Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Rouge by Mona Awad

16 reviews

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

This was an absolute fever dream of feminine horror, inter generational trauma, beauty standards, grief, and fairy tales. Complete with Tom Cruise, jellyfish, mannequins, dark humour, cult-ish behaviour, and general unhinged behaviours. I could not get enough. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

carojust'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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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

---

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

---

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

ieemee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I was no this books target audience. The book hyper focus on beauty treatments and the discussion about youth obsessed culture. The mother and daughter have a complicated relationship. I really didn’t like the woman tearing each other down throughout the novel. Lazarus moments in this novel were happening left and right, was hard to keep track of who is actually alive. I also love the tale of the Snow Queen and didn’t like the way it was weave into the story. Prior work by Mona Awad like  Bunny was a 5 Star read for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Murder

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

---

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

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

Truth be told, I found Bunny to be a much better read but this was still something unique and sucked me right into the mystery. I am in absolute awe in Mona Awad's writing. I especially loved the commentary about the beauty industry's power over consumers like it's a damn cult and I'm now sitting here and embracing all my flaws because it could be worse. I could end up in a fever dream like Belle and almost not get out of it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror and Body shaming

orwatson's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Toxic relationship