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My Starry Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reason for Rating: Creepy with occultic themes and a really good mystery with suspenseful writing
What I Learned: Mona Awad is a good writer that I should read more of
Publication Date: September 12, 2023 by S&S/Marysue Rucci Books
Genres: Horror, Gothic, Adult, Magical Realism, Occult Fiction
Synopsis:
From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?
For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.
Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this 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—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.
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Review:
Rouge is a dark twisted fairytale-esque story about mother daughter relationships and the mirroring that happens as a result of the cruel ways fate can turn you into the person you were afraid of becoming.
This is the first book by Mona Awad that I have a read and it was hard not be charmed by the devilish creeping writing style that was seething with dread and suspense throughout the story. The mystery had a way of pulling you deeper and deeper into its dark abyss which was whimsical, macabre, weird, and heartbreaking all at the same time.
The story was cleverly layered with mirrors, roses, and oceanic symbolism each having a big role to play in the themes of vanity, envy, abandonment, and feminine rage explored in this diabolical tale. Toxic mother daughter relationships and their thorny side-effects were on full display, shining an unflattering light on the cracks, dark spots, and scars that find their way to the surface no matter how many masks, serums, and miracle creams are applied. The supernatural elements of the story were unsettling as they perfectly mirrored the disturbed suppressed psychological states of the characters. Strange ritualistic behaviours and painstaking individuating were crafted using seductive imagery and dark glamour that captured the essence and soul of the author’s message in a fantastical way. Bits of Egyptian mythology were included as well, which I think could have been used even more.
Damaged souls and the lengths they will go to retrieve their true selves is the beauty that is sought after in this beguiling story. If you are a fan of the film ‘Death Becomes Her’ or like dark magical realism stories, definitely give this book a chance. P.S. Mind the roses.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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About the Author:
Mona Awad is the author of BUNNY, ALL’S WELL and 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A FAT GIRL. 13 WAYS won the Amazon Best First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Her second novel, BUNNY, was a finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror, the New England Book Award, and won the Ladies of Horror Fiction Best Novel Award. It is currently being optioned for film with Bad Robot Productions. ALL’S WELL was a finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror. Her new novel, ROUGE, is forthcoming in September 2023 with Simon & Schuster.
She earned an MFA from Brown University and an MScR in English from the University of Edinburgh where her dissertation was on fear in the fairy tale. In 2018, she completed a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Denver. She currently teaches creative writing at Syracuse University and lives in Boston.
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