Rouge

Mona Awad

Simon & Schuster

Otago Daily Times, March 3rd 2024

Mona Awad’s Rouge is a gothically surreal exploration of body image, desire, loneliness, and identity. Of French-Egyptian extraction, Mirabelle – Belle – Nour has spent her entire life in the shadow of her mother Noelle’s flawlessly complexioned beauty.  Years after leaving home her days still revolve around elaborate dermatological routines and watching skincare videos, and even Noelle’s sudden and mysterious death does nothing to quiet her obsession. It does, however, leave her deeply in debt and with serious questions about her mother’s mental health. So, when she is gifted beauty treatments at La Maison de Meduse, an exclusive spa of which her mother was a devoted member, she accepts, despite the establishment’s oddities (blood-red champagne and multi-story aquarium of scarlet jellyfish to name but two). But even as her complexion Glows and Brightens, Belle’s identity begins to disintegrate, long buried memories dredged up and consumed in return for the perfection she has always dreamed of.

Dark and compelling, the novel is replete with the touchstones of fairy-tale – mirrors and red shoes, apples and roses, the price of envy and the dangerous desires of a young girl’s dreams. It is a cautionary tale that reminds us to be careful what we wish for.