Rouge: A Novel
A National Bestseller
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Electric Literature, Tor, and Literary Hub
From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a “Grimm Brothers fairy tale for the modern age” (Good Housekeeping) and “darkly funny horror novel” (NYLON) about a lonely young woman who’s drawn to a cult-like spa in the wake of her mother’s mysterious death. “Surreal, scary and deeply moving—like all the best fairy tales” (People).
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Time, Vogue, The Guardian, Goodreads, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, Tor, Good Housekeeping, and more!
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.
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, Electric Literature, Tor, and Literary Hub
From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a “Grimm Brothers fairy tale for the modern age” (Good Housekeeping) and “darkly funny horror novel” (NYLON) about a lonely young woman who’s drawn to a cult-like spa in the wake of her mother’s mysterious death. “Surreal, scary and deeply moving—like all the best fairy tales” (People).
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Time, Vogue, The Guardian, Goodreads, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, Tor, Good Housekeeping, and more!
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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Community Reviews
"The moon is nothing," Tom snaps. For a moment he looks angry. The universe goes red. Then he smiles again. "Without the sun, what's the moon? Just a rock in the outer dark. Its illumination just a trick. Just a trick from the sun's light, which it steals. And that's what Beauty is too."
Yet another WTF did I just read book. Explores some interesting themes of self-loathing, obsession, delusion, desire, perfectionism, and envy. The author also calls out the down side of social media and constant access to (questionable) information. People have said this is a cross between Eyes Wide Shut and a retelling of Snow White. You really need to focus to get what the author is communicating.
Idk what it is about her books but I just eat them up even when they are slightly (insanely) improbable
As always Mona’s books are a fever dream and a roller coaster to read, this one is the same! However I found the ending to be touching but also leaving a lot to be desired. I had hoped to get more things answered but I’m left full of questions… I guess that’s half of the Mona Awad effect
Merged review:
As always Mona’s books are a fever dream and a roller coaster to read, this one is the same! However I found the ending to be touching but also leaving a lot to be desired. I had hoped to get more things answered but I’m left full of questions… I guess that’s half of the Mona Awad effect
Merged review:
As always Mona’s books are a fever dream and a roller coaster to read, this one is the same! However I found the ending to be touching but also leaving a lot to be desired. I had hoped to get more things answered but I’m left full of questions… I guess that’s half of the Mona Awad effect
Merged review:
As always Mona’s books are a fever dream and a roller coaster to read, this one is the same! However I found the ending to be touching but also leaving a lot to be desired. I had hoped to get more things answered but I’m left full of questions… I guess that’s half of the Mona Awad effect
Merged review:
As always Mona’s books are a fever dream and a roller coaster to read, this one is the same! However I found the ending to be touching but also leaving a lot to be desired. I had hoped to get more things answered but I’m left full of questions… I guess that’s half of the Mona Awad effect
I was curious so I had to finish it. It was good but not great. Triggers for body dismorphia, blood, and cannibalism.
I think the ideas behind this book were promising but the plot didn't quite deliver. I appreciate the author addressing themes of racism, the effect that the Eurocentric beauty standard has on women of color, the intricacies of family, and the struggles of a modern day relationship between a single mother and her daughter. The author also has a very unique writing style, which is always interesting to see. Unfortunately, for a thriller, it wasn't really exciting and the first half of the book was so slow it was almost boring. It felt like I was reading just to get to the end. The ending was also very inconclusive and I felt like the most interesting part of the storyline was left open-ended. Not sure that I would recommend this, but if you're into weird and offbeat books you can try it. Lmk your thoughts if you've read this
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