Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Rouge by Mona Awad

13 reviews

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism and Sexual harassment

attempted matricide

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Holy SHIT. This had me so tense and so sad. My heart broke nearly every chapter. I was petrified of Rouge. Horrified. I felt so awfully connected to the story. The writing is flawless and poetic. Mona Awad spins terrifying fairytales into gold.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

rsb12's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

gabefiction's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

initially liked this book, the bizarre, fever dream prose that mona awad excels in is gorgeous. But it’s gotten incredibly tiresome and annoying to sit through the protagonist’s voice as the story went on. she’s also quite one-dimensional and boring, to the point where i couldn’t really care less whether she made it out of the cult or not. 

only reason i forced myself to finish this is due to people saying that the ending was a saving grace. honestly this is one of the few times that i wish a book was shorter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Emotional abuse, Racism, and Sexual harassment

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

makeintoall's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

linneak's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

dehahs's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

1.5

I loved the idea of this book, and the prologue immediately drew me in. Belle was such a compelling character at the start — the fact that she was obsessive and single minded interestingly gave her character a lot of depth. However, about a third of the way through, I started to lose interested and contemplated DNFing this. What kept me reading was a spoiler (

Egyptian mythology

) which in reality wasn’t there. It became extremely repetitive and boring; They could have cut out the 5-7 hours in the middle and it wouldn’t have mattered much. I ended up putting this on 2x just so I could get through it.

I liked the wordplay in the latter chapters (

eucalyptus / apocalypse, vanity / insanity, serve / sever

); The writing was otherwise fine, if at times repetitive. The pacing was also very weird. The start was fine, the middle was slow and drawn out, and the ending felt rushed.

Besides Belle in the first third, I didn’t like any of the characters nor was I invested in any of them — except, maybe oddly, her dad.

I wish we found out more about him or explored Belle’s Egyptian heritage more. Also, if you’re going to hint at Egyptian mythology, do *something* with it.

Otherwise, the characters were quite flat. This was probably deliberate for everyone associated with the spa, but it would have been more impactful if the book was shorter. I’m not sure the narration helped; I found some of the accents quite grating.

While I apprciate the message this is trying to convey, I really, really wish the rampant racism/colourism which Belle has also internalised was confronted head on. Instead, all we get is a sense at the end that

Belle is starting to move on

. This is what the book should have spent more time on, rather than the aforementioned repetitive middle section. I get that not every book has to explicitly say racism is bad, etc., but there was so much happening that I don’t think this point was adequately conveyed as is.

Overall, I feel like the book focused too much on being an absurd horror story at the detriment of being a biting critique of the beauty industry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Racism, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual content, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

ashlesschaps7's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Racial slurs

lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Second half was better, though the ending fell flat. If you told me I had to reread this one I think I'd cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, and Death of parent