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maziodynes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.25
Read this one for book club!
I really enjoyed Ms. Awad's writing style paired with her unreliable narrator. This was a surreal story centering around a mixed race woman and her relationship to her white mother and the beauty industry. Over the course of the book, it spirals down into a warning of a metaphor about grief and owning our traumas to heal (rather than escape)
Belle has this ritualistic obsession with skincare and a society that fetishizes differences while trying to sell a fantasy of being perfect and uniform (young, beautiful, white) even though this is impossible. The cult in this book preys on people like her by GIVING them the fantasy - however, to do this, theytake away something that makes us who we are, that makes us human. They say this is what makes you "ugly." I absolutely loved this concept and thought it was executed well. The ending was beautiful.
My biggest complain was the pacing. Her writing style is so good, so readable, there were just too many words for the story she wanted to tell. It could have been more concise.
I really enjoyed Ms. Awad's writing style paired with her unreliable narrator. This was a surreal story centering around a mixed race woman and her relationship to her white mother and the beauty industry. Over the course of the book, it spirals down into a warning of a metaphor about grief and owning our traumas to heal (rather than escape)
Belle has this ritualistic obsession with skincare and a society that fetishizes differences while trying to sell a fantasy of being perfect and uniform (young, beautiful, white) even though this is impossible. The cult in this book preys on people like her by GIVING them the fantasy - however, to do this, they
My biggest complain was the pacing. Her writing style is so good, so readable, there were just too many words for the story she wanted to tell. It could have been more concise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Body shaming
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Body horror
yilliun's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
Awad is known for her “weird” stories that have the reader questioning what’s real and what’s imagined. This book definitely fits into that description.
The deeper Belle got into Rouge, the harder I found the storyline to follow. I just felt confused about the last quarter of the book. I was also expecting the body horror to be a bit more explicitly gross, but it was more of a mind trip than anything else.
I did think it was an overall okay commentary on the beauty/ skincare industry.
The deeper Belle got into Rouge, the harder I found the storyline to follow. I just felt confused about the last quarter of the book. I was also expecting the body horror to be a bit more explicitly gross, but it was more of a mind trip than anything else.
I did think it was an overall okay commentary on the beauty/ skincare industry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Body horror
abicaro17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Belle is a stylist obsessed with beauty and skin. When she finds out her mother died in an accident, she flies to LA to face her past and confront the mysteries of her mothers odd, rich, skincare obsessed friends. This book is weird. Like no better way to say it: weird. Belle is basically so obsessed with being beautiful like her mother that when she finds the skincare "cult" her mother was a part of she immediately joins hoping to be as beautiful as her. This is a book of envy, vanity, madness, and manipulation. It is veryyy slow but it's just weird enough to be original and pretty good. I think my main complaints are with pacing and lack of explanation or a thoughtful ending. Like we never find out pretty much anything about Rouge and Hud Hudson or his brother. If you liked A Certain Hunger you'd probably like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Stalking, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Toxic friendship, Classism, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Cursing, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, and Gore
meg_thebrave's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Overall, really enjoyed this read. A very satisfying ending, even if the middle was very confusing. It’s a fun time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Self harm, Gore, and Dysphoria
caroisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I've fallen deep for Mona Awad's writing. Darkly funny, beautiful, masterful. I'm still trying to absorb what I've just read, through stupefied tears.
"Rouge" is much more than horror, or magical realism, even absurdism. This is a reflective, heartbreaking story about a daughter and mother, a metaphorical lens on grief and childhood trauma. It's wrapped in something familiar to us, borrowing every reference from Grimms fairytales, and is just as disturbing as the originals.
For me, this book has an exciting start, a more dense and repetitive middle, and the most perfect ending chapters I've ever read. Chapter 30, specifically, is creative and emotional genius, and I'll never forget about it.
Without giving too much away, the Tom Cruise reference is incredible in giving the exact visual we didn't know we needed, the smiling mask covering something else.
Please give this a read if you need another mother-daughter story to heal from, like dark twisting plots, unreliable narrators, and have survived the YouTube Beauty world.
"Rouge" is much more than horror, or magical realism, even absurdism. This is a reflective, heartbreaking story about a daughter and mother, a metaphorical lens on grief and childhood trauma. It's wrapped in something familiar to us, borrowing every reference from Grimms fairytales, and is just as disturbing as the originals.
For me, this book has an exciting start, a more dense and repetitive middle, and the most perfect ending chapters I've ever read. Chapter 30, specifically, is creative and emotional genius, and I'll never forget about it.
Without giving too much away, the Tom Cruise reference is incredible in giving the exact visual we didn't know we needed, the smiling mask covering something else.
Please give this a read if you need another mother-daughter story to heal from, like dark twisting plots, unreliable narrators, and have survived the YouTube Beauty world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Grief, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
kaywhiteley's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Truly a wild one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
kendal_reads's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, and Death of parent
sunwaves's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault
sp00ky_girl28's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Body shaming
Minor: Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Gore
bookb1itch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So. Weird. Creepy and sexy and literary. Something that could be read over and over, with new interpretations. Gorgeous descriptions, with the repeated themes of red, roses, silk, water. When Belle starts "forgetting" words, some of her substitutes are really telling: eg "sin" instead of "skin"; "derange" instead of "arrange". There's a real madness there, in amongst the Tom Cruise and 80s music references. I waited months for this from the public library and it was so worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Grief