Genre: Horror
Release Date: September 12th, 2023
Pages: 384
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“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.”
My Review:
Wow! What a weird, wild, twisted ride this was. This is one of those books that you read and then need time to process afterwards to figure out what the hell you just read. LOL
The writing style is so unique in a way that really adds to the creepy depths of the story. Reading this is like a fever dream. It’s dark and haunting. With a highly-unreliable narrator, you never know what to expect, what is real and what is a nightmare come to life. It has all the vibes of a dangerous Grimm fairytale.
It shows the dark and toxic sides of beauty standards as well as the effects that body image can have on our mental and physical health. How far is too far? The lengths that society can go to feel beautiful. It has a tumultuous and complex mother-daughter relationship.
This was my first Mona Awad. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. It was not a quick read for me, but the more I reflect back on what I read, the more I really liked it. I will definitely be reading from this author again. Highly recommend!
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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