chaptersofchase 's review for:

Rouge by Mona Awad

3.0

dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

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Well, this was…. interesting 🤔
Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for the gifted copy of Rouge {partner}

Genre: Horror
Trope: Science Fiction
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 9.12.2023
Star Rating: ☆☆☆

"Because Beauty is our little secret. Because we never tell. Not even over our dead body. We deny everything. We deny all." 

I'm still trying to figure out what I read. I finished Rouge, sat down to write my thoughts, and came up with — what exactly happened? The first 30% I kept up with, but the rest of the story left me in a WTF did I just read state.

Mona Awad is undoubtedly an incredibly brilliant person, but her brilliance and mine are not remotely in the same area. Some may describe Rouge as magical realism, but for me, it was more of a science fiction book exploring the unhealthy expectations of the beauty industry and the often challenging relationships between mothers and daughters. Also, is it a dark fairy tale? I can't give you a straight answer because the Rouge didn't follow a straight line of thought.

The audiobook narration was phenomenal. But, I may have had a more straightforward job following along if I'd utilized the physical copy of the book. Awad jumps from fevered dreams to reality so often that I found it difficult to follow. Speaking of hard-to-follow, the whole plot line involving Tom Cruise? What was that?

😵‍💫 Fever dream vibe
💋 Unreal expectations of the beauty industry
🕰️ A lot of jumping around without warning
✂️ Repetitive; needed to be shorter
🤷🏽‍♀️ Weird, ambitious and unyielding

As you can see, I have way more questions about Rouge than answers. But that doesn't mean this book won't be for you. Plenty of glowing reviews are out there, so if you're interested, give the story a go!

_


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