Review
Welcome to my thoughts where there is only me and my (bad) opinions.
looking for
Rouge
[2023] [fiction/horror/literary]
[Mona Awad]
[FORMAT: Digital]
[STATUS: FINISHED]
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.
FAVORITE QUOTE / MOMENT
“Didn't you envy? Didn't you want? A mirror is only a mirror, Belle. It only ever reflects back what we desire and long for”
MY FULL REVIEW
Read: 3/08/2026 - 6/08/2026
I liked this book, at the beginning it was kinda hard to continue (but it was mostly on my end) but passing the 50-page mark It was so fun. Mona excels at making the haziness of dreams into works, the chapters that included the "down the rabbit hole" moment of Belle were my favourite. The relationship between Belle and her mother was really well done, I could feel the love inside the unbalanced state of mind of Noelle. I think her character was done superb. She was portrayed as a mother and woman, even if it sounds weird a lot of authors sin of making their female character one dimensional, only a mother, only a woman, only a whore or whatever archetype they decided it must fulfil. Belle is also well done, I love when we spend the whole book inside the mind of an untestable character and we, as the reader, don't have any idea if what we are reading is actually happening, or it's just an altered state of mind of the character. For the plot, I really liked the cult development, since it is that easy to get into one without knowing you got into one. The whole argument about beauty and immortality it's ever present in our society. Also, I thought it was neat using Freudian slips to show the true nature of most conversations inside the cult and when belle was already part of it. I would have like more exploration of the implications of Belle being mixed in a predominantly white community, the book explores it in a more subtle way, especially when Noelle tells Belle she is jealous of her beauty, but Belle knows she is lying. Overall I think it was a solid read. But I may be biased since I love weird books with weird girls.
I liked this book, at the beginning it was kinda hard to continue (but it was mostly on my end) but passing the 50-page mark It was so fun. Mona excels at making the haziness of dreams into works, the chapters that included the "down the rabbit hole" moment of Belle were my favourite. The relationship between Belle and her mother was really well done, I could feel the love inside the unbalanced state of mind of Noelle. I think her character was done superb. She was portrayed as a mother and woman, even if it sounds weird a lot of authors sin of making their female character one dimensional, only a mother, only a woman, only a whore or whatever archetype they decided it must fulfil. Belle is also well done, I love when we spend the whole book inside the mind of an untestable character and we, as the reader, don't have any idea if what we are reading is actually happening, or it's just an altered state of mind of the character. For the plot, I really liked the cult development, since it is that easy to get into one without knowing you got into one. The whole argument about beauty and immortality it's ever present in our society. Also, I thought it was neat using Freudian slips to show the true nature of most conversations inside the cult and when belle was already part of it. I would have like more exploration of the implications of Belle being mixed in a predominantly white community, the book explores it in a more subtle way, especially when Noelle tells Belle she is jealous of her beauty, but Belle knows she is lying. Overall I think it was a solid read. But I may be biased since I love weird books with weird girls.
RATING: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
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AESTHETICS / SCREENCAPS
