Mike’s Reviews > Seeing Red > Status Update

I was going to say that this tied up all the plot threads fairly well, but then with no warning, Erskine introduced a new one. We'll see where this ending goes.

There are so many well-written scenes in this book that I can't totally write it off. (See what I did there?) It's a very flawed book, but Erskine is a good enough writer that it didn't have to be.

I'm no longer sure where Red's character arc is supposed to be going. Erskine seems to have a vague idea of where she intends to take it, but it feels a little half-formed and vague.

Much as I'm enjoying this, I wish the main plot were more focused. I'm still not sure what exactly the overarching conflict is supposed to be, which is a bit of a problem this far in.

Much like Stella by Starlight, another book I reviewed this year, I wish this book had been around when I was a kid. I think I would've had a better understanding of racism and been a more empathetic person if I had read this back then.

This isn't a perfect book or anything, but Red is such an engaging character that he keeps the whole thing held together. I like that he's flawed, and that when he messes up it has consequences, but he still has strong motivations and isn't really a bad person. He's a great narrator for kids to read about.

Wow. That scene was very well-written and suspenseful. I didn't think I was going to enjoy this, but I'm really starting to think that I underestimated Erskine. The plot is still kind of meandering, but it's all coming together rather nicely. The only problem is that, while I like Erskine's writing style, it needed a little more line editing. Other than that, I'm really liking this.

This genre has an uphill battle to make me like it, but honestly, this isn't that bad. Yeah, the plot is kind of unfocused, but the writing is pretty good, and I like most of the characters. This isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but I can at least acknowledge that Erskine definitely worked hard on it.

Red's dad reminds me of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird in how ridiculously perfect he is. He's not racist! He doesn't beat his kids! He hires intellectually disabled people! This book would ring a lot more true to me if he had some sort of flaws.

Also, I really hope this book ends with Red learning a lesson and not Thomas, because it is going to be very painful otherwise.

I picked this book up assuming it was YA, and I almost definitely wouldn't have read it if I'd known it was MG. I have a prejudice against MG books set in rural areas that deal with death. Maybe that's unfair on my part, but I've yet to read a good book that fits that description. But this book isn't awful so far, so maybe this book isn't hopeless.