The Red Tree

by Caitlín R. Kiernan

No cover — Caitlín R. Kiernan: The Red Tree (2009, Penguin USA, Inc.)

Electronic resource

English language

Published Sept. 23, 2009 by Penguin USA, Inc..

ISBN:: 978-1-101-10265-7

(8 reviews)

Sarah Crowe left Atlanta, and the remnants of a tumultuous relationship, to live alone in an old house in rural Rhode Island. Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house's former tenant—a parapsychologist obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a desolate corner of the property. And as the gnarled tree takes root in her imagination, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago…

2 editions

johnny dangerously. reviewed The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Review of 'The red tree' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I don't think I'll ever read a horror novel I'll like better.

This isn't one of those books I think was 'written just for me', or whatever that phrase means. It is, instead, a way to look into another world and see what it's trying to say. The book is layered in metaphor under metaphor under metaphor. I came away with theories, only for the final few chapters to tell me my theories, however plausible, did not matter. They don't save Sarah. You can't save Sarah. The ending happens before the beginning, and you know it, but you keep reading anyway.

We're all just fodder for the tree.