Book Review: Rouge by Mona Awad (horror)

"No one knows what's inside grief." (p. 361)

 

Born to an Egyptian father and a French-Canadian mother Mirabelle Nour was raised in Quebec, Canada. At fourteen, she joined her mother in California, USA. She grew up believing that her father's dark features had made her ugly while her mother's red hair and delicate features made her mother beautiful. 

When Mirabelle's sixty-something mother Noelle Des Jardins unexpectedly dies, thirty-something Mirabelle must fly from her home in the Plateau area of Montreal to her mother's home in La Jolla, California and deal with her grief and her mother's legacy (all those many bottles and jars of beauty products).

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall/Who in this land is fairest of all"

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Snow-White

"'Beauty...is a mystery... Here one day, then poof. Gone. Smoke and mirrors.'"

Mona Awad, Rouge

Rouge

Mona Awad

(literary fiction, fantasy, horror)

Hamish Hamilton

an imprint of Penguin Canada

a division of Penguin Random House Canada

2023

369 pages

Rouge by Mona Awad is a many-layered novel.

Rouge is literary fiction...

In Rouge, Mona Awad explains women's reliance on beauty products. To gain social status, women must meet society's standards for beauty. When a woman falls short of these standards, she must hide her flaws with beauty products. To maintain social status, aging women must rely on beauty products.

Rouge is horror...

Did Noelle fall from the cliff to the beach below, or was she pushed? And if she was pushed by who and why? Did something, someone, take possession of her in those final hours? If so, is Mirabelle in danger?

Rouge has elements of magical realism...

Mysterious shiny red shoes take control of those who wear them.

Giant red jellyfish that...

Mirrors that... 

No, I have to stop. There are no spoilers in this review. 

Rouge is an attractive, captivating read--from the fairy-tale-like prologue to the enchanting last paragraph.

Reviews of other books by Mona Awad...

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

Bunny

"Autumn magic" photo by ldyck

On this Blog in October...

Book Review: Bunny by Mona Awad

This book's message:  How you feel about me is none of my business. How I feel when I'm around you is.

Published by Viking

an imprint of Penguin Random House

Published in 2019

Buy this Book

Samantha Heather Mackey is enrolled in post-graduate studies in creative writing at Warren University in New England. An important component of the program is Workshop--an opportunity to give and receive feedback about your work with your peers. Samatha's peers are the Bunnies--four closely bonded women.

Of Workshop, Samantha says, 'Just me and them in a room with no visible escape routes for two hours and twenty minutes. Every week for thirteen weeks.' (p. 10)

Samantha says that the Bunnies are completely 'immune to the disdain of their fellow graduate student. Me. Samantha Heather Mackey. Who is not a Bunny. Who will never be a Bunny.' (p. 4)
And I think she has no desire to be a member of that group of friends. But when Samantha  receives an invitation from the Bunnies, she feels 'a weird and shameful swelling in [her] heart.' (p. 10)

During each Workshop, the Bunnies gave each other way too sticky sweet praise but looked 'down at each story [Samantha] submitted like it was a baby that just gave them the finger.' (p. 24) As a result, Samantha stops writing... But that isn't the end of the story.

Mona Awad's writing is graphic...

'My throat is a red, pulsing fist in my neck.' (p. 190)

and poetic...

 'Being with you is like being in literature. I have no idea where you'll lead me next.' (p. 236)

and memorable... 


Bunny is a weird, twisted ride into truth. Truth about friendship true and friendship false; about finding your true self even though others may attempt to hide her from you; about how to nurture your art--and how not to; about... 

More...

Also by Mona Awad...

My book review of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

"Bunny" Shows MFA Programs for the Dark Horror They Truly Are (a book review and interview with the author) by columnist Deirdre Coyle

Please join me next Sunday evening...

My first writers' group

Years ago, at a house party, I told a friend of my desire to develop my writing muscles. Her advice, form a writing group. Please read this short story to learn what happened next...

Book review: 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

13 chapters tell the hidden truths of women's lives. I'll guarantee that at least two of these chapters will hit so close to home that you'll wince. I started reading 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl in a bus shelter and one scene hit so hard that I turned red in the face and wanted to hide. "No, don't tell them that. Not that." I was so convinced that the person sitting beside me would read the words and know everything. This book isn't for the fate of heart.

Photo by LDyck

Publisher:  Penguin Random House Canada

Published in 2016

Buy this book

I admire novelists who take a different path when writing their books. Awad is another example. She uses a variety of POVs--best friend, lover, etc. But it's more than that, some of the opening chapters made me wonder if I was reading a linked short story collection or a novel. Later chapters confirmed it was a novel.

First-time authors are warned:  Don't play loose and easy with the rules. Later when you're an established author have-at-her. But. Not. Now.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl is Mona Awad's first novel.

Huh?

More...

The Vancouver Sun discusses 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

Next post:  Shakespeare and Snorri

Sunday, July 16 

Published at approximately 5 PM PT