Book Review: Rouge by Mona Awad

I recently finished Mona Awad’s Rouge, and now I’ll review it! Spoiler warning. I was a big fan of another one of her books, Bunny, which introduced me to her work. Personally, I love her writing. She has this ability to cast such a dreamy haze throughout her writing which is absolutely captivating. It’s surrealist, psychedelic, and such a joy to read.

Rouge took me a while to read, I must admit. I originally borrowed it from a friend last year around May, read the first few chapters, and then put it down for several months. However, once I picked it up again this past week I absolutely raced through it. Of the last few books I’ve read it’s certainly my favorite, but I definitely still have some thoughts.

When her prose picks up it’s absolutely rapid, and moves quickly through the story. It’s dreamy and can sometimes be confusing, and the reader can feel a little lost in terms of where they are and what is going on. However, I honestly think this really works for Awad. The novel is meant to keep the reader on their toes and make you feel disconcerted along with the main character, Belle, sometimes known as Mira. Some people may not like this, I personally love it. It’s so dreamy and unnerving you kind of just sink into it. 

In terms of narration, I love how Awad builds it up. She does the same sort of trick in Bunny where the character has an abnormal twist to their personality and narration, succumbing to the supernatural and otherworldly forces surrounding her. I thought this worked really well in Bunny, but I think it’s pushed a little too far in Rouge.

The plot revolves around this mysterious spa that promises beautification through their mysterious processes, and this comes to be revealed as a sort of soul-sucking operation, draining the customers by extracting memories. This drains the memory and intelligence of the people undergoing these procedures, including Belle. I think this is incredibly effective, and almost frightening for a reader to watch the main character's tone of narration flip. It really shows how twisted this procedure is, and we get a first hand view of the horrifying results through the eyes of Belle. However, I think it happens too soon. We don’t really get to spend too much time with present, intelligent Belle. We spend most of the novel switching between her clouded narration and retrospective stories from her childhood voice. This leads to a weaker main character that we don’t know very well. I think for a story this elevated in its metaphors it's not entirely a weakness, as in a way it doesn’t entirely matter, but I still think it would be beneficial to the story. I also think that with a more subtle narration switch after the first procedure, the aftermath of the second would be more shocking. If the first procedure fuzziness was more subtle, and she was a little more aware of it and still willing to go back for more, the message woven throughout the narrative would come off stronger. The idea of trading memory for beauty is horrific, but a character who is knowingly willing to do so is arguably more horrific. It truly showcases that innate desire for beauty, and tells us a lot about the character. 

Making the character a little more active in her own downfall would make more of an impact especially in the beginning of the story. Having her sink in a little slower and then a rapid drop-off would be incredibly effective. The beauty administered in the spa was interesting in its commentary on beauty standards. Of course, this is an indictment on western beauty standards as well as the corporate market behind it. This spa feeds on people with deep set trauma, preferring to feed from people who are deeply insecure and traumatized. I felt this was an effective metaphor, as these companies truly profit off of insecurity and despair, feeding off of it to sell more products. 

There was a surprising amount of Tom Cruise in this book, which I found both a little annoying and really funny. I wonder if his connection to Scientology influenced his likeness being included in the story, due to the cult-like spa. The constant mention was a little irritating, as at some point I felt like I understood this man looks like Tom Cruise, you can just say Tom I’m with you.

There are a lot of ways to interpret this story. It is primarily a story about a mother and daughter, but also about beauty standards, grooming, and culture. I read a lot of theories regarding the story, with some calling parallels to Egyptian mythology with the name of the character Seth being similar to the god Set, and the mention of the eye of Horus which Belle carries with her. I read other theories that thought the character was just having a psychotic breakdown. And a lot about the man in the mirror representing a real predator rather than a smoky illusion. One thing I always think when reading or partaking in surrealist storytelling is we have to believe what the author is telling us. While this could all be happening in the character’s head, I am going to take the author's word at face value that everything I’m reading is happening to the characters in the story, while also being representative of more. 

Something really interesting about the novel is that there are a lot unanswered questions about the mother figure. The man in the mirror, Seth/Tom Cruise talks harshly about her, and at one point dictates she is a stealer of beauty, using red algae to keep herself young and beautiful. I thought this would be brought up again, but it never was. It’s heavily implied that the mother had some sort of connection to this spa already, and possibly was marked by Seth in the same way he marks Belle. Generational trauma is a heavy theme, as the mother tries in her own way to shield Belle from the horrors she has experienced, but we never quite find out what those were. I think this lack of answers makes the story more intriguing and is a mark of Awad’s style, though I understand this is frustrating for some people.

I did find the lack of answers a little frustrating in terms of the spa and what was going on with it, solely due to the inclusion of the character Hud Hudson, the detective. He is investigating the spa due to its role in the death of his twin brother, and offers some insight and guidance to Belle. He seems to know more than she does and talks about the evil people running it vaguely. His amount of knowledge is never truly made clear, but it seems he knows more than we do. Due to his inclusion I assumed we would get some answers from him about the spa, and what the people/creatures running it are up to. Especially as he ends up a little delusional and memory wiped at the end of the story, I assumed he knew something that he shouldn't. I can understand that he doesn’t really know everything, but his inclusion made me think we would find out more and we just didn't, which I found disappointing. I don’t mind the lack of answers, I think for a story of this kind it’s natural, but I felt like I was teased with the possibility and it was taken away. 

My final thought is on the pacing in the final part of the story. The novel hit its climax without about 40 pages left, and I was left in shock wondering how any of this was going to be wrapped up in that short of time. With how explosive the confrontation is, I think it would’ve been beneficial to include even an extra chapter to pad out the falling action a little bit, but this is not entirely necessary as I was overall satisfied with the ending, just a minor gripe of mine.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I was thinking about the rating I would give it, and I settled on a 4/5. It was incredibly good, but I definitely enjoyed Bunny more. Stand out of the last two weeks though, definitely a breath of fresh air. I still have Wuthering Heights to read, but I might still wait on that. I am getting a library card! First one in the UK, because I realized I’m spending too much money on books and the movie theater, so I’m trying to save a little money. There are definitely worse ways to spend money though!