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  • Rouge

  • Written by: Mona Awad
  • Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
  • Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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Rouge

Written by: Mona Awad
Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
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Publisher's Summary

*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*
*
USA TODAY BESTSELLER*
A
New York Times Editor’s Choice

From the critically acclaimed author of
Bunny comes a “Grimm Brothers fairy tale for the modern age” (Good Housekeeping) and “darkly funny horror novel” (NYLON) about a lonely young woman who’s drawn to a cult-like spa in the wake of her mother’s mysterious death. “Surreal, scary and deeply moving—like all the best fairytales” (People).

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by
Time, Vogue, The Guardian, Goodreads, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, Good Housekeeping, PureWow, Our Culture Mag, and more!

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.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

©2023 Mona Awad (P)2023 Hamish Hamilton
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What the critics say

"*INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*
*
USA TODAY BESTSELLER*
A
New York Times Editor’s Choice

“A surrealist take on the myth of Demeter and Persephone. . . . Rouge points to many discomforting truths about being a woman in the 21st century, which can sometimes feel an awful lot like gothic horror. Awad doesn’t let us off the hook in our willingness to consume and be consumed, in our inability to see beyond our glass coffins.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[A] delightfully twisted fairy tale. . . . [Awad]’s acerbic wit radiates in this excoriating story of beauty’s ugly side.” Publisher's Weekly

What listeners say about Rouge

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Difficult to get through

There were parts of the story I really enjoyed and for the most part loved the writing, but for me, it was too long and drawn out. By the end, I just wanted the story to end. I found it difficult to keep going at times.
The French accent is not representative of a French Canadian woman from Montreal and I found that annoying at times.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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I didn't understand.

well this was my first book by this author and I wasn't super crazy about it. the narrator was great, but at times it dragged on, or I tuned it out because I was bored listening to it. I liked the cult piece of the book because I find cults In general interesting.. It left me thinking what did I just read? I also had to speed this book up because it was just so slow. I've never done that before. overall I'm a meh, and I don't know if I'd read another book by this author again.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!

I love Mona Awad and the narrator did a great job capturing the essence of the book.

My only gripe is that the narrator was not French Canadian. I was so glad to have Canada represented in this novel but the way that “Montreal” was pronounced made it clear that the narrator was not Canadian. The french was also a little iffy, which took me out of the novel at times.

Absolutely love Mona Awad and loved this novel! I have only the highest standards for her narrator:)

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Amazing

Brilliant and moving. Will stay with me. Such an original and powerful exploration of mother-daughter relationships, patriarchy, and whiteness. Lots of funny moments too (maybe not as funny as Bunny, but it's a different beast). Loved the exploration of mirrors and their fluidity, too.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Accent

Great story but definitely not a Canadian accent. I found it hard to look past.

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Really funky and gripping!

Felt like a psychedelic experience. Overall really good, feminine, and funny! LOVE the concept, felt like it called back all the good parts from Bunny but with a brilliant twist.

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