Redder Days - Sumptuously Rich Imagery and Prose
As the UK entered its third lockdown due to the ongoing threat posed by the global Covid-19 pandemic, I was busy reading Sue Rainsford’s daring second novel, Redder Days, which will be published in March of this year. Set in a seemingly post-apocalyptic, virus ravaged landscape, it feels like a timely, if not uncannily prophetic read.
Your companions in this nightmarish world are twins, Adam and Anna, who are living, or rather surviving, in the decrepit remains of a commune with their shadowy and diminished former leader, Koan. Their Mother has seemingly abandoned them two years before, but still they stay put and carry out their daily rituals in what feels like an outpost at the end of the world.
Adam and Anna both believe that Storm, a world-ending event, is imminent, though they have lived in the commune since their birth twenty-one years before. Their days are spent in preparation for it - Adam watches by day and Anna by night. They watch for signs of a mysterious ‘red’ plague, which infects and distorts humans, wildlife and the environment, all the while maintaining some extreme social distancing and hygiene practices.
Rainsford drops you straight into a strange and sensual world, without fanfare or apology, and a few pages in you realize that there’s no tidy explanation for the way this world is, and no one is coming to help you out of it. You have to figure this novel out for yourself - and in a world of endless debate and analysis, I found that to be completely refreshing.
The story is told through first person narratives and the journal entries of Koan as read by Anna, which flick back and forth through time. It’s very ‘show, don’t tell’ which can be challenging - this isn’t a relaxing read by any means. There’s no real exposition in the journal entries or accounts from other, former members of the commune either. The situation is also further complicated by the arrival of a previous inhabitant - something which calls a lot of the information you have gleaned into question.
What there is plenty of in Redder Days is sumptuously rich imagery and prose. I have never read fiction like this. It is dreamlike. If I was to try to compare it to other works of fiction then I would say that some elements of the book called The Road by Cormac MCCarthy came into mind, but only for its self-assured style and dystopian themes.
With high praise from one of my current favorite authors, Daisy Johnson, I was excited to read this book - and it didn’t disappoint. It made me think, it made me feel, and it is unapologetically original.
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