Mona Awad does it again.

Awad's unique surrealist style weaves a story that left me white knuckled to the very last page. In previous novels Awad has examined the isolation of womanhood (Bunny) and the isolation of chronic pain (All's Well) and in Rouge she takes a tongue in cheek look at the online beauty influencer industry. Awad's unique style of horror gives this modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast a painfully feminist twist.

As with all of Mona Awad's books, I absolutely loved Rouge. I do agree with another review that this novel seems similar in style to her previous novel All's Well but I enjoyed this book quite a bit more. There's no way to describe her books but weird -- they're so strange and twisting that sometimes I feel like I'll never know what's actually going on. And yet by the I am always weeping, wondering what the hell just happened to me and desperate for her next book.

If you loved Bunny, you'll love Rouge. Enough said.

In “Rouge,” Belle, a Canadian woman in perhaps her mid-thirties, goes to Southern California after her mother’s accidental death. Belle is a skincare aficionado, but she always felt insufficient around her glamorous mother and her string of boyfriends. At first, she wants nothing more than to settle her mother’s affairs and return to Montreal. But when she happens upon the mysterious spa that her mother visited and is given a free treatment with incredible results, she changes her mind. “Gone are the folds around my mouth; the scar on my forehead; my misery lines; the sad, slack jaw and the puffy, dark-ringed eyes. All is sharp and taut. All sparkles. Brightly. Whitely. Beautiful. I look beautiful.” Awad refers to fairy tales like “The Red Shoes” by Hans Christian Andersen and “Snow White” but only thematically—she looks to these stories for their broader cultural impact, such as jealousy between mothers and daughters and perceptions of beauty, and the idea of beauty or worth coming through an external application.

But she also makes a lot of other cultural references that are more lowbrow than that, because she’s really funny. This might sound absurd, and, well, it does: “I misted diligently between skins with the rosewater and birth milk Moon Juice to create what Marva calls a moisture mille-feuille. I then anointed myself with the Marine Collagen Regenerating Day Soufflé using her patented seventeen dot technique. The day Soufflé not only brightens, firms and plumps, but seals in the hydrating Moon Juice skins, preventing any trans-epidermal water loss.” But I defy anyone to watch two minutes of any skincare video on YouTube or (gulp) Gwyneth washing her face on Instagram and not find something on par. Is Awad just taking aim at the easy target of the beauty-industrial complex in “Rouge”? It’s certainly not that simple. The beauty industry is built on a sturdy foundation of hundreds of years of telling girls that their worth is tangled up with their physical beauty and their youth. Whether it’s the mother of a girl in a fairy tale or not, she might wish for her daughter to have skin as white as snow and blood-red lips while nevertheless feeling deeply envious as her own youth and beauty fade.

As Belle spends more time in her mother’s town, she seems to lose her grip on reality. She thinks she looks better than ever, but an acquaintance greets her with alarm. An old family friend is deeply concerned about her. And maybe even her mother wasn’t as stern as she recalls. She remembers telling her mother about a game she played with friends as a child called “Honestly.” “We sit in a circle and take turns closing our eyes. When you close them, you ask the circle Am I beautiful? and people raise their hands if they think yes and don’t raise them if they think no, sorry. And someone counts the hands for you, and that’s how you know honestly.” After Belle explains, her mother tells her to never play “that fucking game ever again.” Belle asks why and she blurts out, “Because it’s stupid, that’s why,” a reasonable enough answer for a tired mother who doesn’t have the energy to explain the many horrible aspects such a “game” could have on a group of girls, particularly friends, not to mention a child one loved and cherished.


If you’re already an Awad fan, consider this a worthy addition to her oeuvre. If you enjoy your fiction a little off the beaten path, funny, and brimming with intelligence, “Rouge” might be a perfect pick.

“Rouge”
By Mona Awad
Simon & Schuster/Marysue Rucci Books, 384 pages

this had a slow start but I did end up getting intrigued by the weirdness & fever dreamy vibes. unfortunately, the pace is so slow and though it got weird quickly, it never got weirdER. I needed more horror, more weirdness, more anxiety and never ended up getting that.

I loved this book. It was bizarre, but it holds so much meaning. A lot of us girls/women grew up with such expectations of beauty. Awad perfectly captures this desire to be beautiful at the cost of happiness and life. Love love this book.

I’m a huge fan of mona awad and this book did not disappoint. Bunny is my favorite book so when i saw Mona was coming out with this i was so excited! Mona’s storytelling is so captivating and i get emerged into the world she creates with every word i read. I love this book and i would recommend it to my friends.

This book left me queasy and uneasy, and I think mostly in not a bad way. It's a lot at times for a squeamish reader like me.

Man, I wish I could live inside Mona Awads brain. Just float around in there for a bit.
This was awesome.

Thank you for the ARC! I purchased a copy for my Mona Shelf ❤️

I love a good weird book but I think this is where I may part my ways with Awad. I’ve read All’s Well which I didn’t like and Bunny which I liked so I thought maybe I’d like this one too but I was disappointed. It became so repetitive and I lost interest, which is sad because I think Awad could’ve made some strong points about the beauty industry and societal standards of beauty.

I’ve noticed her books all have pretty similar plots even though this one kind of lacked one. Also the Tom Cruise obsession got old real quick.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

After reading 20%, I had to dnf. This one was so very slow for me and I couldn’t get into it. I am still looking forward to reading Bunny, but this one wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed Mona Awad's Rouge. Her books are always such a ride and this was no different. I found the premise very intriguing and timely. The mother-daughter was exceptionally complicated, but realistic and relatable.

I really loved this one and the resolution was surprisingly touching.

Mona Awad’s writing is absolutely captivating, there is nothing I love more than diving into her stories. Rouge in particular was an absolute joy, as it features themes of loss, beauty, and an absurdly familiar sense of self-indulgence. Thank you to NetGalley for sending Rouge my way! I enjoyed the ARC so much I had to buy myself a physical copy!

This was an unfortunate DNF for me. I love Bunny by Mona Awad and this just felt like a completely different writing style. I could not get into the story at all.

This was a different vibe than past Mona Awad novels, but I loved it all the same. This story brings to light the negative consequences of being obsessed with perfection, and the ways in which our trauma can impact our self-worth. Highly recommend.

This was a surprising read with a wildly alluring concept. I’ve only ever read Bunny by Mona Awad but her literary style rings true and is creepier than ever. (In a good way!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element for providing me with an ARC.

This book is the first in a while to have an extreme emotional effect on me. I finished reading it a while ago, but have sat on it because I wasn't sure how to review it. I read this entire book in one night - I stayed up until 3a.m. to finish it and cried for a good while after that. Was not expecting to be crying over jellyfish in 2023, but now I can say that I did.

There's something about Awad's writing in this book that's beautifully poetic and haunting while, at times, also strangely comforting. Awad masterfully depicts themes centering around the cultish reality of the beauty industry as well as grief, and she digs deeper into the effects of these things - how they effect the perceptions and relationships we have with ourselves, but also the perceptions and relationships we have with others.

I could go on with my own experience of reading this book, but I think it's better if you experience it for yourself. Looking back, this is one of the most memorable books that I read in 2023.

At the end of the day, I don't think this author and I quite gel. This book was weird for weird's sake in my opinion, but I do think it has a perfect reader. That reader is not me. I like to at least understand the threads of the plot while I'm reading and I was lost throughout.

This was EXCELLENT, and I'm so relieved because after loving Bunny as much as I did, I was worried Mona Awad wouldn't be able to grab me with the same ferocity and weirdness that she did with that one. If you loved that one, you'll love this - it's got the same weird vibes, almost dream-like but rooted in reality. I love books about difficult mother/daughter relationships and Mirabelle's trouble with her mother were definitely up my alley. This one did have a few moments where I was like "WHAT?", but in a good way! I loved it and will continue to pick up & read anything Awad writes.

I will read anything Mona Awad writes. This was a beautiful, dark, gothic fairy tale of a book. The ending was perfect.

I had such a hard time getting into this book. I was a huge fan of Bunny and All's Well by Awad but this one fell flat for me. I didn't really care much for the characters or plot but Awad always does something special with each of her books so I'm still excited to see what she comes up with next.

This was weird. Just plain weird. And I loved it. A total fever dream in classic Mona awad style. She just can’t miss