Rouge by Mona Awad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.75-stars rounded up**
Rouge is the 2023-release from Mona Awad. It’s my second novel from this author, the first being All’s Well.
I actually felt very similar to this one that I did All’s Well, except I enjoyed the content and messages of this one more.
In this story we meet Belle, a lonely shopkeeper, living in Montreal, with a penchant for skincare and watching skincare videos. When Belle’s mother, Noelle, unexpectedly dies, Belle has to travel to her mom’s home in Southern California to settle her estate.
As she’s there and begins to dig into her mother’s life, she finds Noelle had built up considerable debt and was living a lifestyle that raises a lot of questions about her death.
The mystery thickens when a woman in red appears at the funeral offering clues about Noelle’s life. These clues, along with a pair of red shoes, help Belle to find Maison de Méduse, a lavish, yet eerily cult-like salon to which her mother was completely devoted.
This is where Belle, like her mother before her, becomes obsessed with the mirror, and the Alice in Wonderland-like world that exists behind it.
Rouge is described by the publisher as being a surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry.
I did get all of these things, but only wish I could have understood what was going on in the second-half of the story more. It started strong, then lost me.
As with All’s Well, I loved the beginning, but as Belle got more involved and invested in the world of Maison de Méduse, the narrative went so far into fever-dream territory, that I’m afraid the majority of it went over my head.
Therefore, by the time I got to the end, I couldn’t decipher what I’d read. Honestly, the latter half, I had pretty much given up on true understanding and was more invested in the lyrical writing and word play.
I think for people who have loved Awad’s stories in the past, or people who love weird fiction in general, particularly with beautiful writing, you should read this.
I’m glad I picked it up. It was beautiful. I did love the modern Dark Fairy Tale quality of the story. I could actually see this being turned into a great movie, or limited series. Maybe I would understand it more in that format.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Simon Element, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I know so many Readers are going to love this, even if it wasn’t 100% for me.