The Past is Red, by Catherynne M Valente

[sophia_sol]

In a surprising turn of events I actually really liked this book. I often do not get along with Valente's writing, but on rare occasions she manages to write something that works for me, and it turns out this is one!

This book began life as a short story in 2016 (The Future Is Blue), which is now the first 32 pages of the published novella. I enjoyed the short story back in the day, and it was fascinating to see where things went from there, after what was the end at the time!

It's a post-apocalyptic climate disaster story, but told from the perspective of someone for whom the flooded and garbage-filled earth is the only world she has ever known, and she loves her world and her people and her life, even though/even when things are really hard.

And a lot of really hard things do happen to her! But she always finds something to love, something to live for, something to hope for. I loved Tetley, and I loved getting to see the world through her eyes.

Comments

[genarti]

Ooh, intriguing! I haven't read much Valente, but I mostly bounced off what I have, but I keep meaning to read more of the ones that seem likelier to be up my alley in hopes that one of them will turn out to work for me after all. This sounds promising, at any rate! Post-apocalypse stories of rebuilding and finding things to love and hope for are very much my jam.

[sophia_sol]

This one would be worth giving a try to, then, I think! You can give it a low-stakes try by reading the short story I linked to start with, to see if the approach this book is taking works for you!