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novelswithariana's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.5
đž ARIANA'S BOOK REVIEW đž
âââââš/5
Genre: Horror, Gothic, Thriller, Contemporary, Adult, Fantasy
If you're a fan of horror fiction or enjoy a spine-chilling read, "Rouge" by Mona Awad should be at the top of your must-read list. Awad's gripping tale takes readers on a dark and suspenseful journey, leaving them both enthralled and unnerved.
In "Rouge," Awad seamlessly combines elements of horror and psychological suspense, crafting an unsettling atmosphere that captivates from the very first page. The story is filled with unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers on the edge of their seats, eager to devour every word.
At its core, this story reflects on the beauty industry and media's exploitation of people's insecurities from a young age. "Rouge" exposes the damaging narrative that women are only valuable if they conform to specific standards. It also sheds light on the manipulation and fascination of older men with young girls, highlighting the power dynamics and the pervasive nature of such relationships.
What sets "Rouge" apart from other horror novels in the genre is Awad's unique ability to blend the supernatural with everyday experiences and emotions. The sense of dread and unease seeps off the pages, making even the most mundane activities feel unsettling. As the story unfolds, readers will question the boundaries between reality and nightmare.
This thought-provoking and captivating read leaves a lasting impact. "Rouge" goes beyond surface-level scares, delving into important social commentary while challenging traditional narratives. Awad artfully crafts a narrative that demands attention, prompting readers to question societal expectations and the damaging effects of the beauty industry. With its intricate exploration of mother-daughter relationships, manipulation, and the dark truths of society, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking a thought-provoking and emotionally charged experience.
People who have read âSilver Nitrateâ (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), âBlack Sheepâ (Rachel Harrison) and âDeath Valleyâ (Melissa Broder) may like this book.
âââââš/5
Genre: Horror, Gothic, Thriller, Contemporary, Adult, Fantasy
If you're a fan of horror fiction or enjoy a spine-chilling read, "Rouge" by Mona Awad should be at the top of your must-read list. Awad's gripping tale takes readers on a dark and suspenseful journey, leaving them both enthralled and unnerved.
In "Rouge," Awad seamlessly combines elements of horror and psychological suspense, crafting an unsettling atmosphere that captivates from the very first page. The story is filled with unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers on the edge of their seats, eager to devour every word.
At its core, this story reflects on the beauty industry and media's exploitation of people's insecurities from a young age. "Rouge" exposes the damaging narrative that women are only valuable if they conform to specific standards. It also sheds light on the manipulation and fascination of older men with young girls, highlighting the power dynamics and the pervasive nature of such relationships.
What sets "Rouge" apart from other horror novels in the genre is Awad's unique ability to blend the supernatural with everyday experiences and emotions. The sense of dread and unease seeps off the pages, making even the most mundane activities feel unsettling. As the story unfolds, readers will question the boundaries between reality and nightmare.
This thought-provoking and captivating read leaves a lasting impact. "Rouge" goes beyond surface-level scares, delving into important social commentary while challenging traditional narratives. Awad artfully crafts a narrative that demands attention, prompting readers to question societal expectations and the damaging effects of the beauty industry. With its intricate exploration of mother-daughter relationships, manipulation, and the dark truths of society, this book is a must-read for anyone seeking a thought-provoking and emotionally charged experience.
People who have read âSilver Nitrateâ (Silvia Moreno-Garcia), âBlack Sheepâ (Rachel Harrison) and âDeath Valleyâ (Melissa Broder) may like this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Body horror
Moderate: Body shaming and Racism
kek513's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Cannibalism
Absolutely gorgeous prose and fantastic atmosphere. The middle of the book dragged as it felt like the plot was just "happening to" the protagonist, but the ending was strong.booksandteatime's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Death of parent, and Grief
theliteraryhooker's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As expected, this was a very strange read. However, Awad's writing is so weird and haunting and effective that it absolutely carried my attention through the entire bizarre plot. Do I fully understand what I just read? Not at all. But I've accepted that Awad's books are all about the weird, creepy, ambiguous journey and less about the destination. I found this one to be a bit too repetitive at times, which made it less hard hitting for me than Bunny, but still a good read. The fact that there's a Tom Cruise facsimile at the heart of a skincare cult situation is also just *chef's kiss* perfection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Death of parent
mmccombs's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This was quite weird and unexpected, even for a Mona Awad book! I didnât know anything going in to this, so to say this was a Journey may be an understatement. Itâs a fever dream of a fairy tale and a grief-induced fugue state that analyzes a brutal mother-daughter relationship and the beauty industry, there was just a lot going on. And it was also way too long, there were multiple parts where I felt like I had already read a section almost exactly like it before, so I think it could have been paired down in the middle. The ending was satisfying and I came away from it feeling lots of feelings about how much we are forced to focus on beauty, on never aging, on âwhitening and brightening,â on comparing ourselves to our mothers or our daughters and never quite feeling like youâre enough. Really interesting topics covered in this book, itâll leave you feeling a bit disoriented (and feeling a bit weird[er] about Tom Cruise).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism and Medical content
majamatcha's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Dysphoria
Moderate: Racism
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
âJust sick, I tell myself. But no, not just sick. I know the word I feel. The one Mother taught me from Snow White that is so many bad feelings at once. That I feel when I watch Tom Cruise with any girl, when I watch Mother put on her hat with the wide brim to protect her pale face. The dark, twisting poison one that aches and eats and empties. And wants. All by itself.â
TITLEâRouge
AUTHORâMona Awad
PUBLISHEDâ2023
PUBLISHERâMarysue Rucci Books (Simon & Schuster)
GENREâliterary speculative horror fiction
SETTINGâmostly in San Diego, California with some flashbacks to Montreal, Quebec
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTSâmirrors, fairy tales (Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, & others), surface-level beauty, expensive skin care products, vanity, obsession with youth & immortality, the ocean, darkness & shadows, grief, dress shops & retail saleswork, mother-daughter relationship, roses, jellyfish, souls, word slips, secrets, a beauty cult, unreliable narrator, occult beauty practices, memory & disassociation, colorism, envy, inherited trauma & guilt, forgiveness, acceptance & redemption
WRITING STYLEâđđđđđ
CHARACTERSâđđđđđ
STORY/PLOTâđđđđđ
BONUS ELEMENT/Sâthe interweaving of all the fairy tale themes and motifs was đđđ»
PHILOSOPHYâđđđđđ
PREMISEâđđđđđ
EXECUTIONâđđđđđ
âI had seven different kinds of acid on rotation, each one for what Marva called a different âskin predicamentâ. I had the Universal Brightening Peel Pads and the Overnight Glycolic Resurfacing Matrix and of course, the triple-exfoliating Lotion Magique, a cult French elixir that's still illegal in some countriesâthe one with the banned ingredient that reeks of sulfur and numbs your face. I also had the infamous blood-colored Eradikating Ambrosia, which smells like turpentine and looks like fresh goat placenta. Each night I rub one or more on my face with a cotton pad, and my skin screams beautifully. Goes an unholy red. I watch it burn in the mirror while an animal scent, a smell of sacrifice, fills the bathroom like smoke.â
Summary:
âWith black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cultlike nature of the beauty industry as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze.â
My thoughts:
Unique, and unhinged, unsettling and utterly bold, Awadâs story of beauty and secrets, grief and obsession sucked me in like a rip tide. With less than 40 pages left in the book I thought no *way* could this story have anything close to a satisfying ending. The chaos and disorientation, the weirdness and seeming total disintegration of the MCâs entire world and agency seemed so far gone that I just could not see a way that Awad could bring it all back together. Whew was I wrong!
I could definitely see this book not being for everyone as it really pushes the boundaries of speculative literary fiction but I loved it. It definitely even had some Helen Oyeyemi vibes going on a little (reminded me some of BOY, SNOW, BIRD in fact at times). Easily a top read of the year for me.
âWell, Beauty can be scary sometimes, it can take your breath away.â
I would recommend this book to readers who can handle some seriously intense speculative horror and bizarre plot arc developments. This is a big âtrust the authorâ type read. đ
This book is best read seaside.
Final note: Itâs definitely not weird that the MCâs name was the name I used in my highschool French class and Iâve never come across it anywhere else before, right? Like on top of my relating *a lot* to the MC for other deeply personal, uncomfortable reasons? đ€Șđ« đ
ââRed like roses. Red like blood. Red like the algae she steals from the Deep to make her look young and beautiful forever. But it won't save her in the end.â âIt wonât? Why not?â âNothing saves us in the end,â Tom said, stroking my hair. âNot gods or shadow gods. Not heaven or the endless Deep. Not blood or cream red as blood. Rouge, as they say.ââ
đđđđđ
Season: Summer
CW // grief, suicide, death of a parent, grooming, colorism, body horror (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Readingâ
- BUNNY by Mona AwadâTBR
- BOY, SNOW, BIRD by Helen Oyeyemi
- HOW TO BE EATEN by Maria Adelmann
- MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION by Ottessa Moshfegh
- THE SEED COLLECTORS by Scarlett Thomas
- MIRROR, MIRROR by Gregory Maguire
- A MIRROR MENDED by Alix Harrow
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Racism
Also grooming.danidamico's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Ya pasaron varios dĂas desde que termine esta novela, pero me cuesta organizar mis pensamientos y ponerlos en palabras. Es un libro imperfecto, sin embargo, me conmoviĂł y eso vale mucho. Rouge es la historia de Mirabelle, una mujer que vuelve a California para el funeral de su madre, Noelle, que ha muerto repentinamente de forma extraña. Este viaje la obligarĂĄ a enfrentarse a recuerdos reprimidos, traumas de su infancia, la relaciĂłn difĂcil que tenĂa con Noelle y una secta que le promete alcanzar la versiĂłn mĂĄs magnĂfica de sĂ misma. Mona Awad se inspirĂł en su propia adicciĂłn a los cuidados de la piel, entre otros aspectos personales, y la describiĂł como una novela que aborda los temas de la envidia, el duelo y el lado perverso de la industria de la belleza. La autora toma el drama familiar y lo entrama con la magia de los cuentos de hadas y un surrealismo bastante terrorĂfico.
Anteriormente, habĂa leĂdo All's Well y tambiĂ©n lo habĂa disfrutado muchĂsimo. La escritura de Awad me resultĂł perturbadora, cautivante y confusa en el mejor de los sentidos. Es claro que tiene una gran habilidad para generar esa sensaciĂłn ominosa de que algo no estĂĄ bien, aunque no sabemos quĂ©. Las cosas parecen normales, pero hay un corrimiento constante, parecido a lo que sucede en los sueños. Algo en su escritura te desorienta. En Rouge tambiĂ©n sentĂ todo eso, pero mĂĄs marcado aĂșn. Tengo que admitir que hay momentos que me dieron miedo; una noche me quedĂ© dormida leyendo y cuando me despertĂ© de golpe un par de horas mĂĄs tarde sentĂ un verdadero malestar. Awad escribe como si todo el tiempo estuviera a punto de contarte un secreto terrible.
Ahora bien, en mi opiniĂłn, en varias instancias el libro se vuelve repetitivo. Entiendo que puede estar relacionado con el "hechizo" que afecta a Mirabelle a partir de cierto punto, pero igual. Pienso que se podrĂan haber reducido esos momentos reiterativos o redundantes y ademĂĄs que definitivamente la novela podrĂa haber sido un poco mĂĄs corta, no sĂ©, tal vez unas 30 pĂĄginas menos o algo asĂ. Entonces, en relaciĂłn a lo tĂ©cnico, pienso que tiene un par de problemas, pero lo que realmente hizo que de todos modos me encantara es su dimensiĂłn emotiva. Si bien al principio no lo parece, Rouge es una novela con muchĂsimo corazĂłn, que tiene como centro una especie de historia de amor, compleja, dañada, pero completamente humana. Hay una cualidad de fragilidad que la vuelve un objeto sensible. Eso es lo que mĂĄs valoro, mĂĄs allĂĄ de que me fascina la escritura de Awad, el hecho de que pude conectar y sentirme conmovida con el viaje de Mirabelle. TambiĂ©n me pareciĂł que la autora trabaja muy bien con los personajes secundarios, Hud, Sylvia, Tad e incluso Noelle, que es mĂĄs bien un fantasma, una presencia de flashbacks.
En fin, si les interesa algo de todo esto, relaciones madre-hija, el lado oscuro de la belleza y el deseo, espejos mågicos, sectas de millonarios diabólicos, etcétera etcétera, la recomiendo sin duda.
Anteriormente, habĂa leĂdo All's Well y tambiĂ©n lo habĂa disfrutado muchĂsimo. La escritura de Awad me resultĂł perturbadora, cautivante y confusa en el mejor de los sentidos. Es claro que tiene una gran habilidad para generar esa sensaciĂłn ominosa de que algo no estĂĄ bien, aunque no sabemos quĂ©. Las cosas parecen normales, pero hay un corrimiento constante, parecido a lo que sucede en los sueños. Algo en su escritura te desorienta. En Rouge tambiĂ©n sentĂ todo eso, pero mĂĄs marcado aĂșn. Tengo que admitir que hay momentos que me dieron miedo; una noche me quedĂ© dormida leyendo y cuando me despertĂ© de golpe un par de horas mĂĄs tarde sentĂ un verdadero malestar. Awad escribe como si todo el tiempo estuviera a punto de contarte un secreto terrible.
Ahora bien, en mi opiniĂłn, en varias instancias el libro se vuelve repetitivo. Entiendo que puede estar relacionado con el "hechizo" que afecta a Mirabelle a partir de cierto punto, pero igual. Pienso que se podrĂan haber reducido esos momentos reiterativos o redundantes y ademĂĄs que definitivamente la novela podrĂa haber sido un poco mĂĄs corta, no sĂ©, tal vez unas 30 pĂĄginas menos o algo asĂ. Entonces, en relaciĂłn a lo tĂ©cnico, pienso que tiene un par de problemas, pero lo que realmente hizo que de todos modos me encantara es su dimensiĂłn emotiva. Si bien al principio no lo parece, Rouge es una novela con muchĂsimo corazĂłn, que tiene como centro una especie de historia de amor, compleja, dañada, pero completamente humana. Hay una cualidad de fragilidad que la vuelve un objeto sensible. Eso es lo que mĂĄs valoro, mĂĄs allĂĄ de que me fascina la escritura de Awad, el hecho de que pude conectar y sentirme conmovida con el viaje de Mirabelle. TambiĂ©n me pareciĂł que la autora trabaja muy bien con los personajes secundarios, Hud, Sylvia, Tad e incluso Noelle, que es mĂĄs bien un fantasma, una presencia de flashbacks.
En fin, si les interesa algo de todo esto, relaciones madre-hija, el lado oscuro de la belleza y el deseo, espejos mågicos, sectas de millonarios diabólicos, etcétera etcétera, la recomiendo sin duda.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Racism, and Murder
fionamatilda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Dementia, and Racism
booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Animal death
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry