Rouge
Ratings82
Average rating3.8
Now when I do my nightly skin care routine, I check for mirrorverse Tom Cruise so he can't pull me into his jellyfish cult.
-0.5 for pacing, +5 for being super weird
4.5 rounding up to a 5
Merged review:
4.5 rounding up to a 5
Merged review:
4.5 rounding up to a 5
4.5⭐️ this was a WILD ride. Oh Mona you do such an impeccable job of making me feel like I'm on psychedelics while reading your books. I can completely understand how this book is not for everyone but if you're a fan of Ms Mona's unhinged criticisms of beauty and femininity you'll LOVE this. I actually teared up at the end of this?? No one does it like Mona.
I almost DNF'd this one.
Mona Awad is such a hit or miss for me. I DNF'd Bunny but quite enjoyed All's Well.
This one had bits and pieces that kept me reading, but a few things I just found too weird for my liking was the Tom Cruise thing and the obsession with her mom's sex life
I find it kinda strange that the blurb, the marketing and barely any reviews mention race and its relation to beauty standards, because that was one of the biggest themes jumping out at me while reading this.
I really wanted to like this. The writing was fine but I just did not CARE at all about this book or what happened. Did not hit for me at all.
Wow this was such a trip. Awad's writing is lovely and poetic on a sentence level, and there are some really funny parodies/critiques of the ~beauty industry~ and beauty bloggers etc. The structure is a little like...weirder and dreamier than I generally prefer to read personally but it was a really compelling journey to go on.
Merged review:
Wow this was such a trip. Awad's writing is lovely and poetic on a sentence level, and there are some really funny parodies/critiques of the ~beauty industry~ and beauty bloggers etc. The structure is a little like...weirder and dreamier than I generally prefer to read personally but it was a really compelling journey to go on.
Merged review:
Wow this was such a trip. Awad's writing is lovely and poetic on a sentence level, and there are some really funny parodies/critiques of the ~beauty industry~ and beauty bloggers etc. The structure is a little like...weirder and dreamier than I generally prefer to read personally but it was a really compelling journey to go on.
ocean, mother-daughter relationship, weird dreamlike book
sign me up
I loved it, the first 30% I was thinking of dnf it but, thank god, I pushed through
amazing, mona awad is a queen
Merged review:
ocean, mother-daughter relationship, weird dreamlike book
sign me up
I loved it, the first 30% I was thinking of dnf it but, thank god, I pushed through
amazing, mona awad is a queen
Merged review:
ocean, mother-daughter relationship, weird dreamlike book
sign me up
I loved it, the first 30% I was thinking of dnf it but, thank god, I pushed through
amazing, mona awad is a queen
Merged review:
ocean, mother-daughter relationship, weird dreamlike book
sign me up
I loved it, the first 30% I was thinking of dnf it but, thank god, I pushed through
amazing, mona awad is a queen
This is lush and intense, very reminiscent of a Peter Strickland movie. But I don't like Peter Strickland movies! If you do, then I think you will really get into this.
Merged review:
This is lush and intense, very reminiscent of a Peter Strickland movie. But I don't like Peter Strickland movies! If you do, then I think you will really get into this.
Merged review:
This is lush and intense, very reminiscent of a Peter Strickland movie. But I don't like Peter Strickland movies! If you do, then I think you will really get into this.
Merged review:
This is lush and intense, very reminiscent of a Peter Strickland movie. But I don't like Peter Strickland movies! If you do, then I think you will really get into this.
The ending and the flashback scenes in the latter half were the strongest part for me and I ended up enjoying the book because of that. For a relatively short book, the middle did feel a bit slow and repetitive. The commentary about the beauty industry and our relationship with it was also pretty shallow and a bit too on the nose. The protagonist and her character arc were a bit too similar to all's well for me, if felt like she was retreading old ground here with this one, although the protagonist is more likeable, albeit duller imo. I did enjoy the ending, and the various love interests, and I also enjoy the works of Tom Cruise, so 3.75 ⭐️
Bunny was one of my favourites of last year, and this one did not disappoint.
I'm genuinely so fascinated with the author's mind, it's amazing what she can come up with and write it so beautifully. I enjoyed drowning in the weird fever dream that this was. I think this is being made into a movie and I cannot imagine how amazing the visuals will be.
I will say it took some time to pick up for me, but once I got into it, i absolutely devoured it. I love the ambiguous style of her storytelling and how there are some things that will just never make sense.
Needless to say I will be reading every book the author decides to put out, ever.
✨ Tom Cruise ✨
Edit: okay, actual review!
“Grief is a journey, and everyone has their own way, you know?”
Rogue by Mona Awad is a psychological thriller about complicated parental relationships (mother-daughter one to be precise) and the struggle with high beauty standards. The only reasons I picked this book up was because I loved Bunny despite all its weirdness and I wanted to experience it again.
Rouge was weird, it did not disappoint me on that front but the writing felt a little repetitive and it really does not feel like the length of the book is justified, even though the book isn't very long at all. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really gripping me the same way as Bunny had. However, I liked the ending and the way the book wrapped up. The conclusion to the relationship Belle has with her mother was absolutely beautiful and made me feel things (ew) which is very rare. The last 20 pages solidified Rouge as a 4 star for me and made it worth pulling thru even though at times I lost interest. Funny how sometimes the ending truly makes or breaks a book! I am definitely going to be coming back to this book and I hope to one day annotate it properly.
This book pulled out an unexpected gut punch and got me REALLY teary-eyed at the end but that???s what makes it GOOD.
So there???s layers to this. The first, obvious one is that a huge portion of this book is an enormous send-up of the beauty industry and beauty influencers. There???s already plenty of commentary out there, both in fiction and nonfiction, about the ways the beauty industry harms people, but the way Awad uses Snow White and Beauty and the Beast is what adds a little extra punch. So many people, especially women, grow up believing that physical beauty is vitally important, that it makes one a ???good??? and/or ???worthwhile??? person, because from childhood we are fed this belief via fairytales and - mostly notably here - Disney movies. Awad takes this belief and turns it into a chilling nightmare as the protagonist (who is named Belle, incidentally - another nod to Disney???s take on Beauty and the Beast) attempts to become ???beautiful??? by following the advice of an online beauty influencer whom she follows with almost cult-like (another reference to the way the term ???cult??? has been adopted by both influencers and the beauty industry) devotion. Later on this obsession with becoming ???beautiful??? leads Belle down a very dark road that forms the novel???s main plot.
Awad also absolutely does not shy away from portraying the terrible effect all of this has on the protagonist???s mental health, most clearly shown in how the plot plays out. Nor does she shy away from showing how racist the beauty industry is, with its emphasis on how beauty products whiten skin - excuse me, call it ???brightening???, because that???s how it???s marketed nowadays to avoid racist implications, and which is ANOTHER thing Awad points out in the novel. This racism is also shown in how the protagonist (who is mixed race, half-French Canadian and half-Egyptian) compares herself constantly to her white French mother and finds herself ugly in comparison. But at the same time, Awad points out the mother???s fear of growing old: another fear the beauty industry preys upon by offering products and procedures that offer to maintain, or even restore, youth.
But while all of that is interesting and pretty damn creepy in the way Awad???s incorporated all of it in the plot, the emotional core of this novel lies in the way it looks at grief, and the complex relationship between Belle and her mother. Once again Awad nods to fairytales in portraying their relationship: specifically Snow White, with Belle meant to stand in for Snow White and her mother standing in for the Queen - there???s even a mirror in this story that plays a rather significant role, and a prince too. But Awad laser-focuses on the connection between Belle and her mother, on the complexities and nuances of their relationship, wrapping it all up in a climactic scene that basically had me crying when I got to it. My relationship with my mother might not have been exactly like Belle???s, but in the general shape of it - especially the inability to be honest about my thoughts and feelings - well??? It didn???t hit me right away, as the story was progressing, but when the climax of the novel happened it hit me all at once and had me crying, which is something I haven???t done since my mom passed.
Overall, this was a creepy, and towards the end, heart-wrenching read. Awad???s prose evokes obsession in a way that feels very visceral, while also evoking the sharp, tender emotions of a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Might not be the fastest, easiest read, but it???s certainly very rewarding.
I am going to be processing this one for a while.
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I am going to be processing this one for a while.
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I am going to be processing this one for a while.
DNF @ 45% what was even going on?
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DNF @ 45% what was even going on?
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DNF @ 45% what was even going on?
Snow White? More like Snow Whaaaaaaaat!?, amirite.This is the second [a:Mona Awad 7104825 Mona Awad https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1680614278p2/7104825.jpg] book I've read, and while I can tell from reading other reviews that they're certainly not for everyone, they're absolutely for me. After [b:Bunny 53285047 Bunny Mona Awad https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1588043687l/53285047.SX50.jpg 58221942] and now Rouge, Awad is officially one of my Favorite Authors of All Time™, and I'm gonna track down all of her other books. It's neither fantasy nor science-fiction, but rather a cuckoo-bananas modern fairy tale about vanity and loneliness, envy and Otherness, grief and family. It has that same unsettling horror baked into it that all of the best fairy tales have, and I loved every moment of it. It goes so far into the Depth (
The book opens like a dream. A fever dream built around a main character who has experienced something tragic. A young woman named Belle takes a plane from Canada to California after she finds out her mother passed away under questionable circumstances. She must meet with the solicitor to talk about her mothers apartment, her dress shop, and the surprising amount of debt that she will be responsible for.
This part of the story is quite clear, but the lines start to blur when Belle thinks back to her childhood and the disparities in parenting between her grandmother and mother. Her mother never wanted Belle to go into her bedroom and peruse her closet. What was in her room that was so secretive and off-limits? Perhaps it was the mirror. The mirror allowed one to see things. Things that excite, things that seduce, and things that frighten. On the other hand, the grandmother wants to expose young Belle to the outside world. She rents her Tom Cruise movies from the video store so she can experience feelings such as envy, revenge, lust, and anger. But how does she cope with these new feelings? Well, you have to jump down the rabbit hole to find out.
This intricate plot has numerous levels to dig through: dealing with family, discovering yourself, inner problems with outward-facing issues, and a variety of other complex mental states. It's a puzzle box to solve, and as you start to put the pieces together, the “a-ha” moments might just leave you with emotions you were not prepared for.
If you have read Mona Awad's novel Bunny and enjoyed it, I believe you will be right at home with this book. She has an uncanny ability to explain complex feelings in the fully realized worlds she creates. It may be confusing at first, but the author weaves together some familiar story lines, which help with some of the heavy lifting that's required. Everything makes emotional sense, even if some of the visuals might leave you scratching your head at first. If you do read it, I would suggest filing away some of the more repetitive and neurotic behaviors, such as the overabundant explanations of cosmetics for use in the latter portion of the book. But just like in Bunny, everything comes together in the end.
I had an amazing time with this book, and I think the best way to go into it is to know very little about the plot. Try to avoid any mention of themes, and I think it will really surprise you. There is no avoiding the emotional response to her journey. The impact of the book showcases a young woman's outward struggles with the world around her, illuminating thoughts and feelings we all go through in one way or another. This book also shines in the last 100 or so pages. It's a masterclass in compiling previous emotional sequences into a form that not one person might interpret the same way. It's mysterious, charming, cautionary, and surprisingly heartfelt.
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5
Merged review:
The book opens like a dream. A fever dream built around a main character who has experienced something tragic. A young woman named Belle takes a plane from Canada to California after she finds out her mother passed away under questionable circumstances. She must meet with the solicitor to talk about her mothers apartment, her dress shop, and the surprising amount of debt that she will be responsible for.
This part of the story is quite clear, but the lines start to blur when Belle thinks back to her childhood and the disparities in parenting between her grandmother and mother. Her mother never wanted Belle to go into her bedroom and peruse her closet. What was in her room that was so secretive and off-limits? Perhaps it was the mirror. The mirror allowed one to see things. Things that excite, things that seduce, and things that frighten. On the other hand, the grandmother wants to expose young Belle to the outside world. She rents her Tom Cruise movies from the video store so she can experience feelings such as envy, revenge, lust, and anger. But how does she cope with these new feelings? Well, you have to jump down the rabbit hole to find out.
This intricate plot has numerous levels to dig through: dealing with family, discovering yourself, inner problems with outward-facing issues, and a variety of other complex mental states. It's a puzzle box to solve, and as you start to put the pieces together, the “a-ha” moments might just leave you with emotions you were not prepared for.
If you have read Mona Awad's novel Bunny and enjoyed it, I believe you will be right at home with this book. She has an uncanny ability to explain complex feelings in the fully realized worlds she creates. It may be confusing at first, but the author weaves together some familiar story lines, which help with some of the heavy lifting that's required. Everything makes emotional sense, even if some of the visuals might leave you scratching your head at first. If you do read it, I would suggest filing away some of the more repetitive and neurotic behaviors, such as the overabundant explanations of cosmetics for use in the latter portion of the book. But just like in Bunny, everything comes together in the end.
I had an amazing time with this book, and I think the best way to go into it is to know very little about the plot. Try to avoid any mention of themes, and I think it will really surprise you. There is no avoiding the emotional response to her journey. The impact of the book showcases a young woman's outward struggles with the world around her, illuminating thoughts and feelings we all go through in one way or another. This book also shines in the last 100 or so pages. It's a masterclass in compiling previous emotional sequences into a form that not one person might interpret the same way. It's mysterious, charming, cautionary, and surprisingly heartfelt.
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5
Merged review:
The book opens like a dream. A fever dream built around a main character who has experienced something tragic. A young woman named Belle takes a plane from Canada to California after she finds out her mother passed away under questionable circumstances. She must meet with the solicitor to talk about her mothers apartment, her dress shop, and the surprising amount of debt that she will be responsible for.
This part of the story is quite clear, but the lines start to blur when Belle thinks back to her childhood and the disparities in parenting between her grandmother and mother. Her mother never wanted Belle to go into her bedroom and peruse her closet. What was in her room that was so secretive and off-limits? Perhaps it was the mirror. The mirror allowed one to see things. Things that excite, things that seduce, and things that frighten. On the other hand, the grandmother wants to expose young Belle to the outside world. She rents her Tom Cruise movies from the video store so she can experience feelings such as envy, revenge, lust, and anger. But how does she cope with these new feelings? Well, you have to jump down the rabbit hole to find out.
This intricate plot has numerous levels to dig through: dealing with family, discovering yourself, inner problems with outward-facing issues, and a variety of other complex mental states. It's a puzzle box to solve, and as you start to put the pieces together, the “a-ha” moments might just leave you with emotions you were not prepared for.
If you have read Mona Awad's novel Bunny and enjoyed it, I believe you will be right at home with this book. She has an uncanny ability to explain complex feelings in the fully realized worlds she creates. It may be confusing at first, but the author weaves together some familiar story lines, which help with some of the heavy lifting that's required. Everything makes emotional sense, even if some of the visuals might leave you scratching your head at first. If you do read it, I would suggest filing away some of the more repetitive and neurotic behaviors, such as the overabundant explanations of cosmetics for use in the latter portion of the book. But just like in Bunny, everything comes together in the end.
I had an amazing time with this book, and I think the best way to go into it is to know very little about the plot. Try to avoid any mention of themes, and I think it will really surprise you. There is no avoiding the emotional response to her journey. The impact of the book showcases a young woman's outward struggles with the world around her, illuminating thoughts and feelings we all go through in one way or another. This book also shines in the last 100 or so pages. It's a masterclass in compiling previous emotional sequences into a form that not one person might interpret the same way. It's mysterious, charming, cautionary, and surprisingly heartfelt.
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5
Merged review:
The book opens like a dream. A fever dream built around a main character who has experienced something tragic. A young woman named Belle takes a plane from Canada to California after she finds out her mother passed away under questionable circumstances. She must meet with the solicitor to talk about her mothers apartment, her dress shop, and the surprising amount of debt that she will be responsible for.
This part of the story is quite clear, but the lines start to blur when Belle thinks back to her childhood and the disparities in parenting between her grandmother and mother. Her mother never wanted Belle to go into her bedroom and peruse her closet. What was in her room that was so secretive and off-limits? Perhaps it was the mirror. The mirror allowed one to see things. Things that excite, things that seduce, and things that frighten. On the other hand, the grandmother wants to expose young Belle to the outside world. She rents her Tom Cruise movies from the video store so she can experience feelings such as envy, revenge, lust, and anger. But how does she cope with these new feelings? Well, you have to jump down the rabbit hole to find out.
This intricate plot has numerous levels to dig through: dealing with family, discovering yourself, inner problems with outward-facing issues, and a variety of other complex mental states. It's a puzzle box to solve, and as you start to put the pieces together, the “a-ha” moments might just leave you with emotions you were not prepared for.
If you have read Mona Awad's novel Bunny and enjoyed it, I believe you will be right at home with this book. She has an uncanny ability to explain complex feelings in the fully realized worlds she creates. It may be confusing at first, but the author weaves together some familiar story lines, which help with some of the heavy lifting that's required. Everything makes emotional sense, even if some of the visuals might leave you scratching your head at first. If you do read it, I would suggest filing away some of the more repetitive and neurotic behaviors, such as the overabundant explanations of cosmetics for use in the latter portion of the book. But just like in Bunny, everything comes together in the end.
I had an amazing time with this book, and I think the best way to go into it is to know very little about the plot. Try to avoid any mention of themes, and I think it will really surprise you. There is no avoiding the emotional response to her journey. The impact of the book showcases a young woman's outward struggles with the world around her, illuminating thoughts and feelings we all go through in one way or another. This book also shines in the last 100 or so pages. It's a masterclass in compiling previous emotional sequences into a form that not one person might interpret the same way. It's mysterious, charming, cautionary, and surprisingly heartfelt.
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5
Merged review:
The book opens like a dream. A fever dream built around a main character who has experienced something tragic. A young woman named Belle takes a plane from Canada to California after she finds out her mother passed away under questionable circumstances. She must meet with the solicitor to talk about her mothers apartment, her dress shop, and the surprising amount of debt that she will be responsible for.
This part of the story is quite clear, but the lines start to blur when Belle thinks back to her childhood and the disparities in parenting between her grandmother and mother. Her mother never wanted Belle to go into her bedroom and peruse her closet. What was in her room that was so secretive and off-limits? Perhaps it was the mirror. The mirror allowed one to see things. Things that excite, things that seduce, and things that frighten. On the other hand, the grandmother wants to expose young Belle to the outside world. She rents her Tom Cruise movies from the video store so she can experience feelings such as envy, revenge, lust, and anger. But how does she cope with these new feelings? Well, you have to jump down the rabbit hole to find out.
This intricate plot has numerous levels to dig through: dealing with family, discovering yourself, inner problems with outward-facing issues, and a variety of other complex mental states. It's a puzzle box to solve, and as you start to put the pieces together, the “a-ha” moments might just leave you with emotions you were not prepared for.
If you have read Mona Awad's novel Bunny and enjoyed it, I believe you will be right at home with this book. She has an uncanny ability to explain complex feelings in the fully realized worlds she creates. It may be confusing at first, but the author weaves together some familiar story lines, which help with some of the heavy lifting that's required. Everything makes emotional sense, even if some of the visuals might leave you scratching your head at first. If you do read it, I would suggest filing away some of the more repetitive and neurotic behaviors, such as the overabundant explanations of cosmetics for use in the latter portion of the book. But just like in Bunny, everything comes together in the end.
I had an amazing time with this book, and I think the best way to go into it is to know very little about the plot. Try to avoid any mention of themes, and I think it will really surprise you. There is no avoiding the emotional response to her journey. The impact of the book showcases a young woman's outward struggles with the world around her, illuminating thoughts and feelings we all go through in one way or another. This book also shines in the last 100 or so pages. It's a masterclass in compiling previous emotional sequences into a form that not one person might interpret the same way. It's mysterious, charming, cautionary, and surprisingly heartfelt.
⭐ | Rating | ⭐
❖ 4.5 out of 5
A wild ride.
This book does so much (and successfully). It is: a satire/critique of the beauty industry and especially the online culture around skincare/anti-aging, a pager-turner thriller/mystery, a unique and original magical realism tale, a compelling narrative about grief and loss, a story of a complicated mother-daughter relationship, and in some ways also a coming-of-age story. There is just so much going on, and yet it all works.
Similarly, Mona Awad manages to make references to a vast number of stories and myths, and yet each one has something sneaky and subtle (or sometimes not-that-subtle) to add if you catch it. Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Egyptian and Greek mythology, the Snow Queen, Bluebeard, The Little Mermaid, the Wizard of Oz....among others.
As the novel progresses, wordplay and creative use of language becomes an important part of it (the reasons are a spoiler), and that aspect is done well, adding humour and meaning.
At no point while reading this did I have any idea what was going to happen next. And all I will say about the ending is that it was satisfying!
Having read Mona Awad's first novel, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, I was not surprised to meet another socially-distant, self-absorbed, and obsessive main character in Rouge. But while I found her debut novel well-written but a bit overly bitter and abject (for my personal preference), Rouge has more poetry, wit, humour, and lightness which make for a much more captivating read. The darkness, societal critique, and satire are if anything made stronger by these contrasts.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the digital galley copy of Rouge. All opinions in this review are my own. :)