. This one, however, sets my blood boiling. Not because I read the book and really enjoyed it. Not because I have read every one of Jackson’s blog posts and watched all her youTube videos and know that in NO WAY is she the kind of person who would EVER blame the victim or imply that pretty club-going girls are weak and “asking for it”.

I hate this review because I loathe when people try to read more than there is in a book and blame the author for what they read, not what the author wrote. Do you really think that someone who didn’t already have passionate thoughts about rape culture and victim blaming would even find the parallel in the book? No. They wouldn’t. I saw the parallel, but I also saw a bitter girl and a boy who says things and does things to make her feel better about her disfigurement, not two characters who think it is the girls’ FAULT that the Fenris eat them. My younger sister didn’t pick up on the parallel at all; I had to point it out to her to ask what she thought about it (which was, and I quote, “I think they are stretching here. Sometimes a book is just a book, not a statement.”).

I am not saying that victim blaming is not a terrible thing, because it is. What I am saying is that it looks like you are taking a little bit of the prose, blowing it WAY out of proportion and basing your entire review on those 100 words. And, while everyone interprets things differently, I think you are looking at the bit wrong anyway. You admit that Scarlett is only thinking these things because she is bitter, and are enraged that Silas says it. But what I read when Silas says it is not victim blaming, but a great friend trying to cheer a girl up because he knows her well enough to know that she is upset she will never be able to look like those girls.

I could dissect every bit of what you said and why I disagree with it, but that would be pointless. Especially since I know that nothing I say can sway your viewpoint at all. That is apparent since, after Jackson herself stopped by to clarify her intentions (I would too if someone was spouting out that I support victim blaming), you broke down her explanation bit-by-bit and argued why it didn’t matter, and even go as far as to say, once again, that she is saying what she isn’t. By saying girls have the right not to be the victim, she is not saying default mode is victim at all.

Pretty much, it appears to me that you two are determined to hate this book (right down to a full part about an author using a word you don’t like in “Fenris”), and will find anything you can to keep hating it. You are so set in your hate, that even when the author comes to clarify intentions (yes, I know that her clarification doesn’t change the text), you rip apart her comment and use it to further accuse her of victim blaming.

Book Smugglers, you normally entertain and enlighten me. Today you disgust me.

Emma

This. THIS. This is why I absolutely hated Sisters Red and returned it to the store to get my money back. Ugh.

Thank you SO MUCH for this review. Everyone seems to love it and I’m like, why? Every part of this book just fails so hard.

Celine

Renay : No-one should be judged based on their gender.

Reading the rest of Gerd D’s comment it seems to me he pretty much gets the point BTW.

Celine

Aja, no-one should be judged based on their gender. There is nothing equivocal or grey area about that sentence. It doesn’t negate the rest of this discussion about gender politics or rape culture or woman’s position in society.

Celine

Sorry Aja, do you have a problem with accepting the fact that no-one should be judged based on their gender? ( a sentence which sprang from Renay’s picking one sentence from a Gerd D’s post ( a post which agreed with the smugglers by the way) and posting this link in response. http://cereta.dreamwidth.org/639712.html)

Aja

Exactly my point, Celine. The tone argument is derailing.

A discussion of the gender politics that inform how we read the book is not.

Celine

do excuse my bad spelling.

Lacey

I’m inclined to agree with Rachel Bateman here. I haven’t read the book myself, but whatever the intentions of the author, it’s a mistake to believe that a character’s opinion is the same as the author’s opinion. The author isn’t preaching to anyone, the author isn’t responsible for putting “bad” attitudes out there. The story is what it is, and it’s okay for characters to be unlikeable and to say things we find abhorrent. Increasingly, I’ve noticed a trend in genre fiction where the protagonist is just a bit too “perfect”. Not in any traditional sense, but it’s almost as if they’re tailored for a specific audience (prolific readers) to not cause any offense or be annoying or stupid or weak or hateful. They always do the right thing, they always behave in exactly the way we’d like to think WE would behave in that situation, and so they placate us. Terms like “TSTL”, “Mary Sue”, etc, have contributed to this kind of backlash, but in a weird sort of way, the emerging breed of “anti-Mary Sue” protagonist is just as much of a plastic creation. We say we champion the “flawed” character, but a vast majority of them are perfect in their imperfection. The featured excerpt is a much better example of flawed characters, even if (or especially if) they do mean what you think they mean. The rest of the book may be tosh, of course, but the excerpt in question didn’t offend me.

KMont

It is perfectly clear that the Smugglers reviewed the book and their views of it. Not the author. Where the heck do any of you see the author being reviewed? Ana replying to the author’s statements isn’t an attack on the author. Nor does it mean they are determined to hate anything. Strong, well-reasoned arguments are not hate. Get a grip, people.

Lacey

To the above commenters, if the author’s intentions and/or beliefs aren’t a factor, then what’s the issue with what the characters say in this particular scenario? If it’s not the author’s intention to make a statement or condone a certain way of thinking, why can’t the characters be the type of people who say sexist and judgemental things that show their skewed view of the world? I’m not saying Jackson Pearce intended for her characters to represent this view, but even if she did, why can’t the characters be this way? And to go one step further, is it essential for us to like a character in order to appreciate a book? Does it always have to be someone we root for, someone we’d like to be friends with? Other issues with the book aside, is it a valid criticism to say that a character is unlikeable? To use The Catcher in the Rye as an example, I can’t say I like Holden Caulfield very much, but I still value the book as a whole.

Gerd D.

Much depends on the character’s purpose, naturally.
But take “twilight” as an alternative example: Jacob is described as being borderline abusive, controling and doesn’t shy away from using emotional blackmail. And he’s toted as being one of the good guys.

Now, is that really something you would want people to accept as being natural behaviour?
If character flaws do not get counter balanced the author runs in danger to create an acceptance for them in his readers.

Estara

Re: Aja and Celine: I didn’t include the linke to the essay in my comment to derail the discussion of the book here, but actually thought it fit with themes that seemed to be included aka “if the girl dresses sexy, she’s asking for it”. I had come across it recently and it seems connected to the things in the book that disturbed the Smugglers to me, so I added it.

I would definitely agree that a discussion of the post I linked to should happen in the post’s comments or would need a wholly new post about the subject as such, not connected to this specific book review.

KMont

Lacey, I didn’t talk to you like you were an idiot – you decided to take it that way. I’m sorry you did so, but I was merely trying to get my views across in response to your questions and I am laughing that you decided to take it as an attack on you. You invited us all to discuss things by asking questions. I think it’s pretty obvious that we differ without you pointing that out. I’m really confused as to why you’re acting so defensively, but rest assured I don’t intend to go any further with you on this, as to who the heck knows what you’d take offense at next.

Ana, Thea, apologies. I thought my posts here would be helping, but I see that they’ll only derail this train more.

KMont

Lacey, I can only try one more time to assure you that I wasn’t trying to be belittling. I personally, actually, take offense to you likening me to someone that would treat a child in an ill manner but I also realize you’re a little angry, and I didn’t ever intend that. I was just trying, with all honesty, to respond to you. Maybe I misunderstood you? It’s possible, but it’s clear you’ve misunderstood some things as well.

I think the thing that set this all off is when you ask “is it a valid criticism to say that a character is unlikeable?” Obviously some think so and others don’t. I admit I don’t understand at all why you would think it’s not a valid thing to talk about in a book review, but apples, oranges and so forth. I didn’t think pointing out that reading is subjective, and therefore we all see things differently in books, was a cause for taking it as saying anyone was an idiot. I’ve always thought it meant we’re all different as readers – and that it’s OK. Clearly I’m not going to get what you’re saying, or rather, see it as you do (so yes, I completely agree – we’re very different). You have your feelings on the great wide open questions you’ve asked, some have completely different ones. And that’s OK.

That’s all.

Rachel Bateman

I guess I should have clarified better. I did not say I was disgusted because you don’t like the book. I didn’t say it because I think you are taking the “rape culture/victim blaming” thing way too far. What disgusted me was your response to Jackson’s comment.

Yes, of course you should be able to respond to her. Why not? What got me what when you broke down what she said into component pieces and twisted her words to say that she was saying exactly what you were saying. Her saying that it is a woman’s right not be be a victim in no way meant she thought women were by default weak victims.

Anyway, people can break down other peoples’ words all day long and make them say what they want to hear, good or bad. People will read into this book (and any other) whatever they want, and me typing this comment will never stop it. I get that.

Rachel Bateman

Don’t worry! I love your blog, and will continue to love it long after this post. Like you said, we obviously have very different views and interpretations of this. I was reading the comments again, and I find the irony of us all talking about our different interpretations of what Jackson meant in the book….and we all have our own interpretations of what we are saying as well.

I will continue reading your blog. Apparently this one post just really got me riled up for some reason. 🙂

KMont

Lacey, I’m sorry, but no. That whole thing about subjectivity, that was a rhetorical question. It was not as you keep insisting it was. I don’t know what to say on that any further, except to show that it wasn’t as you say. I was merely using what is generally a given to most readers to try to help make a point. I’m sorry you took it another way, but I won’t sit here and look the way you’re saying it was. I’m sorry that became such a big issue.

Gerd D.

Got me there. 🙂
I have to admit that I’m a subscriber to the adage that an author should strive to better the world, never to worsen it.

But I do agree with you, to a degree, characters do not have to be beacons of morality nor do authors have to be. However, I adamantly believe that media and authors do have to take responsibility for their output.

And here I do hold Kids and YA literature (and other media, too) to a different, higher standard than I do their produced for a grown-up audience counterpart. I do believe that authors and publishers in this filed have more of a duty to be keep aware of what they put out.

Now let me take a wide swing here to hopefully better illustrate why these things matter, I promise to try and not get too far off-topic:
I think we can unisono agree that language plays a large part in rape culture, everything that is bound to offer perpetrators an excuse for their actions, or allows “us” to shift blame, is potentially dangerous. The over and over repeated use of slanderous, or objectifying terms for women is an integral part of rape culture. Even though it is hard to put a finger on the exact mechanics of it, it is a fact that calling somebody “Bitch” or worse, does change the way we further interact with that person, these terms are aimed at lowering the threshold, though so far you probably wouldn’t get published in YA using them.

The repeated use of rape myths works in a similar way.
The very first reaction you will invariably get to hear when a woman is attacked alone in a park, or on a street, is: “What was she doing alone there?”, you’ll never hear that question asked when the victim was male.
What is the message?
Women should not (be allowed to) move around on their own, if they do so anyway they have to face the consequences.
The use of this particular myth is by the way my pet peeve with “twilight”, Bella strays from the way and promptly has to face the threat of being raped and murdered. This becomes particularly aggravating as it serves no other purpose in the story than to have an excuse for Edward to appear on the scene and rescue her.
One couldn’t have written the message clearer using neon letters.

Now, the message does not have to be delivered that blatant or intentional for “Sisters Red” to still potentially help to lower the threshold or aid the system when it uses the “dress or act flirty and you have to face the consequences” myth.
Does it matter that the authors intent was a different one?
No, it doesn’t, much.
Actual intent of what is written is often not as important as how people read it.

But let me add here that I didn’t read the book, and therefore have to give it the benefit of the doubt that as unfortunate as that particular passages comes across it can still be a worth while read. Personally I’m worried most about how easily YA literature adapts certain tropes from Romance these days for a younger, less prepared audience (or maybe it always did, and I’ve just become more sensitive to it). But again, I’m not saying that YA literature should be all puppies and happy dances, to the contrary, I think it is most important for this genre to also tackle uncomfortable topics, it’s just that I’m not willing to give them as much leeway to err when doing so.

So, to end this tl/dr entry/rant:
“Is it valid to criticise a book for its (use of) characters?”

I would answer to that:
It’s not only valid, it’s necessary.
Personally I never read “Catcher in the Rye”, but what I gathered from discussions about this book is this, it’s not the story in itself that is of such greatness, it’s the discussion it fanned up and still continues to, that elevates its worth.

Ole A. Imsen

I came her from @SamSykesSwears link for this post.
Haven’t read any of the 77 comments.
Fenris is the Norwegian name for the Fenris Wolf. Fenrir is Norse (they speak that in Island still).

So it’s not actually a term, but a name, the same as THE Kraken. According to Norse legend there is only one. have no idea why it’s become a term, mostly used for werewolves in modern day English language genre fiction.

Kelly L.

Interesting discussion! I really enjoyed the book but also got angry at this passage…I think the way I dealt with it was by ascribing the belief to Scarlett as a character rather than to the book. (I had forgotten Silas chimed in on it too.) In this scene I read Scarlett as actually kind of secretly envying the girls for their looks and lightheartedness, and justifying her negative feelings by telling herself she’s just worried about them getting eaten. She’s on a big martyr trip here, and I think I overlooked the comment I didn’t like because it just sort of rolled into this whole character I didn’t like much at that point in the book. Silas saying it is more problematic for me because it makes it sound more like a unified message, even if it wasn’t meant to be.

And I definitely understand how one thing can wreck a book for a person, especially when it’s a YA book and especially when the issue is rape or abuse. I just finished Raised by Wolves and had huge problems with its representation of abuse.

Jude

This is a really, really useful review, and I’m glad to have read it.

It’s really damning that something by the completely obnoxious sexist jerk Willingham is superior.

Vixy

…The problem with much of rape culture is the degree to which it saturates our socialization, to the point that many people are not even aware of when their actions or words perpetrate this insidious system.
…
What is most disturbing here is that the author wrote a classic scene of victim blaming and power binaries based on stereotypes, and not only didn’t realize that she was participating, regurgitating and enacting rape culture, but she thought she was combating it.

This this this. Oh god, this. I, too, believe the author when she says that victim-blaming wasn’t her intention. Nonetheless, that’s what she wrote.

Not just “that’s how people read/interpreted it” as some comments are saying. That’s what’s actually in the words on the page.

Depressing, that.

Camille Strange

You both need to be knocked off your “high-horses” and brought back down to Earth, divas.

Camille Strange

And I respect that. I’m not associating with the list. This is about applicable claims being pressed against this book. If it were me, even if I didn’t like a book, I would be slapping F-bombs on it. They may have not liked it but they judged the book on 100 words of it. 100 words. That’s the excerpt they were providing. 100 words. There are 72 THOUSAND words in the book, and their whole point was based on 100 words of it. That is laughable to me really. But Sisters Red has a lot of merits and none of them were mentioned. I feel that just because someone has a blog does NOT give them all power to wrongly review a book without telling their readers positives and negatives about the book so then they can make an informed decision about whether or not to purchase and read the book in question. I saw where someone had mentioned a rape scene in the comments, and in the review and I have read, and reread Sisters Red and there is no such scene. This just proves that the Ana and Thea do not make applicable judgments about this book.
I will say that I may have been a little harsh, but please understand the state of rage I was in.
I can say that I am not against bad reviews because it can help the writer grow, but not reviews pinning wrong labels on the book like “rape” and “victim blaming”. That just gets to me. My apologies.

Celine

Camille, I know how hard it is to take a bad review. (Believe me, I know 😀 ) I know it’s difficult to listen to someone painting an unflattering portrait of something that matters dearly to you, or to step back when someone seems wilfully determined to misinterpret work you love. But such is the life of an author. You write your book, you hand it out and then you accept that folks will discuss it as they see it.

This is Thea and Ana’s book blog. It is here solely for the purpose of giving Thea and Ana’s opinions on the books they read. Often terrificly interesting conversations happen as a consequence 🙂 (and this is one of those sites where folks really discuss stuff. It’s certainly no echo chamber where all the commenters follow along like little sheep baaing their agreement. With every review Thea and Ana freely leave themselves open to criticism and debate.)

In Thea and Ana’s opinion this book is x, y and z. They have stated clearly why it is x, y and z to them. They have read the entire book, they have thought deeply about the entire book and then they have stated their opinions clearly, in detail and quite succinctly. This is what they do.
You may not agree with them ( clearly you don’t 😀 ) But I can assure you that as reviewers their methods and their attitude to reviewing is above reproach. There are an awful lot of bad review sites out there where reviews are written with no other purpose than scoring points off the author or impressing readers with snark – this isn’t one of those sites.

Camille Strange

…And my opinions are…
Sorry for the correction

Celine

I meant to say ‘It’s a poor reflection on you that you see my pointing them out to you, as a lecture on your opinion.’

Rhiannon Lassiter

Like others, I have found my way here from the Bitch magazine controversy post. I hope it’s not too much of a shock to the editors here to find themselves being pinged months after writing this review.

I wanted to say that I thought the review was fascinating and it helped to have the transcript of the text. It’s very clear to me that Jackson Pearce is an excellent writer.

That said, I agree with the critique the editors made of that particular passage. I respect Jackson’s comment that this was not her authorial intention. But my reading of the text given here is completely contrary to her comment that “This section, and this book, in many ways, is trying to point out that no matter HOW you dress/look/are, you have the right to fight back and be strong. You have the right to put on makeup and still wield and axe, or, if you prefer, not. You have the right to NOT be a victim.”

I will now have to read the book so I can decide for myself what I think of it. Thank you though, for prompting and hosting such an interesting and thoughtful discussion. I hope you don’t take too much flack for it.

Symfora

Oh where to begin. You opinion is valid, but how should I put it, maybe the way you called her writing, STUPID. Your missed the point entirely, the whole section is about jealousy and ignorance. They want to be the ones who don’t know anything and are all dressed up. Both points of view from Silas and from Scarlett are accurate to the characters. You want a book that is entirely politically correct go read ‘The hungry catapillar’ oh wait that could be endorsing famine!

Anonymous

😕 🙁 😡 👿

Anonymous

Camille Strange said it

Celine

In case anyone is interested, this is how an intelligent, articulate adult argues their case. Margo Lanagan speaks about the Bitch Media List Like The Book Smugglers, Margo (of whom I’m a huge fan, let it be said) knows what it is to express her opinions without resorting to childishness.

Katie

It is obvious that you did not understand the point of that passage. The author said IF they knew, not they should know. You shouldn’t be a reviewer if you are that close-minded.

Jenn

You know, I don’t really understand why people try to read deeper into YA Fiction, I don’t. It’s written as simple prose and there is no attempt to re-create War and Peace. It usually reflects the time-period it was written. I have some old Richie Tankersy Clark and Christopher Pike that would make you girls’ brain blow-up if you think that that passage is truly reflective of a rape culture. Scarlett and Rosie are powerful female figures in an age that is just beginning to accept them.

Sisters Red is a good, quick read. It’s not stellar, but it is a fairly unique telling. Personally, I can relate to their descriptions of the Dragonflies and their thoughts about them. You’ve all seen people like the author was describing, you’ve all had that tingling in the back of your head that starts with “What the HELL was she thinking?”, and it probably ended in a similar way.

Scarlett, Rosie, and Silas are human heros and with human failings and I honestly think that Pearce does a better job of this than most authors. Who wants a perfect hero? What makes them believable if they don’t have any faults?

But then I also think that all of you who condemn this book without reading it yourselves are hypocrites and are just re-enacting that passage above that you scream and cry is so very, very wrong.

bram

I found this blog post particularly vomit-inducing.

http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011/02/bitchfest/

Ignore the haters and keep doing what you’re doing guys! I for one don’t always agree with your reviews but I absolutely treasure them. You guys are one of the few bright points in the YA blogging community.

Camille Strange

bram, I actually quite enjoyed Scott Westerfeld’s blog post. That guy’s got a clear head.

Marie

This is interesting. I recently read Sisters Red, and I have to say I disagree.
From your excerpt: In my honest opinion and point of view, they did not say that they were ‘asking for it’. They merely wondered if the Dragonflies would dress as such if they knew it was attracting Fenrirs.
Remember, you are not dealing with human rapists in this book, you’re dealing with Fenrirs, men who can turn into wolves. They don’t seem to actually go around raping, either, just killing. Messily.
Not every book has some sort of deeper meaning every couple of paragraphs. That’s just plain ridiculous. Go ahead and apply this deeper meaning stuff to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It’s part of the literary nonsense genre, so good luck with that.
About the romance: Romance is full of clichés, such as this one. If you’d rather not deal with the typical, cliché stuff, then stay away from most romance books.
If you read the book closely, Scarlett replies to Silas’ suggestion of guns with “Not enough damage to kill them, most likely.” (<Page 277)
If you think about it closely, it makes some sense, as these are pretty much creatures with high tolerance for damage and don't give up until death, not to mention their remarkable speed and strength. If they manage to get to you, or you run out of ammo, well, guns aren't gonna help you much there. I am aware of such a thing called a 'pistol whip', but that's going to be less effective (blunt).
Red cloaks are to bait the Fenrirs, because, as she stated, 'the colour of passion, sex, and lust is irresistible to wolves'. They have to lure the Fenrir(s) to a place where people can't see them fight, because Fenrirs are not known to most of the world. Plus, the sisters would get unwanted attention if people saw them fighting a huge wolf and killing it.

Summary of this comment: I don't really understand why you can't deal with a book that actually didn't really accuse victims (merely just showed that their FICTIONAL BADDIES, emphasis on FICTIONAL, were attracted to people like that as victims for MURDER, NOT RAPE). oh and a couple of other points too but that's the main thing, really.

Celine

Only asking these questions because I’ve been following this disscusion with great interest…

“With fenris, however, they don’t have that moral obligation; after all, it’s about feeding – not raping. It’s a matter of survival for them.
If I knew pulling on a dog’s tail would provoke it to attack me, and I still did it, then it *would* indeed be my own fault if it maimed me.”

From listening to the discussion above I got the impression that the Fenrir are provoked by traditionally accepted western displays of feminine attractiveness – party dresses, make-up, highheels? Is this not the case? It would seem to be the case if the quote in the other comment above is accurate ( ‘the colour of passion, sex, and lust is irresistible to wolves’) If it was the ‘the sight of healthy flesh; the vigor of youth; or even the smell and sight of blood that was irresistible, I’d get the food reference – but then not only young women would be the victims, would they? Any healthy, young human-being would be seen as ‘food’, male and female alike. So it’s hetro-normative, western oriented, perceptions of sexual attractiveness that make the wolves hungry. Is that right?

Or perhaps only women smell like food? (and all the gay wolves die of starvation) If so would all women not be at risk from the wolves no matter what they looked like or what their age? Would a middle aged lady doing her shopping not be just as tasty as a young girl outside a disco? Or maybe they are? Perhaps the wolves eat a big variety of women in the books nuns, grannies, babies, school girls, middleaged business women on their way to work? If so surely it wouldn’t matter what the ‘bait’ looked or dressed like? Any woman would do – just wave her about somewhere, wait for the Wolves to come along, then shoot their heads off with a shot gun.

BTW the colour association mentioned above… ‘the colour of passion, sex, and lust’ Does the book explain that association? Is it based on the traditional red light above a prostitutes door? The colour of eastern wedding dresses? Menstrual blood? Is it an historical thing set only in the books canon? (Were women in the past sacrificed in red cloaks, perhaps, and so now the colour signals ‘victim’?) In the story ‘red riding hood’ the red clock is thought to refer to the girl having come into menstruation and therefore becoming ‘prey’ to men until she was safely rescued and married off to the woodcutter – just wondering if it has a more modern significance here?

Kira

Not saying I agree or disagree with the review (well, actually, I agree with a lot of it) but I have to say that I’m having trouble with your complaints about using the word “Fenris”. There’s nothing wrong with Pearce’s mythology. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact. There’s n logical reason to pick fault with her using the word “Fenris”. She doesn’t HAVE to use the Norse root. In fact, it’s more creative not to. Also, I guess the reason Scarlett and Rosie use hatchets and knives is because, when you’re sixteen, actually getting your hands on a gun is going to be difficult. They’re not going to give these random civilian teens a gun license. Also, people would probably notice what was going on after a while if machine gun fire was heard in the woods.

Overall, I agree a lot with your review. I also had issues with the whole “beauty wins all”. I don’t know why Scarlett had to end up alone. Was it because her beauty wasn’t as devastating as Rosie’s? I feel like the romance would have been far better had it been there for Scarlett. The message would have been stronger. Part of me thinks that Scarlett and Rosie would have been better had they been merged into a single character that hunted alone. That single character would have had more depth, and the messages wouldn’t be so conflicting and sour.

Overall, good review. Lots of good points.

Angelica

I would have to disagree that Scarlett is blaming the “dragonflies” for being attacked, she simply points out their appearance draws the fenrises to them. Her first night in Atlanta she passes a club and notes the dragonflies appearances even going so far as calling them stupid and wishing she could let a fenris kill them but then she retracts her statement, she didn’t mean it. I’m sure the source of Scarlett’s pain is that she’s living in a world that is still hiding in a cave, which she often references. She was horribly marred and risks her life every night and these girls have no clue. I really loved this book and sometimes it’s good to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Olivia

Some of the comments on this page literally sickened me. I understand and can see why Thea and Ana hated that section of the book, especially enough to put it down. As someone who experienced internalized misogyny/sexism when she was younger, that whole page was smack full of it. It is a subconscious ‘I am better than them because I do x while they do x’. No, you’re not. Just because you act more conventionally’ masculine’ roles doesn’t mean women who act more feminine are less than you.

It’s the usual ‘blame the victim’ mentality that pervades this society, and it disgusts me to the core. It is stuff like this that helps rapists escape justice.

And to those who think Thea and Ana ‘over analyzing’ the book- we make the media, and vice visa. Fact is, the media that surrounded me when I was younger told me that being a girl who wore pants made me better than girls who wore skirts or dresses. That those who did were less than me. That wearing those sort of things meant that you were weak. Trust me, I wasn’t told by my parents to think those sorts of things. For some reason, adults like to think that children are extraordinarily stupid, and that they don’t pick up the subtle messages within tv shows and books. They do, and because of that I suffered completely unnecessary emotional conflicts that hurt me as a girl.

So don’t try and dismiss good analysis as ‘it’s just a book’. No, it’s not. Some girls are reading this book right now and being taught that being girly is a bad thing. That going out and enjoying the night dancing is a bad thing. That flirting is a bad thing. That girls who do these things are bad and are considered less than them.

None of these things are bad things. Girls should be able to do this if they want to, without anyone judging them or preying on them. People should just learn to be decent human beings. And a way to do this is by stopping the ‘blame the victim’ mentality. That way, actual monsters will be behind bars, not in the nightclubs or whatever, where it will happen again and again and again.

The world is not a fair place. A woman who is wearing ten layers of clothing is just as likely as the girl wearing a tube top and and short skirt of getting sexually harassed and/or raped. That is the reality we live in, and one that we must try and change.

@ Becky: It is also common sense for men to not rape, but it happens anyway, doesn’t it?

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Luna

Wow…
Not only do I think you are overreacting greatly, I think this is downright unprofessional. You went from reviewing to bashing pretty damn quick, and it seems you are just looking for excuses to hate it – you’re this upset about the word Fenris? Really? Really?!
I lost all respect for this site after reading this review.
If you had stuck to the basics I would have been on board. You are entitled to your opinion, and yes, I suppose that excerpt can be read that way (but I think that’s more YOUR thoughts than the author’s thoughts – I didn’t read anything into that before you started bitching about it). But you’re going overboard with it, and bashing and hating it to the point where I don’t even think it’s about the book itself, but your hyped up discussions after having read it.
Personally I read that excerpt as a continuance of the philosophy of the sun and the cave. These girls still live in the cave, while Scarlett and Silas (and Rosie) live in the sun. Would these girls still act like this if they lived in the sun too?
You should have thought about the different ways you can interpret this before you go off screaming about rape.
Now excuse me if I never read another book review here again. I like my book reviews more professional and thought-through.

hoeddyy

this is disgusting. i love sisters red. get.a.grip

karmen

I read this book, not once, not twice but three times and failed every single time to see where the hell you’re coming from. I consider myself to be a feminist and believe that victim blaming is never ok – and guess what? This book doesn’t do it. The passage you have up there is totally misinterpreted. It does not blame the Dragonflies, it blames the Fenris.
Let’s think of it this way: if a victim of a shooting had known that they would get shot, would they have worn a bulletproof vest that day? If they victims of 9/11 had known they would die that day, would they have gone to work? By saying this, I am not blaming the victims. I am not saying “Should have known better than to have gotten yourself killed” I am simply wondering if they would have made the same decisions. If someone had told them, they may have avoided death. The people who hold the blame are still the shooters, still the terrorists. End of.
In the same way, asking if the girls would dress would dress differently if they knew the Fenris existed does not move the blame onto them. Throughout the book, the Fenris are the bad guys, the ones that must be hunted down. The passage wonders whether the girls would be better prepared if they were better informed. If they were told of the Fenris, would they change their lifestyle? Not even their clothes specifically. Would they carry a hatchet? Would they train in self defense? They don’t have to stops dressing in any particular way – Scarlett and Rosie do it! IT IS NOT WRONG!
Perhaps if you had actually read to the end of the book, the idea of beauty being a flaw is challenged when Rosie stands up to Scarlett and confronts her. Because she is prettier, she is not more vulnerable. She does not need to change the way she is just to “save herself”. She can be who she is and still kick ass. And she does.
Wow, what a freaking anti-feminist message right?

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JustABookLover

I understand where your coming from, and if I didnt know any better I might say u the same thing. Where all in titled to our own thoughts so let me give you another way to look at it.

To scarelet shes in a whole nother world, shes simply trying to say, if only they knew what was out therem they might not do some of the things they do. If you read on when the two girls are being attacked she says she wish that never happened so they could stay hid from the painful truth. Shes not trying to blaim mm them, just saying what if, trying to get in there head, silas was trying to draw her thoughts out and make her feel better.thats just my take on it, you dont have 2 take it. Just think about it.

Luke Dai

Hello Ana,
I felt that your analysis was really great in showing the negative sides of Sisters Red. I am actually just starting to read it (haven’t gotten past 50 pages yet). I understand that books like these convey a sense of “victims are the ones to blame” (WHICH IS DEFINITELY WRONG!), but I looked at your review a little more neutrally. I don’t think it was the author’s intention to convey that theme. It was, as you mentioned, only a characteristic of Scarlet. Therefore, I don’t think you should completely give up the book because of one certain ideal. Even if you don’t like the characters, don’t hate the story. Thanks for your review!

PS. To be honest, Scarlett should not have such characteristic. She was a victim so she should realize how she wasn’t the blame of the werewolf attack. This could have been a mistake of the author.

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