Week 43

Another October week, and, shockingly, another Hallowe’en-y read! I know, I surprise myself too.

#66) RED X by David Demchuk

Spooky story being read near Hallowe’en being assigned number 66? Coincidence?? Well, yes, but. A fun one nonetheless.

This is a really interesting novel, missing a lot of the things that I normally look for or expect from a story, and yet, I still really enjoyed it?

It spans multiple decades, pulling in some of the same characters throughout but not necessarily having a traditional “protagonist”. It also contains several metafictional elements, having the narrator and author be part of the story as well as its teller.

There’s also the subject matter, and how it ties fantastical and real-world horror together. Only in knowing the history of the gay community in Toronto, and, in particular, the decades of murders of gay men that were only recently solved, can you really grasp the full context of this book.

I also really enjoyed the depictions of the monster, and thought the way it was handled to be really interesting; there’s compassion there, as well as horror. Particularly when compared to the real-world horrors that marginalized people face, it’s interesting to see that perhaps the book’s monster is not the worst outcome.

Definitely content warnings for rape, police brutality, and homophobia and transphobia if you’re checking this out. These are all, in my reading, handled well and thoughtfully, but just be warned ahead of time.