Scan barcode
royalbott's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
karinajperez's review against another edition
4.0
Back in my surrealist and unsettling works of literature era. I officially love Mona Awad. I have a lot to say to this about this book. Unlike “Bunny,” this novel in particular felt slightly slower and dragged on, especially in the beginning. But! there were much more interesting takes. The main character battles with a certain level of grief that transcends throughout the story. The loss of her mother surfaces the complex relationship she had with her in her youth.
There is a large underlying commentary of beauty standards and the industry that is explored in this book through a “French spa” who promises unattainable levels of beauty. It turns out to be a cult that consumes Mirabelle in every way. The obsession with skin care and these unnecessary overzealous routines were perfectly put. I love the references of fairy tales and the twist on modern times. 4.5!
There is a large underlying commentary of beauty standards and the industry that is explored in this book through a “French spa” who promises unattainable levels of beauty. It turns out to be a cult that consumes Mirabelle in every way. The obsession with skin care and these unnecessary overzealous routines were perfectly put. I love the references of fairy tales and the twist on modern times. 4.5!
dpark90's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
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
pixieparliament's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When I first started reading this I wasn't sure what to make of it. My husband asked me what my book was about and I replied that I wasn't sure.
It's about grief, parental relationships, obsession and so much more.
The whole time I was reading it I could imagine it being directed into a film by David Cronenberg as there were some very wacky parts to the book
It's about grief, parental relationships, obsession and so much more.
The whole time I was reading it I could imagine it being directed into a film by David Cronenberg as there were some very wacky parts to the book
ecroot's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
tobyw's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was so enchanting. I usually don't listen to audiobooks, but Mona Awad is one of my favourite authors, and Libby didn't have an eBook option, so audiobook it was. The form definitely added a certain flavour to the book -- I'm from Montreal, and the narrator didn't do a great job of nailing Noelle's French Canadian accent lol but it did make her sound very specific and weird, which kinda worked on a different level. The narrator's French in general was very poor, which sometimes subtracted from the sense of mystery and luxury because I was just... hearing someone mispronounce French words.
Sometimes I give a book a little less than 5 stars because it's a great book, but I know it won't leave any lasting impact on me. That's not the case with this book. It was intensely moving; I started crying in the last scene with Noelle and Belle on the beach. And it was just SO GODDAMN WEIRD. In a sea of repetitive and uninventive fantasy, Mona Awad keeps coming up with weirder and weirder shit. I guess I'd categorize her stuff as magical realism more than fantasy, but still. I couldn't stop listening to it because I had to know how it all shook out. How many authors can fit a reveal onto the COVER OF THEIR BOOK? I knew that rose looked weird and blobby.
For the most part, it was very satisfying. Even though Mirabelle seemed to just get bounced around the plot, I found myself really rooting for her to untangle the mystery, shut down the Maison de Meduse, and stop watching Marva so obsessively. I have a lot of affection for Tad the merman, even though he seemed to have a bit too much in common with All's Well's love interest. Hud Hudson was a real wrench in the works and worked to break the mould of her previous works. The mother-daughter relationship and the unpacking of generational trauma was so beautiful and unflinching. Awad's never afraid to make things weird, and I appreciate that a lot. The subtle references to Egyptian mythology with the eye of Horus as protection, the sun/moon, and the bad guy being called Seth were all really satisfying. I loved how the red shoes were used -- how Noelle's shoes initially lead Belle to the spa, but then they try to dig her out of the mess after, and how they were just leading her to her mother the whole time... It was such a beautiful reflection of the overall idea of how daughters' destinies are wrapped up in their mothers', and how mothers try to save them from themselves. All the fairy tale imagery and motifs were excellent; I love that Awad didn't just do a straight retelling of an existing fairy tale. Take what you need and leave the rest, as a dramaturg told me.
Also the Tom Cruise shit was just so funny and weird. I'm sure he wasn't a random choice; the scientology vibes are strong.
My first impression of other people's opinions of Rouge was that it was too similar to All's Well. And I was kinda thinking "Well, I loved All's Well, so I don't mind reading another version of it." I do see where those people were coming from, because there are similarities in the premises, but I don't think you'd actually think they're thaaat similar when you finish it. Rouge is very focused on the mother-daughter dynamic and nascent childhood sexuality. All's Well is just... not about that at all. I think they're clearly born in the same mind and written by the same person, but that lends a pleasing continuity to Awad's body of work, not a disappointingly repetitive strain. I bet if the publication order of Bunny and All's Well had been switched, a lot more people would've been complaining it was too similar to Bunny. Belle is much more like Sam than the protagonist of All's Well (despite how recently I read it, I've forgotten a lot about it. It might be worth a reread. I liked Rouge better)
There were a couple things that didn't work for me, but they were fairly minor. The adverb "redly" was way overused. Madeline Miller and Mona Awad have a similar style of leaning hard on describing colours, and I like it for the most part, but in this case it got out of hand. Obviously the colour red is a big motif in the novel, but it loses its potency when the word is worn out. There were a few scenes that felt a little wonky or out of place -- the one that really springs to mind is the scene in the consignment shop with Tad and the Snow Queen/Woman in Red. I think the book was just a little overambitious with its characters and scenes; pruning a couple branches off the tree would have made it perfect. As it stands, it's pretty damn close anyway.
Sometimes I give a book a little less than 5 stars because it's a great book, but I know it won't leave any lasting impact on me. That's not the case with this book. It was intensely moving; I started crying in the last scene with Noelle and Belle on the beach. And it was just SO GODDAMN WEIRD. In a sea of repetitive and uninventive fantasy, Mona Awad keeps coming up with weirder and weirder shit. I guess I'd categorize her stuff as magical realism more than fantasy, but still. I couldn't stop listening to it because I had to know how it all shook out. How many authors can fit a reveal onto the COVER OF THEIR BOOK? I knew that rose looked weird and blobby.
For the most part, it was very satisfying. Even though Mirabelle seemed to just get bounced around the plot, I found myself really rooting for her to untangle the mystery, shut down the Maison de Meduse, and stop watching Marva so obsessively. I have a lot of affection for Tad the merman, even though he seemed to have a bit too much in common with All's Well's love interest. Hud Hudson was a real wrench in the works and worked to break the mould of her previous works. The mother-daughter relationship and the unpacking of generational trauma was so beautiful and unflinching. Awad's never afraid to make things weird, and I appreciate that a lot. The subtle references to Egyptian mythology with the eye of Horus as protection, the sun/moon, and the bad guy being called Seth were all really satisfying. I loved how the red shoes were used -- how Noelle's shoes initially lead Belle to the spa, but then they try to dig her out of the mess after, and how they were just leading her to her mother the whole time... It was such a beautiful reflection of the overall idea of how daughters' destinies are wrapped up in their mothers', and how mothers try to save them from themselves. All the fairy tale imagery and motifs were excellent; I love that Awad didn't just do a straight retelling of an existing fairy tale. Take what you need and leave the rest, as a dramaturg told me.
Also the Tom Cruise shit was just so funny and weird. I'm sure he wasn't a random choice; the scientology vibes are strong.
My first impression of other people's opinions of Rouge was that it was too similar to All's Well. And I was kinda thinking "Well, I loved All's Well, so I don't mind reading another version of it." I do see where those people were coming from, because there are similarities in the premises, but I don't think you'd actually think they're thaaat similar when you finish it. Rouge is very focused on the mother-daughter dynamic and nascent childhood sexuality. All's Well is just... not about that at all. I think they're clearly born in the same mind and written by the same person, but that lends a pleasing continuity to Awad's body of work, not a disappointingly repetitive strain. I bet if the publication order of Bunny and All's Well had been switched, a lot more people would've been complaining it was too similar to Bunny. Belle is much more like Sam than the protagonist of All's Well (despite how recently I read it, I've forgotten a lot about it. It might be worth a reread. I liked Rouge better)
There were a couple things that didn't work for me, but they were fairly minor. The adverb "redly" was way overused. Madeline Miller and Mona Awad have a similar style of leaning hard on describing colours, and I like it for the most part, but in this case it got out of hand. Obviously the colour red is a big motif in the novel, but it loses its potency when the word is worn out. There were a few scenes that felt a little wonky or out of place -- the one that really springs to mind is the scene in the consignment shop with Tad and the Snow Queen/Woman in Red. I think the book was just a little overambitious with its characters and scenes; pruning a couple branches off the tree would have made it perfect. As it stands, it's pretty damn close anyway.
book_worm23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25