A review by mariebrunelm
Rouille by Floriane Soulas

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1897, Paris. It’s been three years since Violante arrived here. What her life was before that, she has no memories. To survive, she became a sex worker and climbed the steps of the strange social ladder at work in her brothel. She became Duchesse, a renowned woman sought by the powerful. Life is hard enough as it is, but with a new drug appearing in town and mysterious disappearances, Violante’s quest for her memories starts to bear strange ramifications with the turmoils of this steampunk Paris.
Don’t expect anything soft and cosy with Floriane Soulas. Her worlds are harsh and cruel, and the characters do whatever they have to do to survive, including questionable choices and morally grey decisions. The prose doesn’t hide any of the horrors happening to the characters whether on a social or physical level. It makes for a gripping story that is quite hard to let go of, even though it’s not one I’ll consider as a comfort read.
Given the main character’s job, sexual violence is rampant in this book. However, I appreciated that it was in the background, not extensively discussed, and never fantasised. It was part of a bigger discussion on violence towards bodies, that the author explores extensively in her latest novel, Tonnerre après les ruines. I find it fascinating to read different books by one author and see the themes and language evolve through a body of work. Having read Soulas’s first and latest novels, I can safely recommend her novels with the warning that they are physically violent. Yet, violence is never gratuitous, and I appreciate that, especially in Tonnerre, Soulas claims violence as a tool for women too, however awful a tool it is. Novels are supposed to make us have a good time, yes, but they are also supposed to make us think.
 
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